Fruit and Vegetables Disinfection at SAMRO, Ltd. Using Hygienic Packaging by Means of Ozone and UV Radiation

At the SAMRO AG plant in Burgdorf, Switzerland, the Ventafresh technology has been adopted for cleaning, disinfecting, and storage of potatoes. Ventafresh technologies include washing raw potatoes with ozone-containing water, then treatment with UV radiation in a specially designed "disinfection tunnel''. Ozone wash water disinfects the potatoes while field detritus is removed. UV radiation continues the disinfection and simultaneously destroys remaining ozone. After being processed in the Ventafresh tunnel, cleansed and disinfected potatoes are stored in a clean warehouse at high humidity in an atmosphere containing a lower concentration of ozone. When ready for marketing, the stored potatoes are washed with ozone/water, dried and graded, then washed in another bath with ultrasound and UV radiation, washed again in ozone/water, passed through a tunnel while being exposed to UV radiation (185 and 254 nm), passed through a bath of electrolyzed water, through another UV tunnel, packaged in a nitrogen + CO2 atmosphere, and distributed. The process is applicable to all root vegetables, plus root celery and asparagus, and also to certain fruits (apples, pears, kiwis, tomatoes, and Sharon fruits).