Nowadays, food and beverage industry needs different innovative technologies to meet the consumer demand. Since ozone oxidations is a nature friendly process, attention can be now focused on the ozone as a powerful disinfectant and some companies are changing their sanitation practices to include ozone.
Ozone is known as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial power, being active against bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa and bacterial and fungal spores- none of which can resist to oxidation processes of ozone. Due to a high power of ozone to disinfect food and kill microorganisms, it is worthy and economical to use this chemical sanitizer in foods processing, treatment and storage.
As a potent sanitizer and promising applications in the modern food industry, ozone efficiently saves energy and cost and also reduce the processing time. The companies would be able to rely on the reduction of chemical costs and wastewater disposal fees and reassure to improve the qualities of their products.
Therefore, this organic gas is going to show benefits ranging from microbial load reduction to increased shelf life of many different types of food products. It can also be an alternative to chlorine sanitizers in in food application.
Food processing
The following are some of the effective roles of ozone in food processing:
– To control the biological growth of unwanted organisms in food products;
– To lower water consumption by increasing water re-use effectively;
– To control odor and smoke in processing area;
– To disinfect a variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and poultry etc.;
– To provide pathogen free food;
– To fight against wide range of harmful microorganisms effectively.
Sanitizing and disinfecting
The following are some of the functional roles of ozone in sanitizing:
– To use directly into food as an effective antimicrobial agent;
– To revert back to oxygen after it is used. This makes it a very environmentally friendly oxidant;
– To reduce the contamination of potentially deadly pathogens in food;
– To reduce microbial load in processing area;
– To readily oxidize microbes in solution as soon as a surface is spray-washed;
– To sanitize and disinfect packaging, equipment, walls, floors, tools, drains, desks, tanks, container, bottles, tubes, racks, knives and tables and all surfaces without leaving any toxic residue;
Preserving and storage
The following are some of the helpful roles of ozone in preserving and storage:
– Ozone is found as a food preservative for cold storage of meat. It can substantially prevent the growth of yeast and mold during the storage of fruits;
– Storage rooms are treated with ozone gas in order to remove micro-organisms;
– By ozonization, the refrigerated food destroys micro-organisms and pseudomonas family;
– Ethylene formation is stopped by ozone. In fact, it prevents ripening of fruits and vegetables and spoilage by micro-organisms;
– Sometimes, raw food products including onions and potatoes can be stored in an atmosphere containing gaseous ozone;
– Ozone improves shelf life while not affecting on taste and smell;
– Ozone preserve the integrity of foods and water when used correctly.