Meat and Fish Processing Plants

In the fish, poultry and meat processing industries, the problem of Salmonela and Listeria is one of the top challenges. Often, in this type of industry, water is what is used to wash and eliminate dirt and unwanted product waste. Most of this water is treated with high doses of chlorine so that bacteria is eliminated in a short period of time. Unfortunately, the chlorine reacts with the food, creating potentially carcinogenic substances called THMs (tri-halomethanes). These treatments usually produce alterations in the surface of the product in terms of both colour and flavour.

Ozone is a universal disinfectant that can oxidize organic matter and inorganic compounds, destroy viruses, bacteria and other pathogens. For over a century, it has been used for water treatment processes and only recently, it has taken on a lead role in the food and agriculture industry.

Ozone acts by breaking down the walls of pathogenic cells and is a much more effective method that chlorine, since with only 0.4 ppm over four minutes, it is able to eliminate bacteria, viruses, moulds and fungi. Ozone is a very unstable compound, with a very short average lifespan. Once it has done its job as a disinfectant, it breaks down into oxygen.

The increase in consumer demands and the current regulations have led to an exhaustive analysis of the selection of disinfectants used in the washing processes for meat and fish.

Ozone plays an important role in those processes, and, in contrast to other systems, it does not leave chemical residues on the product, nor in the wash water.

In most European countries, seafood is processed with ozonized water. Ozone offers better virus and bacteria elimination than chlorine, and leaves no traces in the flavour of the products treated. Lots of companies involved in oyster, clam and mussel processing and treatment are using ozonized water as a purification system, in order to eliminate all the micro-pollution absorbed from the environment. They are therefore able to send their products to markets in a perfectly disinfected state.

The process consists of recirculating ozonized water into the mollusc storage tanks to prevent growth of microorganisms and to favour the product’s purification process.