Development of novel and effective decontamination technologies to ensure the microbiological safety of fresh produce has gained considerable attention, mainly driven by numerous outbreaks. This work presented the first approach regarding to the application of the previously reported hurdle technologies on the sanitization of artificially contaminated cherry tomatoes. Thyme (Thymus daenensis) essential oil nanoemulsion (TEON, 8.28 nm in diameter with a narrow size distribution) was formulated via ultrasonic nanoemulsification, showing remarkably improved antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7, compared to the coarse emulsion. The antimicrobial effect of ultrasound (US), thyme essential oil nanoemulsion (TEON) and the combination of both treatments was assessed against E. coli O157:H7. The remarkable synergistic effects of the combined treatments were achieved, which decontaminated the E. coli populations by 4.49–6.72 log CFU/g on the surface of cherry tomatoes, and led to a reduction of 4.48–6.94 log CFU/sample of the total inactivation. TEON combined with US were effective in reducing the presence of bacteria in wastewater, which averted the potential detrimental effect of cross-contamination resulted from washing wastewater in fresh produce industry. Moreover, the treatments did not noticeably alter the surface color and firmness of cherry tomatoes. Therefore, ultrasound combined with TEON is a promising and feasible alternative for the reduction of microbiological contaminants, as well as retaining the quality characteristics of cherry tomatoes.

主要由无数次疫情暴发推动的，开发新颖，有效的去污技术以确保新鲜农产品的微生物安全性受到了广泛的关注。这项工作提出了关于在人工污染的樱桃西红柿消毒中应用先前报道的障碍技术的第一种方法。通过超声纳米乳化法配制了百里香（Thymus daenensis）精油纳米乳剂（TEON，直径为8.28 nm，尺寸分布较窄），显示出对大肠杆菌（E. coli）的显着改善的抗菌活性。）O157：H7，与粗乳液相比。评估了超声波（US），百里香精油纳米乳剂（TEON）以及两种治疗方法联合使用对大肠杆菌O157：H7的抗菌作用。联合处理产生了显着的协同作用，从而净化了大肠杆菌。樱桃表面的CFU / g减少4.49–6.72 log CFU / g，导致总灭活量减少4.48–6.94 log CFU / g。TEON与US的结合可有效减少废水中细菌的存在，从而避免了新鲜农产品行业中洗涤废水所造成的潜在交叉污染。而且，这些处理没有明显改变樱桃番茄的表面颜色和硬度。因此，超声与TEON结合是减少微生物污染物以及保留樱桃番茄质量特征的一种有前途且可行的替代方法。