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You may have had the experience of feeling sick after having unhygienic food? Foodborne illnesses have been a critical topic on public health, and contribute significantly to the cost of health care around the world. The CDC estimates that each year foodborne illnesses sicken 48 million Americans (approximately 17 percent of people in the United States) and lead to 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.
In order to improve to reduce a business’ risk of serving unsanitary food to their customers, and to ease the burden on public healthcare, it’s crucial to know best practices and establish standard routines in the preparation, handling, and storage of food to prevent foodborne illness. Although more is known today than ever before about the risks of contamination in the food chain, from production to plating, businesses still face challenges in maintaining food safety.
Chlorine has traditionally been one of the most commonly used disinfectants for water and equipment disinfection. Although not without its disadvantages, It is very effective for the deactivation of pathogenic microorganisms.
However, chlorination has major drawbacks. For restaurants, hospitality, and catering industries, for example, the use of chlorine-based sanitizing systems requires frequent deliveries, expensive hot water, dedicated storage space, and the training and tasking of employees on how to measure and mix proper proportions of chemical cleaning agents.
That means extra costs and efforts for businesses. Also, chlorination has a potential taste and odor objections, meaning chlorine-based systems require substantial rinsing. Inadequate rinsing can result in the addition of an unacceptable bleach flavor to food products.
OZONE water treatment is considered a safe and effective disinfectant for food applications. Including decontamination of water and sanitization of kitchen equipment, OZONE water can directly oxidize and decompose the cell membrane of bacteria, causing osmotic bursting meaning bacteria cannot survive in OZONE water.
OZONE (O₃) is an unstable gas comprising three atoms of oxygen. It is unstable because the gas will readily degrade back to its stable state, diatomic oxygen (O₂) with the formation of free oxygen atoms or free radicals. The free oxygen atoms or radicals are highly reactive and they will oxidize almost anything (including viruses, bacteria, organic and inorganic compounds) in contact, making OZONE an enormously powerful disinfectant and oxidizer.
In fact, OZONE is a much stronger oxidizer than other common disinfectants such as chlorine and hypochlorite. The usage of chlorine or hypochlorite in many countries has decreased significantly due to the possibility of the formation of carcinogenic by-products such as trihalomethanes (THM) during the disinfection process.
In contrast, OZONE disinfection does not produce any harmful residues, and all the residual OZONE will be converted back to oxygen within a short time. Therefore, OZONE is considered as an environmentally friendly disinfectant.
Compared with general chlorine disinfectants, the sanitization speed of OZONE is 3,000 times faster, and its sanitization ability is 50 times stronger. Aqueous OZONE is effective against E. coli populations whether they are found on the surface of foodstuffs, or on the hands of food handlers, who can immerse their hands in OZONE water rinses during food preparation.
OZONE water prevents decay and thus extends shelf life by eliminating decomposition agents such as bacteria, yeast, and molds, and enhances food safety by reducing populations of foodborne pathogens, including E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, and Shigella.
From a business operation perspective, OZONE water is the safest and most effective method for sanitization. OZONE water is a cold-water disinfection agent. Compared to chlorine, there is no hot water or storage of chemicals needed with OZONE water.
Training food handlers to use OZONE water is very simple: Just immerse the food in OZONE water for at least 30 seconds. Moreover, OZONE water is environmentally safe as the OZONE molecules naturally revert to oxygen within 20 minutes. Therefore, dedicated disposal procedures are not required, like chlorine-based products; and no harmful residues would be left behind.
Because of its safe and reliable characteristics, OZONE has been approved as a disinfection and sanitizing agent for more than 16 years when the FDA granted GRAS status approval in 2001. OZONE is also approved by the FDA as a food additive.
OZONE water in the wash environment can enhance food safety by killing waterborne and surface pathogens on food products, processing equipment, and contact points of food handlers. Unlike chlorine sanitization processes, it leaves no chemical residual, no taste or smell after reaction, and with BiOLUX systems, there will be no effect on the pH balance of water, which makes it the perfect disinfection for hotels, restaurants, and catering businesses.
Today, new advanced OZONE water systems have been designed to integrate into existing food production, processing, and handling facilities. For example, the Central OZONE Water Sanitation System uses water electrolysis technology to generate OZONE-dissolved water containing high purity OZONE that can be used for handwashing before cooking, food ingredients washing, food processing station cleaning, and tool disinfection. The system can be integrated with the existing water supply, transforming the general tap water into high-concentration antibacterial disinfection water.
Many familiar brand names, such as WM Morrison Supermarkets, Loblaw supermarket, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Maxim’s Inn, and Worldwide Seafood Ltd, are successfully utilizing our OZONE Water sanitization System to accomplish high levels of food safety. “Food safety is the first priority of our company.”
Since 1988, BiOLUX powered by BES Group has been a leading electrolytic OZONE manufacturer dedicated to “chemical-free” sanitation solutions. BioSure Professional, under BES Group, provides professional solutions applying advanced OZONE technologies in food safety and hygiene, commercial laundry, air quality control, water treatment, healthcare, and other industries.
Our sanitation solutions have helped numerous global corporations and organizations, spanning hospitality to medical care industries, to reduce millions of chemical detergents used annually.
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