Disinfection or Sanitization Assurance Indicator for Tomato and Cantaloupe

Project Director
Locke, E.

Recipient Organization
MORPHIX TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
2557 PRODUCTION RD
VIRGINIA BEACH,VA 23454

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
The food supply chain consists of many potential contamination points including growing, harvesting, post-harvest handling, transport, processing, distribution, storage and packaging, and finally preparation by the consumer. There are 9.6 million cases of foodborne illness annually in US with an annual economic impact of $15.5 billion. Contamination also leads to spoilage of food and significant loss of food supply. The annual cost of produce spoilage losses in the US exceeds $50 billion. Chlorine Dioxide (CD) has been recently approved for use in the sanitization of tomatoes and cantaloupes. If the proposed system is successfully utilized, tomatoes and cantaloupes will be exposed to an efficacious dose of chlorine dioxide resulting in a dramatic reduction of microbial threats. This reduction in microbial threats will increase food security by dramatically reducing naturally occurring or intentional food contamination. Likewise, the significant reduction in microbial threats will reduce spoilage to allow for more availability of fruits and vegetables in under-served areas.

Animal Health Component

20%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

20%

Developmental

80%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
501	1460	2000	100%

Knowledge Area
501 - New and Improved Food Processing Technologies;

Subject Of Investigation
1460 - Tomato;

Field Of Science
2000 - Chemistry;

Keywords

chlorine dioxide

disinfectant assurance

food safety

indicator

sanitization assurance

sensor

Goals / Objectives
The objective of the work is to provide a proof of concept prototype which demonstrates indication of chlorine dioxide at specified doses required to achieve targeted micro-organism kill rates on tomatoes and cantaloupes. If successful, this project could lead to a low-cost, real-time chemical indicator that can be used by the food industry to demonstrate sanitization or disinfection of tomatoes and cantaloupes.

Project Methods
Prototype sensors will be developed and evaluated for accurate colorimetric indication of relevant CD dose targets for effective microbial reduction on tomatoes and cantaloupes. Analytical generation/exposure systems will be used to deliver specified CD doses to prototype sensors. Colorimetric responses will be measured using a spectrodensitometer in reflectance mode. In conjunction with these studies, microbial reduction studies will be carried out in the presence of SAI prototypes to demonstrate correlation of colorimetric indicator response with reduction of relevant microbes.

Progress 09/01/20 to 04/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In the Phase I effort, Morphix has demonstrated CDIs with sensitive colorimetric response to CD, capability to calibrate to different dose breach points for tomatoes and cantaloupe, colorfastness of true positive CD responses over 3+ weeks, UV and water resistance, service-life stability over 3-week period, and correlation of CDI indication with third-party microbial reduction studies.

Publications