Ozone in the Fishing Industry

There are so many application for ozone out there.  Read below about the uses of ozone in the fishing industry………

Ozone Solutions – Source

“Ozone in Seafood Processing
Ozone use in seafood processing applications has proven to be a great tool in the quest for food safety as it has in many other food processing industries. There are more potential uses for ozone in the commercial seafood industry than many agricultural food based industries. Not only is ozone useful for food safety, but also for fish growing (aquaculture), storage, ozonated ice, and even odor control during processing.
Traditional methods for sanitation in the seafood industry have been a wide use of chlorine dissolved in rinse and wash waters. Chlorine has been the most widely used sanitizer in the seafood industry despite the limited effect it has on killing bacteria on seafood surfaces (Augusto Goncalves). Due to the potential off flavor and negative health effects of chlorine by-products, improved sanitation methods have been sought. Since the acceptance of ozone use in food production and the GRAS approval granted in 2001, many uses for ozone have been researched and implemented in the commercial seafood processing industries.
Ozone use in seafood processing has shown benefits in the following areas:

Aquaculture and Commercial Fish Growing Facilities
As the population of the world grows commercially, grown seafood has become more necessary to supplement wild seafood harvested from the ocean and lakes. Ozone use in aquaculture has proven effective at lowering water consumption by increasing water re-use, lowering diseases in hatcheries and growing ponds (some applications in seafood), and maintaining clean water for faster growth rates with lower feed rates (Blogoslawki et al). To learn more about ozone use in Aquaculture see our aquaculture application page here.

Storage of Live Seafood
In some commercial applications fish or other seafood is transported and stored live prior to processing. In these applications ozone can be used within this storage water to reduce bacteria and virus cross-contamination and therefore lowering the bacteria plants entering the processing center.

Ozonated Ice and Fresh Fish Storage
Ozone can be dissolved into water that is then frozen in ice production. This process will essentially store the ozone within the ice creating what is commonly refereed to as ozonated ice. This ozonated ice can be used in the storage of fish to prolong shelf-life and maintain a fresher, better looking product to the end user.
Much of the fish that we consume is harvested in the ocean by large fishing vessels that may stay out at sea for weeks at a time. To maintain high quality fish products for market, ozonated ice is commonly used on these vessels for the fish that are harvested early in the voyage and stored. Ozonated ice has gained popularity in seafood storage for many land based operations and fish farms. Read more about ozonated ice on the specific page HERE.

Antimicrobial Intervention in Fillet Machines and Cut Fillets
After ozone was granted GRAS approval by both the USDA and FDA for direct contact with food, interest in antimicrobial intervention directly on food products has dominated the discussions of ozone use in food processing. Fish and seafood processing has not been immune from this shift. Ozone can be dissolved into water to provide an aqueous ozone solution that is stable, safe, and easy to control. This water containing ozone can replace chlorine as an antimicrobial agent, or be used to supplement existing water rinses and achieve improved antimicrobial intervention.

Aqueous ozone used for processing of dressed whole fish showed a reduction of bacterial cell counts of <5,000 without ozone to <932 with ozone, and a reduction of <5,000 without ozone to <120 with ozone on fillets.
When fillets were cut from the whole ozonated fish they resulted in low cell counts of 120-190. In this cutting of the whole ozonated fish, no ozanated spray was done on the fillet machines, or ozonated pretreatment, or ozonated ice for packing was done. Fillets without ozone treatment (but with conventional treatment) ranged from 7,500 – 5,000 cell count (Sopher et al).

Catfish fillets produced from implementing aqueous ozone spraying on the fillet machine showed a reduction in total plate counts of 14,906 – 2,975 (Sopher et al).

Surface Sanitation of Processing Equipment, Tables, etc.Ozone dissolved into water can be used throughout a seafood processing plant for surface sanitation. This is a common application to sanitize fillet machines, cutting tables, knives, and all equipment that may be used in the seafood processing areas.

Ozone is used throughout the food processing industry for surface satiation of shipment. This application is certainly not limited to the seafood industry. See our Surface Sanitation with Ozone page to learn more about this application.

