engleski

Hygienic equipment design for washing and handling fresh produce

There is consumer’ s demand for fresh produce, such as minimally processed fruits and vegetables that are nutritious, prepared with minimum preservations and less detrimental to freshness. That new choices present new risk for microbiological contamination. As a result of improperly harvesting, processing and handling in food system the potential for food-borne infection can happen. Many preventive solutions (methods) have been introduced in food production to eliminate or reduce potentially toxic contamination and to provide safer fresh produce. Some of them are irradiation, high hydrostatic pressure, induced electric field, hurdle technologies, modified atmosphere packaging, etc. Increasing attention is being given to the need for better methods to wash fresh raw products which can become contaminated with disease-cousing organisms. Washing is one of the most important process in food industry. Washing technology was develop primarily to remove soil and organic matter from raw material, not microorganisms and even with newer sanitizing agents such as chlorine dioxide, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide, improvements in efficacy have been incremental. Various types of washers are available for different kind of commodities but not much is known about their ability to remove or inactivate bacterial contaminants. Conventional washing methods are not capable of reducing microbial populations on produce by more than 90 to 99 %, which is insufficient to assure microbiological safety. After washing, free moisture must be completely removed because low humidity reduces bacterial growth. Scientists at the USDA-ERRC recently developed a commercial-scale surface treatment that resulted in a 99.999 % reduction in the population of Salmonella cells. Experimental hydrogen peroxide and hot water treatments were applied to apples. The company Electric Aquagenics Unlimited has introduced its electrolysed water technology which might be as a replacement for chemical cleaners. The length of time for which fresh produce stays fresh depends on other factors too, such as cooling the raw material before processing, packaging method and material, the temperature and constitution of the atmosphere inside the packaging or in processing plant and warehouse, maintenance of stringent sanitary conditions, etc.

fresh produce; washing; processing; handling

nije evidentirano