Development of a Continuous System for Sanitizing Whole Apples With Aqueous Ozone

Alternative and economical methods for reducing the bacterial load on cider apples are needed by small ciderproducers to comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for food safety. In 1996, the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention reported that several illnesses and one death were attributed to Escherichia coliO157:H7 contaminated apple cider. Currently the only option available for cider producers to avoid an FDA requiredwarning label on their product is pasteurization. The equipment needed for pasteurization can be expensive and is limitedto liquids only. Ozone (O 3 ) is a potent disinfectant that shows great potential for food sanitizing applications. This articlesummarizes the design and construction of a benchtop prototype chamber and related components for the treatment ofwhole cider apples with ozonated washwater prior to grinding and pressing for cider. Preliminary performance data onresidual ozone concentrations produced in the washwater are also presented. A maximum residual dissolvedconcentration of 34 ppm was achieved over a 0.5 to 1.5 min contact time per apple.