Odor Control in Offal Rooms and Other Processing Areas
Seafood processing can create foul odors in certain processes. The offal processing can create a foul odor that is less than ideal for the employees working within that specific room. In some applications seafood is dried to create a final product. The drying process releases the moisture and odor to the outdoors. Foul odors from this process or other processes can cause potential odor issues surrounding a seafood processing plant, causing complaints from neighbors in the community. Ozone is commonly used in industrial odor control for many applications. There are a variety of methods to implement ozone safely. The main goal being to maintain worker safety, while improving indoor and outdoor air quality.”

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Ozone – an emerging technology for the seafood industrySciELO

By – Alex Augusto Gonçalves

Fishing Industry - Ozone in the Fishing Industry - Wassertec “In recent years, increasing attention has been focused on the safety of foods, and in particular on the intervention methods to reduce and eliminate human pathogens from fresh product, especially fresh seafood. Traditional technology utilizes water with or without a sanitizing agent to wash fresh seafood. Chlorine is the most widely used sanitizing agent available for fresh product, but it has a limited effect in killing bacteria on seafood surfaces. An alternative treatment is being sought to improve food safety. Many research and industrial trials are underway to validate the use of ozone in the food industry. This article intends to show a clean technology to be applied in seafood industry and to show that many studies must be done to demonstrate the best concentrations and the best methods of ozone applications in diverse seafood species, so that the governments of all the countries can approve their application in the fishing industry.

Ozonation has been used for years to disinfect water for drinking purposes in Europe. A number of other commercial uses have been found for ozone including disinfection of bottled water, swimming pools, prevention of fouling of cooling towers, and wastewater treatment (Rice, 1997; Silva; Gibbs and Kirby, 1998; Tech Brief, 1999; Duguet, 2004; Guzel-Seydim et al., 2004). Since the 1920’s scientists have tried to take advantage of long-range disinfection characteristics from ozone, as to slow down the decomposition, as it improve the security of fishing products.
The recent advances in electronics and technology of ozone have allowed the development of new line of compact ozone generators (Rice; Farquhar and Bollyky, 1982; Brooks and Pierce, 1990; Wu et al., 2007). Ozone is one the most powerful antimicrobial substance (natural sanitizing and disinfecting agents) in the world destroying up to 99.9% of pesticides and microorganisms commonly found on food due to its potential oxidizing capacity. Any pathogen or contaminant that can be disinfected, altered or removed via an oxidation process will be affected by ozone. It is the strongest of all molecules available for disinfection in water treatment, and is second only to elemental fluorine in oxidizing power (Rice; Farquhar and Bollyky, 1982; Glaze; Kang and Chapin, 1987; Silva; Gibbs and Kirby, 1998; King, 2001; Duguet, 2004). Ozone use may have many advantages in the food industry. There are suggested applications of ozone in the food industry such as food surface hygiene, sanitation of food plant equipment, reuse of waste water, lowering biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of food plant waste (Ravesi; Licciardello and Racicot, 1988; Brooks and Pierce, 1990; Rice, 1997; Tech Brief, 1999; King, 2001; Ibanoglu, 2002; Wu et al., 2007).

In the United States, ozone has received in 1997 GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) classification, and in 2001 the FDA officially approved media containing ozone for use in the food industry, also for direct contact with food products, including fish, meat and poultry (Mielcke and Ried, 2004; Vaz-Velho et al., 2006; Zentox, 2007). Multifunctionality of ozone application makes ozone a promising agent.

Ozone already has been used in the fishing industry, although of predominantly experimental way and little documented. There are some articles that occasionally have been presented in conferences, and surely are also internal information of the institutes of fishing technology on the subject.

Nevertheless, until now, there is little known about that (Seafish, 1997; Ravesi; Licciardello and Racicot, 1988; King, 2001). This review intends to offer a basic introduction on ozone, mainly its chemical properties, generation, antimicrobial properties, application on food surfaces, application on food plant equipment as an alternative sanitizer, and some of the potential uses that have been investigated until now, as well as the possible risks to the health and the security.”

For more of this in depth article please follow the link.