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Safety Evaluation of Electrolyzed Water

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Abstract

Electrolyzed water (EW) has gained immense popularity over the last few decades as a novel broad-spectrum sanitizer. EW can be produced using tap water with table salt as the singular chemical additive. The application of EW is a sustainable and green concept and has several advantages over traditional cleaning systems including cost-effectiveness, ease of application, effective disinfection, on-the-spot production, and safety for human beings and the environment. This chapter was about the safety of the EW from the biological safety and chlorine residue two aspects, including the researches and results of oral toxicity test, the skin irritation test, the acute eye stimulation test, tub-chronic oral toxicity test and so on. EW had no effect on mouse growth as drinking water for 8 weeks and did not induce reverse mutations. Also, no effective residual chlorine after treated with EW was detected in samples. In a word, EW has no systemic effects and is safe as a sanitizer.

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... EW is an effective broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent with several advantages: on the spot, cheap, environmentally friendly, and safety production [81]. However, it is necessary to face and solve the problem that EW is still unstable and insufficient for completely inactivating or decontaminating many food or other products [82]. ...
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Abstract Effect of ultrasonication (40 kHz) to enhance low concentration electrolyzed water (LcEW) efficacy for microbial decontamination on lettuce leaves was investigated. Lettuce was separately treated with LcEW, ultrasonication, LcEW combined with ultrasonication, LcEW followed by ultrasonication, and ultrasonication followed by LcEW for 1, 3, and 5 min for each step at room temperature. The highest reduction (2.3 log CFU/g) in total bacteria count (TBC) was resulted from ultrasonication followed by LcEW. Subsequently, the effect of temperature was studied resulting in 2.6 and 3.18 log CFU/g reduction of TBC and Escherichia coli O157:H7 respectively, in 3 min ultrasonication followed by 3 min LcEW treatment at 40ºC. This optimum treatment also prevented lettuce from reaching 7.0 log CFU/g in TBC until the end of the 6 day storage at 10ºC. Therefore, this newly developed approach may result in improved microbiological safety and enhanced shelf life of produce.
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Acid electrolyzed functional water has been used in a variety of ways because of its antiseptic action. In the present study, we investigated both the systemic and gastrointestinal effects of ingesting acid electrolyzed functional water, from the perspective of its use in mouthwash. Seventeen mice (three weeks old) were used in the experiment. Three of the mice (three-week-old group) were euthanized before having been given solid food, whilst the remaining 14 were divided into two groups, one given free access to acid electrolyzed functional water as drinking water (test group) and the other given free access to tap water as drinking water (control group). Changes in body weight, visual inspections of the oral cavity, histopathological tests, and measurements of surface enamel roughness and observations of enamel morphology were recorded after eight weeks. The results showed no significant difference in changes in body weight between the test and control groups. No abnormal findings or measurements were observed for the test group in terms of visual inspections of the oral cavity, histopathological tests, or measurements of surface enamel roughness. In terms of enamel morphology, attrition was seen in the test group. These findings suggest that the use of acid electrolyzed functional water has no systemic effect and is safe for use in mouthwash.
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Hydrogen-dissolved water has been suggested to be effective for alleviating the oxidative stress. In the present study, neutral-pH hydrogen-enriched electrolyzed water (NHE-water; dissolved hydrogen: 0.90-1.14 parts per million [ppm]; oxido-reduced potential: -150 approximately -80 mV), which was prepared with a water-electrolysis apparatus equipped with a non-diaphragm cell and a highly compressed activated-carbon block, was evaluated for the mutagenic and genotoxic potentials, at concentrations up to 100% dose/plate, and for the subchronic toxicity. NHE-water did not induce reverse mutations in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA100, TA1535, TA98 and TA1537, and Escherichia coli strain WP2uvrA, in either the absence or presence of rat liver S9 for exogenous metabolic activation. Similarly, NHE-water did not induce chromosome aberrations in Chinese hamster lung fibroblast cells (CHL/IU), in short-term (6-hour) tests, with or without rat liver S9, or in a continuous treatment (24-hour) test. To evaluate the subchronic toxicity, Crj:CD(SD) specific pathogen free (SPF)-rats were administered with NHE-water at a dose of 20 mL/kg/day for 28 days via intragastric infusion. NHE-water-related toxic changes were not seen in terms of any items such as clinical symptoms, body weight, food consumption, urinalysis, hematology, blood chemistry, necropsy, each organ weight and histopathology. Thus, the no-observable-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for NHE-water was estimated to be greater than 20 mL/kg/day under the conditions examined, demonstrating the consistency with the expected safety for a human with a body weight of 60 kg to drink the NHE-water up to at least 1.2 L/day.
Trihalomethane analysis in hypochlorous acid treated cabbage
  • Unicorn
Unicorn (2006) Trihalomethane analysis in hypochlorous acid treated cabbage (in Japanese)