Electrolyzed water: an effective technique to improve the quality of seafood products

According to World Health Organization report, each year worldwide, unsafe food causes 600 million food-borne diseases and 420,000 deaths. Additionally, 30% of deaths occur in children under 5 years old. On the other hand, with the increase in people's awareness about nutritional value of food, the dietary trends have led to a continuously increasing demand for ready-to-eat foods. Hence, enhancing food safety is very important for the consumers. The application of modern food preservation methods is quite necessary in order to improve safety and extend shelf life with the lowest adverse effects on the sensory characteristics and nutritional value of seafood products. Non-thermal methods such as high pressure, ultrasonic, cold plasma techniques, and electrolyzed water have been developed to maintain food hygiene or disinfection. In recent years, the use of electrolyzed water (EW), which is obtained by electrolysis of dilute salt solution (NaCl) or hydrogen chloride (HCl), is known as an effective disinfection technique against a wide range of food pathogens. In this review, the effectiveness of using electrolyzed water in aquatic products, as well as their antimicrobial properties against food pathogens, have been investigated.