ABSTRACT
Traditionally, chlorine solutions have been widely accepted for the sanitation of minimally processed fruits and vegetables. It is known that organic compounds also react with chlorine in the unfavorable formation of carcinogenic compounds such as chloramines and trihalomethanes (Wei et al. 1999). Typically, the most common sanitizers used for decontaminating fresh produce include chlorine solutions at levels of 50 to 200 ppm free chlorine for contact times from several seconds to several minutes (Watada and Qui 1999; Francis and O’Beirne 2002). The optimum contact time for 70 ppm chlorine solution has been determined to be 12 to 13 sec (Kabir 1994).
