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"If You Wouldn’t Be Comfortable Drinking Your Processed Water, You Shouldn’t Be Comfortable Using It On Produce"
On May 22, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency added a Class 1 (high risk) recall for microgreens – due to listeria contamination – to its Food Recall Report.
"Food recalls are serious business", Jim Shubat with SanEco Tec says. "Producers face heavy financial consequences; consumers are exposed to potential health risks; consumers lose trust in products and companies; and litigation follows. It’s a devastating spiral."
Counting the costs
In 2018, there were 708 food recalls in the U.S. A survey by the Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Association found that direct costs of a food recall can reach $100 million, with indirect costs growing exponentially in the event of health effects.
Along with direct costs comes, of course, the loss of trust. According to Harris Interactive’s survey, after a recall, 15% of consumers would never buy the product again and 21% would not buy any product by the same manufacturer.
"When the consequences are so grave you’d think the best way to keep money in the bank and consumers on your side is to avoid recalls", says Jim. Isn't that an oversimplification? "Perhaps", he states.
"Except that a major cause of food recalls relates to something as simple as water. Many recalls are due to microbiological contamination from water sources or through unsanitary handling along the supply chain."
'It stands to reason that by proactively taking care of your water – making it your first line of defense, you can reduce the risk of recalls."
Start with the source
Where is your water coming from? What could be influencing its quality?
"Farmers and growers especially have to be careful about the quality of their irrigation water. Source water, whether from a surface or well, can be contaminated by animal fecal matter or sewer overflows and run-offs, which greatly increases the risk of E. coli", says Jim.
"Checking your water a few times a year for E. coli isn’t enough to ensure that your water is safe. Frequent and repeated testing, or better yet, treating your water with a system that combines filtration and disinfection is the best way of preventing microbiological risk", says Jim.
Don’t leave it up to Lady Luck
In Ontario, it is required that “water used for washing and cooling of fresh, ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables must be of potable quality” as determined by the Ontario Drinking Water Quality Standards.
"If you wouldn’t be comfortable drinking your process water, then you shouldn’t be comfortable using it on produce", says Jim.
He explains how AVIVE systems, developed by SanEcoTec® Ltd, are engineered water solutions that combine disinfection, a multi-barrier approach and real-time water quality monitoring and process control for clean, safe and dependable water. AVIVE aims to provide water that is free of microbial contamination, like E. coli and listeria.
"Our Smart Water monitoring system, called SPI®, provides real-time monitoring and analysis, ensuring sanitizers are always at the optimal level", he continues. "This way you can keep eyes on your water with real-time water quality monitoring and process control."
Recently, SanEcoTec received a Letter of No Objection (LONO) from Health Canada for the use of its Clean5, Clean25 and Clean50 sanitizers in process water on fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables. The LONO is a standard form letter in response to a detailed scientific submission expressly stating that Health Canada sees no reason why the sanitizers should not be used. The line of sanitizers is also recommended by HACCPCanada.
Remember your process water
"Bacteria can enter produce through stem, leaf and root, and contaminated water can promote infection on the inside and the outside of fruit."
"Contamination can still happen along the supply chain due to poor hygiene standards among workers or cross contamination, but adopting sanitation measures for your irrigation and process water gives you a good head start."
For more information:
Joy Knowles
SanEcoTec
Joy.Knowles@SanEcoTec.com
T: +1.613.491.0525 x 2620
www.sanecotec.com
Publication date: 5/27/2019
Ozone Technology For Greenhouse Water Treatment
"Proper Greenhouse Water Recycling Is The Key To Increasing Your Profitability"
“Proper greenhouse water recycling is the key to increasing your profitability, year after year. Without adequate control of your nutrient feed solution, the entire process of fertigation can prove harmful for your crop’s steady growth.” Speaking is Christopher Labbate with Climate Control. The company offers ozone water treatment to eliminate pathogens spreading through water. “Water recycling has become a popular trend in the agricultural industry. As more greenhouse operations are in need of treating their nutrient wastewater on site. Growers are recognizing that using quality water has substantial benefits in many areas of production, including plant health and quality control.”
Although using a hydroponics system may eliminate soil borne pests, there are other pathogens that spread through water. Pathogens and other water bacteria are a cause for concern in water quality. Most greenhouses today use some type of recycled water treatment in their irrigation systems or use chlorination. Sometimes multiple solutions are combined to answer the problem of crop management.
Climate Control offers Ozone solutions. “Ozone is a powerful oxidant gas that is injected in the water to kill microorganisms, bacteria, and break down other plant pathogens by oxidation. This occurs immediately at point of contact and continues to disinfect your nutrient solution. Some of the ozone reverts back into oxygen in the treated storage tank and this can be a large advantage to growers as it is beneficial to growth”, Christopher explains.
Ozone generators create ozone through an electric discharge of sparking Oxygen (O2) to create Ozone (O3). This can be controlled by software to increase or decrease the concentration of ozone, to output the desired amount for optimal plant health.
“Monitoring and control of pH and Electrical Conductivity (EC) have become standard practice, for improving plant health and quality throughout growers. By measuring these two simple factors, most nutritional problems can be avoided.”
According to Christopher, the measurement of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) is also proving to be just as critical to plant growth. “Minimum levels of dissolved oxygen are also required for a healthy plant. Most growers do not have the sensors to read this important quality of the water. Ozone water treatment not only kills 99.9% of bacteria in your irrigation water, but also gives added benefit. By providing dissolved oxygen for the root zone of the plants, you will see a 10% increase in crop yields.”
Ozone is effective in getting rid of odors in the water as well, like from iron and manganese. “It's the gold standard for drinking water, and used in many municipal water treatment plants around the world.”
Currently many growers might doubt between UV Sterilization. This technique inactivates microorganisms and stunts pathogen growth with UV light. Christopher believes this is not sufficient. “This happens while the water is in the UV chamber only, and as long as the water has sufficient contact time. And it’s also interesting to note that UV disinfects the water by sterilizing the contaminants so they can no longer replicate. Whereas ozone will destroy the contaminants completely by breaking them down. Then Ozone dissolves back into oxygen, which is very beneficial to the rootzone of the plant.”
Christian concludes: “Our mission at Climate Control Systems has always been, to help growers stay profitable by offering cutting edge automation and control technology. You can also expect to save 35% on water costs and 40% on fertilizer expenses with this industrial grade ozone water sterilization equipment.”
For more information:
Climate Control Systems
Christopher M. Labbate
1-519-322-2515
Chris@climatecontrol.com
www.climatecontrol.com
Publication date : 2/5/2019