Abstract:

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the applications of electrolyzed oxidizing water (EOW)
for inhibiting or disinfecting microorganisms, owning to its many advantages such as the broad-spectrum bactericidal
activity with high efficiency, low-cost, safety and eco-friendliness. Nowadays, strongly acid electrolyzed water (StAEW)
is used widely. In addition, there have also been some reports concerning the applications of slightly acidic electrolyzed
water (SAEW) and neutral electrolyzed water (NEW) in the fields of agriculture and food processing. With the deepening
of the research, some issues including the synergistic effect of EOW and other processing methods on the inhibition
or the disinfection of microorganisms, the active ingredients and the mechanism of action of EOW, and the conditions
for sterilization using EOW have been addressed. This paper reviews the latest research progress in the inhibition of
microorganisms and in the disinfection and inactivation of viruses and toxins by EOW. Moreover, existing problems in the
current research and future direction for the development of EOW are also discussed in this review.

Key words: electrolyzed oxidizing water (EOW), microorganism, agriculture, food, disinfectant