Ozone food treatment OK'd by FDA
09/01/2001
FOOD SAFETY
Mark A. DeSorbo
ROCKVILLE, MD--Meat and poultry processors can blast away pathogens with ozone now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of the powerful bacteria-killing oxidant as an antimicrobial agent on foods.
"It gives food processors another weapon in the arsenal for fighting bacteria," says Richard L. Martin, a spokesman at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN).
 BOC's ozone generator. |
Martin says ozone has already been used to treat bottled water, meat chillers and medical devices. A petition was filed with the FDA last summer by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI; Palo Alto, CA) to gain federal approval to use ozone to treat foodstuffs.
"The evidence supported us regulating it," says Martin, adding that it took less than a year of reviewing chemical, toxicology, application and environmental data before the June 2001 approval.
According to EPRI, a non-profit technology research and development organization, food processors are under increasing pressure to reduce the amount of chlorine used to treat process water.
"Ozone is an effective alternative. Ozone is one of the most effective disinfectants known for deactivation of many organisms, including bacteria, viruses, molds and insects," an EPRI report indicates. "Ozone-based technology will help maintain the competitiveness of the U.S. food processing industry."
Hungry for new markets
The FDA's approval for treating food with ozone has whetted the appetites of manufacturers close to the food processing industry.
According to BOC Gases (Murray Hill, NJ), the company can now launch a technology that introduces ozone-laced water into animal carcasses during washing and chilling process, while RGF Environmental Group (West Palm Beach, FL) says it can move forward and further promote its ozone-generating technologies.
Shortly after the federal approval, BOC and RGF formed a strategic alliance to market new applications specifically designed to destroy E-coli, listeria, salmonella and other food-borne pathogens.
Mark DiMaggio, director of business development and marketing for BOC, says the ruling will enhance the performance and benefits of BOC's existing, commercialized ozone-based technology, namely its Macron Process Water Reuse System and its Macron Chiller Loop.
The alliance with RGF, he says, will complement an existing agreement BOC has with ozone systems manufacturer, PCI-WEDECO (West Caldwell, NJ) to develop and promote related technologies.
RGF Environmental designs and manufactures many environmental products. The company has installed ozone and ultraviolet-based antimicrobial systems in beef, pork, poultry, seafood, grain, pasta, fruits and vegetable processing facilities.
"This alliance will provide food processors with a pathogen-intervention strategy that previously was not in their portfolio," DiMaggio says. "It's just another tool, and ozone can create an aggressive atmosphere to surface sanitize food, equipment, atmospheres and water."
Charles "Dusty" Pearsall, RGF's director of food safety systems, agrees, noting the approval has been a need in the food processing industry for quite some time.
"The last few years have seen tremendous industry pressure building for the FDA ruling, and we are well prepared for what's to come," he says.
Dr. James Marsden, Regent's Distinguished Professor at Kansas State University and former president of the American Meat Institute Foundation, praised the BOC/RGF alliance.
"The FDA approval of ozone as an antimicrobial treatment provides the food industry with a safe and effective means of reducing contamination on meat and poultry, fruits and vegetables, and seafood," Marsden says. "This alliance will empower food companies to produce the safest possible consumer products."
Versatile antimicrobial
Ozone, one of the most powerful oxidants known to science, reacts with both organic and inorganic substances. Although it can be produced using either pure oxygen or air, oxygen feed provides the most efficient, least costly method available. Because it's an environmentally friendly alternative to other oxidation agents such as chlorine, it produces no harmful by-products and leaves no strong, residual odors.
Mark McLellan, director of the Institute of Food Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University (College Station, TX), says ozone has a well-known history of effectiveness without adulterating the taste, smell, texture or color of the food that has been treated.
"In the past, it's been easier to treat products in more traditional ways, so many are not aware of ozone because info on it had been more anecdotal," he says. "Now with companies moving into creating ozone generators for treating food products, we're seeing the data."
McLellan, a communicator for the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT; Chicago), says the demand for this type of treatment will certainly increase, and the technology will more than likely be combined with existing technologies.
"It might be used for a mild pasteurization with no recognizable effect on the meat, but it would damage the microbes and sensitize them to a secondary treatment," he explains. "There is a potential to stack up technologies for maximum results and very minimal impact."
And combined with appropriate packaging, McLellan says cleanliness can be maintained and virtually undisturbed until the product is opened in the home.
"Ozone is one more tool in the tool belt, and we are pleased to see any technology coming to deliver safer food products," he says. "That's exciting."