Abstract
Contamination of baby foods with Cronobacter spp. is still a persisting challenge to the baby food industry. The antimicrobial activity of chitosan and lactic acid (LA) against C. sakazakii in reconstituted infant formula (RIF) and wheat-based infant cereal (WBIC) was studied. The RIF and WBIC were spiked with a cocktail of three strains of C. sakazakii (ca. 5.5 x 10(5) cfu/ mL or g of RIF or WBIC). Chitosan concentrations of 1.5 and 2.0% resulted in 2-3 log reductions in the C. sakazakii count after 6 h handling at room temperature. LA at 0.4% concentration elicited the highest inhibitory activity, which resulted in approximately 3-4 log reductions for WBIC and RIF, respectively. Our results demonstrate that chitosan and LA are natural nontoxic substances that may have the potential to be used to inhibit C. sakazakii in RIF and baby foods.