Inactivation of bacterial pathogens in drinking water

Graduation date: 2012Wine is known to have been enjoyed since ancient times. Although early civilizations where unaware of scientific mechanisms of the properties of wine, empirical methods allowed them knowledge of its intoxicating effects as well as its healthful properties. These properties lead the ancients to use wine for many purposes including its use in medicine. It has been proposed that civilizations in antiquity such as the Romans and Greeks may have used wine as a means to sanitize their drinking water and avoid sickness due to pathogenic organisms. Wine has been shown to have unique antimicrobial properties that may support these claims. The objective of this research was to determine the efficacy of wines at diluted levels to inhibit pathogens in drinking water and to and to analyze the sensory properties of hypothesized dilutions.\ud Initial experiments focused on the inhibitory effects of wine at varying dilutions. Three pathogenic strains were used to determine the efficacy of wine as a sanitizing aide; two strains of Escherichia coli and one strain of Salmonella poona.\ud Two Chardonnay wines produced at Oregon State University were used for the microbial study. One Chardonnay was produced with added sulfites while the other had no added sulfites. It was determined that wines at low concentrations in water have an inhibitory effect against the microorganism tested.\ud The second objective of this study was to investigate the sensory properties of wine diluted with water. Two sensory studies were carried out using consumer panels. We first analyzed the ability to detect wine in water at low concentrations. Secondly we sought to determine whether different dilutions of wine and water were considered by the consumer to be refreshing. The study determined that wine mixed into water is easily detected at low concentrations. Through preference testing it was further determined that a low concentration of wine mixed with water was statistically more refreshing than water alone