High-Tech Food Safety Tools: A Good Investment for Restaurant Chains

This method has had longstanding use within the produce and restaurant industry. It’s also proven to inactivate E. coli inside food material and on sample surfaces without compromising food quality, which happens to be a great answer for restaurateurs who are looking to maintain food standards, yet unwilling to sacrifice overall quality.

Besides stopping bacteria populations from growing in food products and ridding them of toxins and mold, irradiation/ionizing radiation is also found to target two carcinogens that are common in thermally processed foods: furan and acrylamide. Irradiation technology is also proven to kill L. monocytogenes.

Infrared Heating

Infrared pasteurization is another effective way to keep food safe. The process is accomplished through infrared lamps that radiate heat at low temperatures. This pasteurization reduces surface bacteria of ready-to-eat food products and is specifically effective for cooked meats.

Infrared lamps also maintain food quality at optimum levels. In a 2004 Food Science and Technology International study, infrared technology was proven to be effective in decontaminating meat surface by destroying L. monocytogenes inoculated on the surface of meat product.

Ohmic Heating

Ohmic heating is a simple process that involves passing an electrical current through foods to kill any bacteria. By rapidly increasing the temperature before cooking, the food product is instantly sterilized. Ohmic heating is best applied to liquid products that contain large particulates, including soups and stews, canned fruits in syrups, juice products, and pulp, as well as liquid egg products.
The electric current essentially sterilizes through rapid and uniform heating that is consistent throughout. Best of all, ohmic heating allows foodstuffs to maintain their quality over other conventional debugging methods that work by heating foods slowly.

Lansdale is the client relations manager at Sharptek Supply. Reach him at [email protected].