Application of ozone technology in food industry

Application of ozone technology in food industry

Based on the safety, no residue, and the convenience, applicability, and environmental protection of ozone sterilization technology compared with other food sterilization methods, it has been widely used in the following food fields.

1. Sterilization in food production workshops, surface disinfection and cold storage disinfection

As a broad-spectrum high-efficiency bactericide, ozone is 300-600 times faster than chlorine. It can quickly kill various bacterial propagules and spores, viruses and fungi, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis Black mutant spores, Aspergillus niger, hepatitis B surface antigen, etc. Compared with the disinfectants commonly used in the food industry, the sterilization ability of ozone is equivalent to that of peroxyacetic acid, and higher than chemical disinfectants such as formaldehyde, chlorine dioxide, potassium permanganate and chlorine preparations; there is nothing in terms of causing no residual pollution. Chemical disinfectants can be compared with it; and compared with ultraviolet irradiation methods, not only there is no dead corner for sterilization, but also the sterilization time can be greatly shortened, and low-concentration ozone that meets national health standards can be used to keep the air in the production workshop clean. It makes up for the shortcoming that ultraviolet rays can't clean the workshop.

Ozone can not only disinfect and sterilize confined spaces, but also act on the surface and interior of objects. Especially in recent years, the in-depth development of ozone application technology has made it more and more important in the food industry.

2. Storage and freshness of fruits and vegetables

Ozone can inhibit the expression of some genes and reduce the activities of aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid synthase and aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid oxidase, thereby reducing ethylene biosynthesis and delaying the ripening of fruits and vegetables. In addition, ozone treatment significantly reduces fruit and vegetable cell wall swelling, inhibits the dissolution of pectin and neutral sugar and cell wall degradation enzyme activity, thereby reducing the softening of fruit and vegetable pulp and cell wall decomposition.

3. Disinfection of production equipment, work clothes, etc.

Food processing, cold drinks, biochemical and pharmaceutical departments have high requirements for disinfection of work clothes. The commonly used ultraviolet lamp irradiation method has a disinfection effect on the part directly hit by the light wave, and the irradiated area is small, and the actual effect is very poor. The use of O₃ to disinfect work clothes is an efficient, economical and simple method.

4. Sterilization and purification of production water, sterilization and quality assurance of mineral water

Food production requires a large amount of clean water, which is a large expenditure in the production cost. Using ozone to treat substandard water can completely achieve this goal.

The shelf life of mineral water depends on the complete elimination of microorganisms, and the commonly used methods of filtration and ultraviolet disinfection can hardly meet the quality standards. Ozone sterilization has become the preferred method, which can not only kill microorganisms completely, but also remove iron and manganese, soluble salts in water, and preserve beneficial carbon and oxygen compounds.

5. Degrade pesticide residues

After researching and testing some commonly used pesticide removal methods one by one, it was found that: soaking and washing with water can only remove about 10% of the residual pesticides, and soaking only has a certain effect on water-soluble pesticides. However, most of the more than 200 pesticides put on the market in my country are insoluble in water, and the effect of cleaning with ordinary dishwashing agents is also poor. Since many dishwashing detergents are synthetic raw materials based on cheap sodium alkylbenzene sulfonate, using them to wash vegetables and fruits often causes secondary pollution. During the research process, two kinds of vegetables treated with ozone disinfection technology were tested. The test results showed that ozone can effectively open the chemical bonds of pesticides and achieve the detoxification and degradation effect of pesticide residues in vegetables. After soaking the vegetable samples treated with ozone water for 10 minutes, the average removal rate of pesticide residues can reach 95.0%.

6. Product decolorization and bleaching effect

As a strong oxidant, ozone can also act as a decolorizing agent in the food industry. In the sugar industry, the current general method is to add sulfur dioxide as a clarifying agent, but this method leads to sulfur residues in the finished product, which has great limitations in use. It can be considered to choose ozone instead of sulfur dioxide for testing, control the ozone treatment conditions, and achieve the expected decolorization requirements while not producing toxic chemical residues. In addition, ozone can also be used in the bleaching of whey protein. The traditional bleaching method of whey protein is to use hydrogen peroxide or benzoyl peroxide, but this method may cause a change in the flavor of whey powder. Under certain conditions, Ozone can achieve the same bleaching effect as hydrogen peroxide.