Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Recalls of fresh produce due to bacterial contamination occur regularly. Every year Canadians become ill or die from consumingx000D
contaminated fresh produce. A 2014 occurrence of Listeria contamination at an American apple supplier killed several consumersx000D
of caramel apples in that country and negatively impacted the entire caramel apple industry. Fresh produce cannot be heated,x000D
dried or cured, and the commonly used methods of washing and chlorine-based treatments are not sufficiently effective. Moyerx000D
Apple products is a leading North American producer of caramel apples based in Beamsville, Ontario, that has developedx000D
industry-leading disinfection methods using ultraviolet light, atomized hydrogen peroxide and gaseous ozone. Prior work at thex000D
University of Guelph by Keith Warriner has proven gaseous ozone to be an effective, safe and practical decontaminant. Moyersx000D
has implemented and proven an ozone-based system that bulk decontaminates apples in bulk shipping bins. There is ax000D
recognized need in the fresh produce industry for this technology and Moyers intends to develop a new business providing ozonex000D
disinfection systems. Commercializing an ozone bulk treatment system requires further optimization of the design used at Moyers,x000D
which requires detailed understanding of flow, ozone distribution and pressures within the system, and the development ofx000D
engineering design models that can predict these characteristics. This project will conduct the experiments and modelx000D
development needed to support system optimization, which will then be utilized by Moyer to commercialize an ozone treatmentx000D
system, create jobs in Ontario and improve food safety throughout North America.