Pathogens in food and beverage? The solution is clear… it’s UV!
In a recent article in International Food Hygiene, Dr. Roy Betts says:
“There has been considerable work done on the survival of various human pathogens in bottled waters, and results suggest Salmonella could survive for over one year and E. coli O157 for over 300 days. This shows the importance of ensuring the absence of human pathogens from bottled water.”
You may probably be thinking, “Sure, contamination can occur, but surely only in faraway countries with corrupt governments and no proper regulations. It can’t happen in developed countries like ours!”
I’m afraid it can – and has – on many occasions. Just this past April, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a recall on 9,400 bottles of water which were found to test positive for E. coli bacteria. And in 2006 in Spain, a member of the European Union, Salmonella kottbus infection of a commercial bottled water product infected forty-six individuals.
As we can see, contamination by Salmonella, E. coli and many other organisms can and does happen, even in the most developed countries.
So what’s the solution?
The solution is a technology that’s been available for many years and has been proven to inactivate these organisms. This technology is ultraviolet (UV) disinfection.
UV works by destroying the DNA of pathogenic organisms, preventing them from being able to perform vital cellular functions or to reproduce. In fact, UV has become very common in the food and beverage industries, with a variety of applications such as surface, air, water and effluent disinfection.
Aquionics produces UV disinfection systems specifically adapted for use in the food and beverage industries. These Fit for Purpose systems have been designed to take into account the stringent requirements of regulatory bodies such as the FDA and are perfect for disinfecting incoming water supplies, bottle washing stations and sugar syrup; they are also suitable for ozone and chlorine removal. Our units all feature the following:
- FDA-compliant seals and O-rings
- Tri-clamp sanitary connections
- Internal finishes to .5 Ra
- Certificates of fabrication for material conformance
In addition, our UV systems can be supplied with a 3rd party validation, which provides a real live test of the UV equipment to the most stringent North American standards. This 3rd party test ensures that the UV system selected for your application has been sized to the appropriate level to inactivate the organism of concern.
With over 90 years of experience with UV, Aquionics is here to be a part of your team.
