The Effect of Microwave Radiation on the Growth of Staphylococcus Aureus

The benefit and convenience of microwave ovens cant be denied. They produce obvious effects on the microbial growth. Sterilization and decontamination of food from microorganisms that cause food poisoning, such as staphylococcus aureus (S aureus) has very significant preventive and cost effective benefit. This study was performed to investigate the effect of microwave radiation (MR) on the growth of S aureus. In order to observe the thermal effect of MR on the growth of these bacteria, S aureus cultures were exposed to MR at 60 Hertz (Hz), with different duration of time from 0 to 7 minutes (min). Compared to untreated control culture, cell viability was significantly reduced as the exposure time increased, with almost complete inactivation at 7 min. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 19.0. Results concluded that there is a highly significant negative relationship between exposure time and quantity of bacteria. These findings suggest that MR could be an effective tool in inactivating different types of microorganisms.