| 15/04/2008 - UV brings disinfection benefits to the Food and Drink Industry |
Despite the huge advances in cleanliness and disinfection techniques, the ongoing battle against potentially dangerous micro-organisms and microbial contamination in food continues. Part of the problem has been the ability of microbial organisms to adapt and survive traditional chemical treatments and continue to thrive, endangering the health of consumers. However developments in UV technology offer a safe, non-invasive solution.
Ultraviolet light is a natural component of sunlight. However, using higher energy wavelengths of UV light has the unique ability of destroying all dangerous micro-organisms. Unlike chemical disinfectants, which rely on chemical oxidation to disrupt the life functions of micro-organisms, UV is simply light energy that disrupts the DNA of harmful organisms. By disabling their DNA the life functions of these organisms are terminated, rendering them harmless. Because no chemicals are involved, consumers don’t have to worry about consuming potentially harmful chemicals or their by-products.
The food market is an increasingly regulated and safety-conscious one, driven by the growing demand for even higher quality standards. Food producing and packaging industries are now enjoying the unique benefits of UV technology. It kills all known spoilage micro-organisms, including bacteria, viruses, yeasts, protozoa and moulds (and their spores). It is a low maintenance, environmentally friendly technology and as well as not introducing toxins or residues into the process, it does not alter the chemical composition, taste, odour or Ph of the water or liquid being disinfected either.
Whilst being designed to meet the stringent sanitary requirements of the food industry, today’s UV disinfection systems can usually be easily integrated in-line into process systems with little disruption to plant operations. Also, the maintenance requirements are minimal – modern Amalgam UV lamps only need replacing once a year.
Malcolm Snowball, Technical Director of GB Environmental, an eminent manufacturer of advanced UV treatment, believes that UV technology holds the key to continued safe and effective disinfection: “Put simply, microbial organisms cannot survive UV treatment. Rather than simply killing micro-organisms UV actually inactivates them by disrupting their DNA, so they are unable to either metabolise or reproduce. UV is also very simple to apply to surfaces of products. There is no fear of chemical contamination and there are no negative after-effects from the process.”
Although the basic principal of UV sterilisation has been recognised for over a century, it is the spectrum of applications and advances in technology that are bringing it to the forefront today. “Advances in UV lamp technology have been vital in the development of the sector,” says Malcolm. “In the past energy consumption of the lamps has been an issue with some providers. However, a lot of effort has been made to address these issues and we at GB Environmental use reduced energy Amalgam UV lamps, which are three-times more efficient than medium pressure lamps and cut down the running costs significantly.
“Our products also focus heavily on making servicing and maintenance of UV equipment easier. With water cleansing, for instance, proteins within the water build up on the UV lamp and need to be removed. The only way to do this is to break the bond between the protein and the lamp sleeve. Our Safeguard™ UV water treatment product uses eight scrapers with Titanium Dioxide cleaning heads which are actually activated by the UV light and become an oxidizer, removing the proteins. The process can be periodically operated by users, is totally safe, non-toxic to humans and can even be used in hard water areas.”
Surface disinfection is another area where UV comes into its own. Simple UV tunnels can be installed on existing process lines to disinfect meat, poultry or eggs prior to packaging, or before they are transferred to High Care areas. Surface disinfection systems are also ideal for sterilising food handling utensils, conveyor belts and packaging materials.
For food processors seeking to improve the quality of their product, UV is an economic, realistic option for many applications. The introduction of UV tunnels has also allowed a broad range of food manufacturers, from bakeries to meat processors, to give food handling a high level of disinfection. It is already a well established method of disinfecting drinking water throughout the world, and is also widely used for high purity uses such as pharmaceutical processing and semiconductor manufacturing, where water of the highest quality is essential. UV is also an environmentally friendly technology that allows processors to reuse wastewater, minimising discharges.
For further details on the extensive range of UV equipment available from GB Environmental please visit www.gb-environmental.com or call 01245 352277 |
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