Fresh food suppliers, producers, exporters or transporters would be very interested in slowing down ripening or preventing cross contamination of bacteria and mould on fresh vegetables fruit, meat or processed food whilst in storage or in transport.
Fresh produce travels the globe to find its way to the end-consumer. The fruit market in particular is very global with about nine percent of all fruits grown being traded internationally. The majority is shipped in refrigerated ocean containers. During the transit process different factors determine the quality of produce upon arrival at its destination.
Ozone
Quite frequently, we hear about dangerous food borne contaminants with transported fruit and produce, like E. coli, salmonella and listeria. Countries have different regulations on how food is processed and when multiple countries are involved, it becomes difficult to guarantee safety. Ozone reduces the risk of foodborne illness as it sterilises the container and cargo.When farms send produce to a shared, central packhouse, produce can become contaminated. A shipping container can also be a source of contamination as you don’t know what was in the container before your produce. Ozone will significantly reduce the risk of cross contamination, and it can reduce many types of surface-borne food pathogen risk by as much as 99% in as few as 5-7 days.
