Vegetable and fruit

Washing and fruit/vegetable with ozonized water and packaging in modified atmosphere for better conservation in cooling cells are technologies that are rapidly gaining popularity.

SEPRA provides various technological solutions, customized to the need of the customer, for the tratemnet of process waters. Two simple solutions for fruit and vegetable sanitization and lengthening of their shelf life are the following: 

• Using ozonized water on the washing line of the fruit and vegetable products
• Generating ozone in cooling cells in order to treat the product in a confined environment

The two solutions can be used independently, which will increase their efficiency, or in combination. 

Washing with ozonized water

In the fruit and vegetable sector normal drinking water is no longer sufficient to guarantee the destruction of bacteria and fertilizer residues which could be present in the final product. The use of ozonized water on lettuce provided the following results:

• Recycling of the washing water.
• 50-60% reduction in consumption of rinsing water;
• Increased product shelf life by more than 50%.

Ozone in storage cells

During the period of storage of fruit and vegetables, these products nalturally develop ethylene gas as the outcome of the maturation process that spontaneously evolves.The ethylene gas diffuses passively between the fruit, causing "cascade" acceleration of the maturation of all merchandise as in a chain reaction. The process is sustained on one side by gradually increasing amount of fruit that ripens and, on the other hand, by the increasing amount of ethylene emitted in this process.
In practice, once it is triggered this mechanism progress and develops increasingly large quantities of ethylene, generating a very fast and hardly controllable ripening "by proximity" which is transmitted from one product to the surrounding ones.
In this condition the use of ozone allows:

• safe and rapid break down of the high levels of ethylene through the vigorous action of oxidation (formation of carbon dioxide and water);
• increase in shelf-life of products;
• guaranteed total disinfection of the foodstuffs themselves (such as fruit, nuts, flour, stored food, animal feed) from any type of organism and / or insects.

We need to emphasize that the use of ozone does not in any way alter the quality and appearance of the food treated and even allows an effective qualitative differentiation vs untreated food, in accordance with Americans and Europeans regulations - FDA and EMEA.

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