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Since the early 1900s, ozone has been widely used for water treatment, including disinfection of municipal water supplies, swimming pools, spas, cooling towers, and sewage treatment plants. Recently, ozone has been used in food processing for sanitizing raw materials and irrigation waters, sanitizing packaging materials and storage facilities, and for sanitizing water for recycling
 
Use of ozone for winery and
environmental sanitation
Wineries have embraced the use of ozone. Its use has
been generally accepted and documented to be
effective for barrel cleaning and sanitation, tank
cleaning and sanitation, clean-in-place systems, and
for general surface sanitation
This same trend of acceptance has been noted in many
other industries, such as fresh-cut produce
processing; produce storage facilities; food
processing, including meat processing facilities;
and, in the bottled water and beverage industries.
In these industries, the ozone systems are generally
permanently mounted or fixed in place, which makes
management of off-gas and ozone monitoring for
safety and efficacy relatively easy
However, in the wine industry, ozone systems tend to
be mobile, with multiple operators in multiple
locations. This makes it important that safety
features and ozone management systems are in place
and that the system itself be reliable and easy to
operate
Ozone gas to provide alternative for grain storage
Ironically, the gas is being touted as a fumigant
alternative for grain storage. The use of
ozone-layer harming chemicals currently used to rid
food storage facilities of insects. When ozone is
used for killing grain insects, it lasts for a very
short period of time without damaging the
environment or the grain,
Ozone has a very short half-life and we're using
relatively low dosages, but enough to kill an
insect,"
Ozone is being used to sanitize rice, popcorn, soft
red winter wheat, hard red winter wheat, soybeans
and corn. Food Safety & Sanitation
Because ozone is a safe,
powerful disinfectant, it can be used to control
biological growth of unwanted organisms in products
and equipment used in the food processing
industries. Ozone is particularly suited to the food
industry because of its ability to disinfect
microorganisms without adding chemical by-products
to the food being treated, or to the food processing
water or atmosphere in which food are stored. |
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Ozone can be used to disinfect equipment, process
water, and some foodstuff. In gaseous form, ozone
can act as a preservative for certain foods products
and can also sanitize food packaging materials. Some
products currently being preserved with ozone
include eggs during cold storage, fresh fruits and
vegetables, and fresh fish.
All foods are cleaned, sterilized and processed
using standard techniques supplemented by
application of one or more of the five advanced
techniques - ozone-containing water, ozone gas, UV
radiation (254 and 185 nm), ultrasound, and modified
air packaging. The cleansed foodstuffs then are
packaged with other meal items in trays and sealed
with microwaveable films. Packaging materials also
are disinfected/sterilized using ozone and UV
radiation. These procedures are followed throughout
the processing plant. Sealed containers of foods
processed by the ozone approaches are stored cold,
then transported cold to the restaurants at many
places where they are cooked to order in microwave
ovens.
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Benefits of Ozone
• Conceivable benefits of adding ozone to air packing house and
storage rooms include control of post harvest diseases on
fruits,
• Retarding the production of spores from decaying fruit,
• Sanitation of surfaces and ethylene removal.
• Spores of penicillium expansum unprotected by fruit tissue or
other organic matter were killed by continuous exposure to
ozone.
• Extends the shelf life of food products.
• Gaseous ozone was used as a preservation agent in meat and egg
storage.
• Washing of fish with ozonated water extended shelf life for 5
days.
• The use of ozone does not leave any toxic by-products or
residues, does not affect healthy cells or alter the food's
chemistry
• Ozone has a very short half-life and it has been use with
relatively low dosages, but that is enough to kill an insect
• Once ozone has done its damage to impurities, it naturally
converts back to O2, or stable oxygen. It is now clearly proven
to be a powerful cleaning agent with end products without
carcinogenic chemical residues.
• Is much safer for employees than any conventional chemicals
• Eliminates all chemical usage and is chemical-free, without
the chemical by-products of chlorination
• Eliminates the use of hot water and conventional sanitizer
• Is generated on site, thus eliminating the transporting,
storing and handling of otherwise hazardous materials
• Is very inexpensive to produce once a generator is in use
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