This study evaluated the rose bengal‐ and erythrosine‐mediated photoinactivation against Salmonella Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus planktonic and sessile cells using green LED as a light source. The free‐living or 2‐day‐old biofilm cells were treated with different concentrations of the photosensitizing agents and subjected to irradiation. Only 5 min photosensitization with rose bengal at 25 nmol L−1 and 75 μmol L−1 completely eliminated S. aureus and S. Typhimurium planktonic cells, respectively. Erythrosine at 500 nmol L−1 and 5 min of light exposure also reduced S. aureus planktonic cells to undetectable levels. Eradication of S. aureus biofilms was achieved when 500 μmol L−1 of erythrosine or 250 μmol L−1 of rose bengal was combined with 30 min of irradiation. Scanning electron microscopy allowed the observation of morphological changes in planktonic cells and disruption of the biofilm architecture after photodynamic treatment. The overall data demonstrate that rose bengal and erythrosine activated by green LED may be a targeted strategy for controlling foodborne pathogens in both planktonic and sessile states.

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has been shown as a promising technique to inactivate foodborne bacteria, without inducing the development of bacterial resistance. Knowing that addition of inorganic salts, such as potassium iodide (KI), can modulate the photodynamic action of the photosensitizer (PS), we report in this study the antimicrobial effect of eosin (EOS) and rose bengal (RB) combined with KI against Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, the possible development of bacterial resistance after this combined aPDT protocol was evaluated. The combination of EOS or RB, at all tested concentrations, with KI at 100 mM, was able to efficiently inactivate S. Typhimurium and S. aureus. This combined approach allows a reduction in the PS concentration up to 1000 times, even against one of the most common foodborne pathogenics, S. Typhimurium, a gram-negative bacterium which is not so prone to inactivation with xanthene dyes when used alone. The photoinactivation of S. Typhimurium and S. aureus by both xanthenes with KI did not induce the development of resistance. The low price of the xanthene dyes, the non-toxic nature of KI, and the possibility of reducing the PS concentration show that this technology has potential to be easily transposed to the food industry.

a b s t r a c tThe consumption of plant food supplements (PFS) has been growing globally, with an increase of misleading labeling and fraudulent practices also being reported. Recently, the use of molecular biology techniques has been proposed to detect botanical adulterations, one of the possible frauds in PFS. However, difficulties in recovering DNA from some PFS samples have been described. Aiming at using DNA-based methods for the unequivocal identification of plant species in PFS, adequate DNA isolation is required. However, PFS often contain pharmaceutical excipients known to have adsorbent properties that might interfere with DNA extraction. Thus, the aim of this work was to assess the effect of different excipients (talc, silica, iron oxide and titanium dioxide) on the recovery/amplification of DNA. For that purpose, known amounts of template maize DNA were spiked either to PFS or to model mixtures of excipients and quantified by real-time PCR. The tested excipients evidenced clear adsorption phenomena that justify the hampering effect on DNA extraction from PFS. The use of either 10% talc or 0.5% dyes completely adsorbed DNA, resulting in negative PCR amplifications. For the first time, pharmaceutical excipients were shown to affect DNA extraction explaining the inability of recovering DNA from some PFS samples in previous studies.

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