How is ozone helping the food and beverage industry to maintain bacteria-free products? Emphor DLAS, a leading life and analytical science service provider explains why Ozone is a better alternative to Sodium Hydrochloride.
The greatest fear of biological engineer in the food and beverage industry is contamination due to bacteria. Bacteria in food materials and products often lead to the total recall of the product from the supply affecting the business. The trust of the food and beverage industry lies in its reliability and cleanliness. Hygiene and disinfection of food-contact surfaces and equipment are paramount.
Sodium Hypochlorite is the first choice of disinfectant but studies have found that certain pathogenic bacteria such as Aeromonas and Bacillus cereus are showing resistance against Sodium Hypochlorite. Alternative biocides are available but they are never easy and safe to handle like the former one. Ozone is a newfound alternative that has been now used in the food processing industry.
Chlorinated water is used for automated as well as manually washing down the surface. Ozone has proved a superior disinfectant in both applications. Ozone dissolves in water forming a free hydroxyl radical which is a very powerful antimicrobial agent. Ozone has been used for cleaning water for years and so it wasn’t new to the food processing industry. A later study demonstrated that higher dissolved ozone concentrations gave faster inactivation of the bacterium – much quicker than bleach. Ozone is also very effective at removing biofilms by rapidly oxidizing the extracellular polysaccharides that give biofilms their adherent nature. A major benefit of ozone for the food industry is that it decomposes rapidly to form oxygen, leaving no residues.
In the past, ozone generators were large, fixed items in the process plant with health and safety issues and were expensive in capital cost. Innovation is happening and now portable ozonizers are available. The all stainless steel disinfection system incorporates an onboard oil-free air compressor that delivers air to an oxygen concentrator. This passes through an air-cooled ozone reactor with adjustable output. The ozone gas is then injected and dissolved into the flow of water delivered by an integral booster pump to a connected hose and nozzle system. It also stops the gas from entering the workspace.
Various recent studies have shown that when surfaces are exposed to ozonized water either through immersion or by flushing, after the treatment with ozonized water, no bacteria or other dangerous microbes were found.
Emphor DLAS, a trusted life science analytical service providers in the UAE has been educating consumers regarding the ozone method of cleaning water and to industries regarding its effectiveness in the food and beverage sector. In short, ozone is an excellent alternative to Sodium Hypochlorite which can easily be applied to any kind of surfaces. They are bests used in almost all sectors of the food and beverage industry.
