The move was prompted by the recent discovery of salmonella contamination in paprika.
Dax Airscience has offered its Air Steril technology as a solution to help destroy food spoilage bacteria, in light of recent discoveries by the Food Standards Agency.
The food safety body found instances of the bacterium salmonella in Brindisa Spanish Foods’ La Chinata smoked paprika. Nationally across the UK, there are more than 500,000 cases of food poisoning a year from known pathogens and around the same amount from unknown pathogens. Campylobacter was the most common foodborne pathogen, with about 280,000 cases per year, Dax Airscience said.
Salmonella is the pathogen that causes the most hospital admissions – about 2,500 each year in the UK.
According to Dax Airscience, many contaminants found in food processing can be eliminated through a combination of effective plant cleaning and sanitation procedures along with plant air purification systems.
Dax Airscience technical director Paul Anderson said: “HVAC safety and purification systems as well as systems for plant areas with no air ducts are critical components for a processor’s overall food safety program.”
“When the HVAC system is in operation, the Airsteril Unit creates an advanced oxidation process consisting of hydroxyl radicals, super oxide ions and hydroxide ions. All are friendly oxidisers that revert back to oxygen and hydrogen after the oxidation of the pollutant.”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024