Ozone Sterilization (Food)

Today, ozone sterilization, sanitation, disinfection for food and water has been the hot topics. It just came to realization that ozone is the best technology available and is gradually replacing older methods for many cleaning applications. The idea of ozone sterilization is so brilliant that almost all water suppliers in almost every country use ozone as disinfectant while replacing its old sterilizing methods like chlorination. Furthermore, ozone is at least ten times stronger than chlorine as a disinfectant. However, the use of ozone has penetrated the food industry as well. By law, every grocery store, restaurant, bar, and all other commercial food suppliers are obligated to disinfect food sources from harmful bacteria, viruses, and a host of parasitic microbes before they sell it. Ozone was found to be amazingly effective in destroying pathogens on the surfaces of consumable items like meat, vegetables, fruits and etc. To find out why ozone is so magical, let's consider the following aspects:

What is ozone?

Let's begin by understanding what ozone basically is. We have heard of the stratosphere, also called the ‘ozone layer’ in our earth’s atmosphere. This where direct ultraviolet sunlight has its shorter wavelengths of light being filtered for our safety. Ozone is found abundant at 50~70 miles above the earth's surface which its occurrence and existence is a natural phenomenon. Ozone is nothing more than three oxygen molecules electrically bound together. Unlike the stable oxygen you breathe (O2), ozone has extremely great oxidative power and very ready to react to germs, viruses, and a host of microbes that are known to cause illness. Moreover, ozone is derived naturally from oxygen in air usually by electrical discharges such as lightning or by high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Since ozone has a very short life span, it tends to convert back into oxygen. That's why ozone has to be produced on-site upon demand and it cannot be purchased conveniently in a container or vial.

Effectiveness of Ozone

Microorganisms that can be treated with ozone covers an tremendously wide range. There is quite a long list of microorganisms that ozone effectively kills without hurting the food or surface where they reside, but the following is a summary or rough idea of the categories of contaminants that can all be treated with ozone:

• Bacteria—all known
• Fungi and yeast—all known
• Protozoa (including parasites and amoebae)—all known.
• Its effectiveness against Cryptosporidium has some limitations, yet is still
the most effective of all known sanitation agents for this organism.

In general, ozone is used commercially to:

• Disinfect water before it is bottled
• Kill bacteria, yeast and protozoa on food-contact surfaces such as fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, and all animal meats
• Kill yeast and mold spores that float in the air in food processing plants
• Chemically attack (oxidize) impurities in water such as iron, arsenic, hydrogen sulfide, nitrites and organic clumps
• Oxidize and degrade many organic pollutants including pesticides, herbicides and other persistent environmental chemicals

In addition, ozone treatment was  proven to eradicate hazardous E. Coli bacterium that recently invaded Germany causing  a national epidemic. Evidences presented by Penn State University are as follows:

(Click to enlarge)

How it works?

 Comprehensive diagrams with explanation to further aid your understanding:

The red object resembles a healthy bacillus bacterial cell found on surface of a piece of meat.

This is a closer look of the bacterial cell at its surface membrane which is the cell wall where it is exposed to ozone. Ozone attaches itself to the cell wall of the bacterium.

Ozone carry out a very vital reaction called the oxidative burst that creates a tiny hole or puncturing the wall.

Cell wall of the bacterium breached, exposing its internal features to the surrounding.

The cell wall is essential for the survival of the bacteria as it supports the structure of the cell physically. Once breached, it starts to lose its shape and disintegrate while ozone molecules continue the attack at the cell wall.

After thousands and millions of ozone collisions under only a few seconds, the bacterial wall no longer be able to maintain its shape and is destroyed into debris. Hence, resulting in the lysing and death of the bacterial cell.

Ozone Sterilizer / Sanitizer 

With the help of technology we have today, access to ozone has been as easy as merely pressing a single button. As for today, machines that generates ozone or also known as ozone sterilizers or ozone sanitation machine are commonly found in the market. There are basically two types of these machines, namely the air-based and water-based ones. However, they both work under the same concept as they differ only in the method of ozone delivery.

Concept of generating ozone in an ozone sterilizer

The primary process used commercially today to make ozone is called electrical discharge or corona discharge. Inside the machine, a high voltage electrical spark is fires across a gap like a spark plug in a car engine) to turn oxygen into ozone. The other products formed in the process is destroyed through various mechanisms, all of which is done safely and efficiently as part of the ozone generation process. Once ozone has done its damage to its target, it naturally converts back to oxygen, or so called stable oxygen.

Types of ozone sterilizer

Water-based Ozone Sterilizer

For this particular type of ozone sterilizer, ozone gas are pumped into a basin where the target items such as meat,vegetable and fruits are submerged in water. The activity of ozone occurs in the water itself leaving coagulation of impurities like pesticides, herbicides, and bacteria clump floating on the surface and further being discarded. This is the most preferred type of machine as it is multifunctional (also capable of sterilizing water), clean and simple to be used.

Air-based Ozone Sterilizer

Unlike the water-based type, the delivery method used in air-based ozone sterilizer is rather simple. Food items are placed directly into the enclosed chamber of the machine and ozone gas generated are shot directly onto the surface of the target allowing the disinfection activity to occur in the air. This machine uses less power compared to a water-based machine.

 
So what are you waiting for? 
Get one of your own and start living a healthier life.