Aquentium, Inc. announced today that the company's ozone technology is designed as a solution to prevent salmonella outbreaks. The Aquentium line of ozone equipment provides a natural, non-chemical process for food processing.
Over the weekend, the Food and Drug Administration advised retailers, restaurants, and food-service operators to halt sales of raw red Roma, raw red plum, and raw red round tomatoes grown in certain U.S. states and in other nations. The FDA issued a broad warning, telling consumers not to eat raw Roma, red plum or red round tomatoes, or products that contain these types of raw red tomatoes unless the tomatoes are from the following places: California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands, and Puerto Rico.
Fast-food restaurants McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) , Burger King (NYSE: BKC) and Subway and grocery stores Safeway (NYSE: SWY) and Kroger (NYSE: KR) are withholding certain tomatoes from the menu or removing them from shelves after the Food and Drug Administration warned of a widening outbreak of salmonella, a food-borne illness.
Since mid-April, there have been 145 reported cases of salmonellosis, including at least 23 hospitalizations, the FDA said. Illnesses were reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40,000 people are sickened by salmonella each year in the U.S. The CDC estimates that about 400 people die each year with acute salmonellosis, the infection caused by the salmonella bacteria.
"One of the latest big salmonella outbreaks was in late summer 2006, when E. coli from fresh spinach renewed fears about the safety of leafy greens in particular, which had been implicated in 19 prior outbreaks since 1995," stated Aquentium President Mark Taggatz.
One of the nation's largest restaurant operators, Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI), with brands including LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Seasons 52, Capital Grille and Bahama Breeze has dropped all types of raw tomatoes from its menu.
"Our ozone equipment installed at any restaurant or grocery store would allow for all raw tomatoes to be washed thoroughly with ozonated water and thus help eliminate the need of replacing any raw tomatoes," stated Taggatz.
Traditionally, restaurants, grocery stores, and food processing plants have used chemicals to sanitize their operations or they use chemicals on food in hopes of removing bacteria and viruses. Compared to chlorine, ozone offers several advantages for food and beverage processors or anyone who wants to sanitize materials or surfaces. Chlorine has traditionally been the sanitizer of choice in the food processing industry, but experts share a growing concern about the dangerous byproducts such as trihalomethanes or dioxins produced when chlorine reacts with organic matter in the water. These substances are known carcinogens and are regulated in drinking water by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
When most people think of ozone, they picture the layer high in the earth's outer atmosphere that protects us from the sun's ultraviolet rays, but this bluish gas, which sometimes can be detected as a fresh smell after a thunderstorm, is actually a valuable tool with a variety of down-to-earth uses.
Ozone gas (O3) is a naturally occurring tri-atomic form of oxygen (O2) that is formed as sunlight passes through the atmosphere or when streaks through the air. It can be generated artificially by passing high voltage electricity through oxygenated air, causing oxygen to break apart and recombine in the tri-atomic form.
As an oxidizer, it is 51 times as powerful than chlorine, the oxidizer most commonly used by most food processors, and 3,000 times faster at killing bacteria and other microbes. Ozone is effective as a disinfectant at relatively low concentrations and does not leave toxic by-products similar to those related to chlorination.
"People should not have to live without tomatoes or any other fresh fruits or vegetables," commented Taggatz.
For more than a century, ozone has been used in Europe for purifying drinking water and is currently used in the United States for purifying bottled water and decontaminating cooling towers. The cities of Los Angeles, Dallas, and Las Vegas all currently use ozone to purify their water supply.
While chlorinated wash systems require transport and storage of potentially hazardous toxic chemicals, ozone is unique in that it is generated onsite from oxygen and can be produced on demand with no storage required. When the ozone generator is turned off, there are no dangerous substances on the premises. Ozone can be injected or dissolved in water to provide rinsing or washing of food products such as meat, poultry, seafood, fruits or vegetables.
"In light of continued outbreaks of food-borne illness and more recent food security concerns in the United States and internationally, as well as questions about the relative safety of chlorine, ozone is certainly a desirable solution for enhancing not only the safety but also the quality of the world food supply," stated Taggatz.
About Aquentium
Aquentium, Inc. is a diversified company with interests in food safety, affordable and emergency housing, mining, building materials, recycling, sanitation and water treatment equipment.
Note: Certain statements in this news release may contain "forward-looking" information within the meaning of rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
