Accuracy of the evaluation method for alkaline agents’ bactericidal efficacies in solid, and the required time of bacterial inactivation

Abstract

An alkaline agent, namely food additive grade calcium hydroxide (FdCa(OH)₂) in the powder form, was evaluated for its bactericidal efficacies in chicken feces at pH 13. The point for this evaluation was neutralization of the alkaline agent’s pH at the time of bacterial recovery, since otherwise the results are substantially misleading. Without neutralization of the FdCa(OH)₂ pH, the spiked bacteria were killed within min at the time of recovery in aqueous phase, but not in the solid form in feces, hence it has been demonstrated that when bacteria were in solid, it took longer time than in liquid for the alkaline agent to inactivate them down to the acceptable level (≥3 log₁₀ CFU/ml).