SBIR-STTR Award

As consumer demand for fresh produce continues to grow so do concerns about foodborne illnesses and disease outbreaks. Postharvest wash is a critical control point in fresh produce processing for reducing or eliminating pathogens and other field-acquired contaminants that can result in such outbreaks. Current methods of postharvest washing provide less than 100% efficacy in removing pathogens and are generally acknowledged to have negative environmental and worker safety impacts. En Soluci³n is developing a novel intervention which utilizes nano-sized bubbles of gases at the point of postharvest wash. Aqueous nano bubble mixtures have been shown to have novel surface cleaning capabilities due to the high surface area-to-volume ratio of the gas bubbles contained in solution. Unlike traditional macro-sized bubbles the nano bubbles have the remarkable ability to remain stable in high concentrations for months at a time. During the Phase I project En Soluci³n will fully validate the effectiveness of its nano bubble technology as a pathogen neutralizer in postharvest processing by conducting pathogen inactivation studies on produce surfaces and in wash water and by demonstrating the ability of nano bubble wash water to affect pathogen shedding into the wash water. In Phase II En Soluci³n will move forward with field testing of its technology to integrate the technology in a pilot program demonstrating improvements over existing methodologies in terms of pathogen control worker and environmental safety cost impact on the product and consumer acceptability.

As demand for fresh produce continues to grow so do impacts to consumers from foodborne illnesses and disease outbreaks and to growers from product loss due to decay pathogens. Postharvest wash is a critical control point in fresh produce processing for reducing or eliminating pathogens and other field-acquired contaminants that can result in such outbreaks and losses. Current methods of postharvest washing provide less than 100% efficacy and are generally acknowledged to have negative environmental and worker safety impacts. En Soluci³n has developed a novel intervention which utilizes nano-sized bubbles of gases at the point of postharvest wash. Aqueous nanobubble mixtures are shown to have novel surface cleaning capabilities due to the high surface area-to-volume ratio of the gas bubbles contained in solution. Unlike traditional macro-sized bubbles the nanobubbles have the remarkable ability to remain stable in high concentrations for months at a time. During the Phase I project En Soluci³n fully validated the effectiveness of its nanobubble technology as a pathogen neutralizer in postharvest processing by conducting pathogen inactivation studies on produce surfaces and in wash water and by demonstrating the ability of nanobubble wash water to affect pathogen shedding into the wash water. In Phase II En Soluci³n will move forward with field testing of its technology to integrate the technology in a pilot program for year-round apple processing demonstrating improvements over existing methodologies in terms of pathogen control worker and environmental safety cost impact on the product and consumer acceptability.