Uniform Strategy for Decontamination of Stored Food

The impact of acute and chronic disease via exposure to pathogens, toxins, and chemical contaminants in food as well as financial losses incurred from such contaminants is significant. In an effort to increase the safety of foods, many intervention strategies have been developed, though none have been successful for uniform reduction of diverse food-derived insect, microbial and chemical contaminants. Ozone (O3) has been shown to be a safe and effective decontaminating gas in many post-harvest and food processing applications, and has grown in popularity due to the lack of chemical persistence, the broad susceptibility of organisms, and the ability to synthesize the disinfectant on-demand. Despite the promising economic and decontamination capabilities of ozone as a food decontaminant, the generation and uniform delivery of O3 gas throughout grains and oilseeds remains a challenge. During the Phase I project, we evaluated and compared the effectiveness of five grain treatment systems to determine optimal conditions for uniform ozone application. The four test systems were each designed to demonstrate a unique grain/ozone contacting approach. Based on Phase I conclusions, Lynntechs design and engineering team, in collaboration with academic/industry experts, will design, manufacture, and test a fully-optimized, integrated continuous ozone treatment system in Phase II.