The Utilization of Ozone for Treating Vegetable Processing Lines

Adoption of ozone technologies as Food Safety treatments in the Agri-Food Industries today is still being approached with great caution. This paper reviews selected successes in using ozone UV and advanced oxidation to enhance food safety and reduce energy costs in the Agri-Food industry. Included is a preliminary case study of utilizing ozone and chlorination in a FTNON vegetable washing system. Vegetable flotation washing systems such as the FTNON equipment produced by Noord-Oost in the Netherlands have the potential to vigorously wash sand as well as floating particulate from vegetables and fruits. With minor modifications these machines can be adapted to utilize combinations of ozone, UV and chlorination. Preliminary trials indicate plate counts are lowered with the combination treatment. Future data will need to be collected to determine the levels of chlorination required to ensure residual microbial protection without detracting from product taste and quality. When developed, these systems have the...