Ozone in Food Preservation

Ozone is a triatomic form of oxygen. It is an unstable compound and decomposes to molecular oxygen spontaneously without leaving a toxic residue. Lack of toxic residues makes ozone a favorable sanitizer. Ozone has been used since the late nineteenth century to purify water. Ozone as a disinfectant is declared to be generally recognized-as-safe (GRAS) for food application in 1997. Since that time, interest in developing ozone applications in the food industry has increased. Ozone can be applied to food products as a gas or it can be dissolved in water using certain bubbling techniques. It has been used for process water sterilization and recycling, inactivation of bacterial growth, prevention of fungal decay, washing and storage of fruits and vegetables, reducing microbial populations on stainless steel surfaces, control of storage pests, destruction of pesticides and chemical residues, and control of microorganisms on poultry and meat products. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd