The conclusion of this study was that the hot water carcass spraying procedure reduced coliforms and the surrogate organism by a mean log reduction of 4.0 on a consistent basis. It also concluded that the hot water wash reduced counts to below the minimum detection level.

Ain't it ironic that in our scientifically advanced era which requires continual development of additional pathogen intervention systems, that a time-tested adequate hot water wash intervention alone can reduce artificially inflated pathogen presence to a less-than-detectable result? If such dramatic success is accomplished on beef carcasses in a less than sterile beef slaughterhouse environment, perhaps equal success can be accomplished on canteloupe.

Furthermore, blending clorox into the water would provide a higher level of pathogen control. According to USDA, blending 1 tablespoon of clorox into one gallon of water has been scientifically validated to remove rodent fecal and urine contamination on beef carcasses.

Water washing isn't rocket science. Just common sense.

John Munsell