John French (frenchpe@concentric.net)
Wed, 02 Feb 2000 17:49:49 -0900
Peter;
Used to sanitize processing areas and as wash water for whole product, eg fish,
I do not believe chlorine poses any significant risk to the consumer, and
handled properly chlorine related systems can be operated safely for plant
personnel, as can ozone systems. One problem with ozone systems is the
difficulty controlling levels and the nature of many generating systems. Both
ozone and chlorine gas are highly toxic to humans.
Regarding the by-products, when high concentrations of suspended biological or
food processing wastes are treated with higher levels of chlorine a variety of
chlorinated by-products are formed. Some of these by-products are quite similar
to known toxins, many have not had their structures elucidated. These compounds
do not appear to present an acute toxicity problem for humans at any where
close to the levels found in municipal waste processing, which is higher and of
greater volume than a food processing plant. Since we do not know the actual
structures of many of these compounds, nor the dose-response information, and
we do know that many halogenated aromatics represent a serious chronic toxicity
risk, I view these compounds as questionable. If I thought there was hard
evidence of a problem, I would have said so.
Sorry for the toxicological bobbing and weaving.
John French, Ph.D.
PEGASUS ENTERPRISES
howgate wrote:
> John
>
> What evidence do you have that chlorine, as used in a fish processing plant
> in the concentrations likely to be used in a fish processing plant,
> produces 'questionable by-products'? Would the risks to consumers from
> these questionable products be more than the risks to health of the factory
> personnel of using ozone in the plants?
>
> Peter Howgate
>
> ----------
> > From: John French <frenchpe@concentric.net>
> > To: michaelg@ij.co.za
> > Cc: 'seafood@ucdavis.edu'
> > Subject: Re: Using Ozone for Sanitation
> > Date: 02 February 2000 08:17
> >
> > Michael:
> > Ozone is an excellent sanitizer which has a higher oxidizing potential
> than chlorine, and produces fewer questionable by-products upon reacting
> with suspended organic materials. The problem, if you want to call it that,
> is that it has a shorter half life and
> > what little residual there is is more difficult to test for than
> chlorine. In other words, most food technologists in the United States
> recognize ozone's positive attributes but the necessary regulations have
> been slow to develop.
> > John French
> > PEGASUS ENTERPRISES
> >
> > Michael Graz wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Seafoods Listers
> > >
> > > There is a trend in South Africa for meat and chicken processors to use
> ozone in their water and their chill rooms. Has this ever been done in the
> fishing industry? Will ozone have a positive effect on fish quality? May
> ozone be used in the fishing industry?
> > >
> > > Your comments will be gladly appreciated.
> > >
> > > Sincerely
> > >
> > > Michael Graz
> > >
> > > Michael Graz Ph.D. Pr.Sci.Nat.
> > > Divisional Quality Assurance Manager
> > > I&J Seafoods
> > > Cape Town
> > > Tel: +27 21 440 7955
> > > Fax: +27 21 447 4883
> > > Mobile: +27 82 652 2079
> > >
> > > This message is sent in confidence for the attention of the addressee
> only. Unauthorised recipients are requested to preserve this
> confidentiality and are requested to delete the message forthwith.
> >
> >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Wed Feb 02 2000 - 18:50:26 PST