Tree nuts, including almonds, macadamias, pecans, pistachios, walnuts etc. are at risk of carrying deadly bacteria that can cause serious illness. Tree nuts can be a vehicle for these pathogens that have caused outbreaks, while it is true that nuts are too dry to support the growth of bacteria – salmonella, listeria and e.coli can still cause illness at extremely low levels.
There are various methods available to sterilize your tree nuts to be sure bacteria on the surface of the nut is eliminated. One such method is ultraviolet.
The first thing to keep in mind is that ultraviolet radiation is not nuclear radiation and is safe to use. Using ultraviolet to sterilize food stuffs has two main selling points: – Firstly, it is a chemical free solution, which saves you tons of money in the long run as UV is 100% ecological and has low maintenance and service costs. Secondly, in using ultraviolet sterilization the product retains all its original attributes including, most importantly, the taste.
The process involves vibrating the nuts on a conveyor under the UV lamps. This continuous vibration rotates the nits at all angles to make sure the ultraviolet is able to sterilize the entire surface of the nuts. Concerning the actual process of UV sterilization, ultraviolet destroys or deactivates micro-organisms including bacteria, yeast, mould spores etc and thus prevents these pathogens from causing illness.
Considering the size of the nut industry and the number of nut-related food recalls related to bacteria it is clear that there is a problem in the nut business. Don’t wait until its too late. UV+IR Engineering designs and manufactures UV sterilization solutions to suit your application, space and pocket. They have supplied these solutions to many nut farms and production houses. To get your custom quote, contact UV+IR Engineering today.
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