Product promises reduced risk of cross-contamination
January 10, 2007
FRESNO, CA -- The recent rash of news reports about food-related illnesses has motivated the food industry to intensify the already high level of attention being given to food safety practices and protocols. From growers to restaurateurs to retailers, people at every level of the produce supply chain have been taking a hard look at their practices -- and their documentation of those practices -- to be sure that all bases are covered.
HACCP programs involve identifying and addressing those critical junctures in the food production and delivery process where contamination could occur. One of those is the possibility of cross-contamination by loading produce into a truck or railcar, or into a shipping container, that is already contaminated with pathogens from a previous cargo.
Washing trailers before loading, sometimes with just water and sometimes using a sanitizing solution, is a common practice. But studies undertaken by ByoCoat Enterprises Inc. in Humacao, Puerto Rico, have shown that the standard methods do not always do an effective job of eliminating pathogenic microbes, bacteria or mold spores that might have been left there from whatever had last been hauled in the trailer, according to Steve Burwell, chief executive officer of ByoCoat.
There are always nooks and crannies in the trailer where a pressure wash does not reach, he said. Mold spores may accumulate, for example, in a reefer's air duct. Moreover, samples taken from various places in a trailer before and after washing routinely show, surprisingly, a higher level of microorganisms after the wash than before.
To address the issue, ByoCoat has developed a sanitizing product and an application technology that the company's tests show dramatically reduce microorganisms in comparison to conventional methods, effectively eliminating the possibility of cross-contamination. The product and technology are being marketed by ByoSafe Solutions, a ByoCoat subsidiary based in Fresno, CA.
Mr. Burwell was in Fresno late last year, along with Steve Serpa, president of ByoSafe, for a demonstration of the technology at Valley Transport Refrigeration. Reefers from various truck lines, as well as one modular land- sea container, were brought in for the demonstration. Each was washed with water, then sanitized, with samples taken for lab analysis before the wash, after the wash and after the sanitization process. Lab results would take several days, but Mr. Burwell said that a similar demonstration had been done in California's Salinas Valley a couple of weeks earlier, and the results consistently showed much lower presence of microorganisms in the trailer following the ByoSafe sanitation process than after a pressure wash.
The active agent used in the process is quaternary ammonium chloride, which, he said, has effective microcidal, bacteriocidal and fungicidal properties. But what makes the process so effective, he explained, is an electrostatic delivery process, which creates a seamless coating over under, through, around and behind every surface in the trailer, including every little crack and crevice, leaving the microorganisms no place to hide.
In the Salinas demonstrations, he said, one of the trailers that came in tested positive for E. coli before the ByoSafe treatment and negative following the treatment, demonstrating that the process is effective against E. coli. ByoSafe furnished The Produce News with a technical data sheet indicating that the formulation is also effective against staphylococcus and various other pathogens. Mr. Burwell said that it has also been demonstrated to be effective against bird flu virus.
Importantly, the formulation is itself safe, said Mr. Burwell.
It has been EPA-approved for use on food-contact surfaces and "registered as a sanitizer for bar and restaurant use," according to the data sheet. It can actually be "used as a wash for fruits and vegetables" and can also be "used in meat, fish and poultry processing industries."
Mr. Burwell said that he is in the process of trying to obtain approval for the formulation's use with certified-organic products as well.
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