The effects of temperature, treatment time and electric field strength on inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enteritidis in liquid egg yolk by pulsed electric field (PEF) processing were examined using the reaction kinetics approach. Egg yolk, inoculated with similar to 10(8) CFU mL(-1) of E. coli O157:H7 or S. enteritidis, was treated in a continuous flow process at 20, 30 and 40 degrees C in combination with pulsed electric field intensities of 20 and 30 kV cm(-1). A biphasic instant reversal PEF waveform with a 2 mu s pulse width was used and a maximum of 105 pulses were applied. Increasing the applied electric field intensity, treatment time and process temperature resulted in increased bacterial inactivation. At 30 kV cm(-1) and 40 degrees C, the populations of E. coli O157:H7 and S. enteritidis were reduced by similar to 5 logs. The inactivation rate constants increased from 0.004 to 0.098 mu s(-1) for S. enteritidis whereas for E. coli O157:H7 the constants increased from 0.009 to 0.039 mu s(-1) as processing temperature increased from 20 to 40 degrees C. S. enteritidis was more resistant to PEF inactivation than E. coli O157:117 at lower processing temperatures. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.