Researchers expend compressed carbon dioxide to decontaminate almonds and different nuts
Researchers on the Fraunhofer Institute for Atmosphere, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT possess developed a task to abolish germs on almonds and nuts by using compressed carbon dioxide to decontaminate food.
The good thing about this task is that almonds retain their characteristic flavor and quality, essentially essentially based on the compare document. Almonds are decontaminated and impregnated with antimicrobial oils using compressed carbon dioxide in a high-force autoclave. The oil extract coats the almond, making it tough for germs to infect the fruit again. Some styles of processing can impression the quality of food, particularly that of plant-essentially essentially based merchandise that are consumed raw.
Without processing, almonds and different nuts would possibly per chance well presumably properly be wrong with salmonella and these bacteria can unfold to dry foods. Low-moisture foods like flour, baking mixes, dried meats, nuts, fruits and cereals are most continuously gentle as substances in food merchandise with almonds, which technique that if one vendor faces a purchase, many items that gentle the ingredient would possibly per chance well presumably properly be affected. On the other hand, the likelihood of E.coli, Salmonella and Listeria in dry foods can by no technique be fully eliminated.
Notably outbreaks within the U.S. from dry food since 2016:
May perchance perchance well also 20 2016, — Salmonella Montevideo and Salmonella Senftenberg Infections Linked to Dazzling Pistachios
- 14 folks contaminated with the outbreak force of Salmonella Typhimurium were reported from eight states and the District of Columbia.
- Three in unhappy health folks were hospitalized and no deaths were reported.
Sept. 29 2016, —Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli Infections Linked to Flour
- 63 folks contaminated with the outbreak lines of E.coli STEC O121 or E.coli STEC O26 were reported from 24 states.
- 17 in unhappy health folks were hospitalized. One particular person developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a label of kidney failure. No deaths were reported.
May perchance perchance well also 18 2018, — Salmonella Typhimurium Infections Linked to Dried Coconut
- A total of 11 folks contaminated with the outbreak lines of Salmonella were reported from nine states.
- Two in unhappy health folks were hospitalized and no deaths were reported.
July 11 2019, — E. coli Infections Linked to Flour
- 21 folks contaminated with the outbreak force of E. coli O26 were reported from 9 states.
- Three hospitalizations and no deaths were reported.
Nov. 4 2020, — Salmonella Infections Linked to Wood Ear Mushrooms
- 55 folks contaminated with the outbreak force of Salmonella were reported from 12 states.
- Six hospitalizations and no deaths were reported.
In line with Karen Fuchs, a researcher at Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Oberhausen, “Salmonella can slide dormant to outlive on almonds. Within the task, they create extra biomass that protects them from desiccation. If water enters the image, salmonella then proliferate explosively. However it indubitably takes honest 10 to one hundred of those bacteria to cause food poisoning. Fallacious almonds that compose their technique into manufacturing services and products after harvesting would possibly per chance contaminate different batches.”
Fuchs and her group conducted exams with Staphylococcus carnosus, a surrogate organism acknowledged for an even extra resistant response than salmonella, exhibiting that the task within the autoclave does no longer adversely impression the shelf lifestyles, rancidity or lipid composition of almonds.
“The oils are no longer honest antibacterial; they even possess antioxidant properties. They compose bigger the oxidation doable and delay the shelf lifetime of fat, which technique that almonds are no longer as rapid to slide rancid,” says the researcher.
She also acknowledged the antibacterial and anti-oxidative properties are no longer the final discover doable profit. Rising the amount of oils that harmonize properly with almonds’ flavor would possibly per chance also add a tasty contact of seasoning. This task also lends itself to different foods. The elevated lipid oxidation doable would possibly per chance profit any food that is liable to oxidation.
“It is overall recordsdata that pressurized carbon dioxide can abolish pathogenic bacteria in liquids equivalent to orange juice. Our compare has proven that under certain instances this also works with dry food,” says Fuchs.
Carbon dioxide is no longer unsuitable to the environment or properly being and would possibly per chance even be separated from almonds with out a ticket of residuals, essentially essentially based on researchers. This does no longer hang any vitality-intensive steps for purification.
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