Ozone in the meat industry and Butchers

Ozone in the meat industry and Butchers

Ozone butchers and Ozone cured meats

The wholesomeness of meat continues to be a matter of global concern. Diseases linked to pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria Monocytogenes, etc. remain a serious problem. Due to the aforementioned concerns, the meat industry is constantly looking for new technologies and strategies to be adopted to combat these pathogens.
That said, Ozone finds numerous applications in the meat processing industry ranging from use inside refrigerated displays to cold rooms, in which meat is kept for aging.

The use of ozone in the meat industry ensures unique benefits in terms of bacterial reduction and quality improvement including:

• Inside the processing and production rooms, Ozone helps to increase the shelf life of the product.
• It increases the shelf life of food inside the cold rooms, prevents reductions in size, weight loss and rapid rot. The conservation of pork can be increased by at least 20%.
• Eliminates odors and prevents their impregnation.
• Keeps insects and parasites away.

Ozone can also be used dissolved in water; in the latter case, the water acts as a conduit allowing Ozone to reach the target more easily and more effectively. Some of the advantages deriving from the use of ozonated water:

• Cleaning and rinsing of slaughtered animals – maximum sanitation without waste. The poultry industry uses huge amounts of water; with the ozonation of the water used, it can be reused thus avoiding health hazards and ensuring significant savings. In addition, the poultry both before and after evisceration can be washed with a shower of ozonated water, completely sanitizing the product.
• Washing of equipment to prevent cross-contamination between foods, following the classic degreasing cycle.
• Sanitation of tanks and pipes for plants always in excellent condition.
• Avoiding the use of chemicals that could alter the product, be harmful to operators and create wastewater to be disposed of.

 

Ozone as a solution for Listeria

Listeria is a bacterium present in the earth, water, vegetation and feces of many animals, without these showing signs of disease. It grows and develops at variable temperatures between 0° C and 45° C and persists both in environments and in processed and ready-to-use foods such as hot dogs, cold meats, prepackaged salads, sandwiches, smoked fish, etc., thus being able contaminate any level of the food production and consumption chain.

Symptoms in the typical form of contagion on the person are gastrointestinal in nature and fall into the category of foodborne infections that occur within a few hours of ingestion or, in some cases, may have an incubation of a few weeks. In the case of invasive forms, the infection from the intestine can pass into the blood and spread throughout the body with serious problems, sometimes fatal.

Compliance with hygiene rules (washing, handling of food, hygiene of the premises used for processing, correct cooking of food, etc.), compliance with the expiry dates of products, correct pasteurization of dairy products and control are essential to guarantee non-placing on the market of products at risk. With these assumptions, the quality of the product processing, storage and packaging environments is of fundamental importance. In fact, if hygiene is lacking, due to the impossibility of reaching each area with the correct sanitization, the bacterial foci remain stationary, increasing the risk of contamination. It is customary to proceed with fumigation of disinfectant chemical products, which most of the time require access to the treated rooms for a long time and above all the disposal of residues after use.

To overcome these timing and disposal limits, Ozone, used in different ways, is the optimal solution. As from the numerous experiments carried out in the national and international field and proven by Protea with tests and concrete applications, the use of Ozone allows the elimination of Listeria and many other bacteria in a safe and reliable way, achieving almost total results in environmental sanitation. and food in a very short time and without the release of by-products capable of altering the organoleptic characteristics of foodstuffs.

 

Protea ozonizers for the meat industry

Protea designs and manufactures ad-hoc systems for the sanitization of butchers, delicatessens, cold rooms for the preservation of meat, refrigerated vehicles, processing and packaging rooms and other environments in the food and meat industry. Thanks to the Ozone production methods proposed by Protea, the sanitization processes are simplified and management costs are drastically reduced. In fact, the simplicity of use facilitates the use of Ozone in normal processing procedures and, being easily modulated, it is possible to respond to the various business needs even in the event that the production and processing phases change over time or are managed in divided rooms and / or distant.

Protea carefully analyzes the structures in order to define the most appropriate method for the Company’s needs. In particular, there are two main types of ozonizers:

1. 1. FIXED SYSTEMS: therefore controllable from a control panel that manages different areas even if distant (presence or absence of people, volume of the rooms, low or high temperatures, presence of food, different types of food, etc.). The AMB O3 MAX modular system for salami factories and butchers sanitation is one of the fixed systems offered by Protea.
   2. PORTABLE SYSTEMS: these are professional ozonizers capable of producing high concentrations of Ozone and represent the ideal solution for shock treatments, in the absence of people, in order to sanitize the environments in a profound way. Our LAB5 L system is one of the best portable ozonizers in the Protea range of products.

Finally, ozonated water does not require rinsing and is an ideal solution for sanitizing surfaces such as floors, walls, worktops, machinery, tools, containers and the like.

For more information about Ozone for cured meat factories and butchers or to request a quote for our ozonizers for the meat industry, do not hesitate to call us at 0584/361274 or send us an email to info@proteasrl.com.