Fig 5.

Inactivation of Salmonella Typhimurium STCC 878 by UV light (UV; black bars) (19.94 J ml⁻¹/2.23 min), heat treatment (H; white bars) (55.0°C for 2.23 min), and combined treatment of both technologies simultaneously (UV-H; gray bars) and sequentially in both orders: UV followed by heat treatment (UV→H), and heat followed by UV treatment (H→UV). The H→UV treatment showed an additive effect (1.69 ± 0.30 log₁₀ cycles) that was not significantly different (P > 0.05) from the sum of heat (0.47 ± 0.20 log₁₀ cycles) and UV inactivation (1.12 ± 0.19 log₁₀ cycles). The UV→H treatment showed a greater lethal effect (2.34 ± 0.31 log₁₀ cycles) but lower than that observed when both technologies were applied simultaneously (5.09 ± 0.28 log₁₀ cycles).