Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with stable isotope probing to assess the metabolic activity of Escherichia coli cells in chicken carcass wash water

Rapid evaluation of the metabolic activity of microorganisms is crucial in the assessment of the disinfection ability of various antimicrobial agents in the food industry. In this study, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with isotope probing was employed for the analysis of the disinfection of single bacterial cells in the chicken carcass wash water. The Raman signals from single Escherichia coli O157:H7 cells were enhanced by in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles. The ΔCD of the cells grown in presence of 0.5% hydrogen peroxide and 50 ppm chlorine was 5.86 ± 1.86% and 5.1 ± 2.3%, respectively, which showed significant reduction compared with cells grown in the absence of disinfecting agents (19.86 ± 2.51%) after 2 h of incubation. The study proved that the proposed method had the potential to assess the metabolic activity of microorganisms in other food products and optimize the disinfection process.