Feasibility study: demand for hypochlorous acid for produce decontamination and reduction of microbial spoilage in South American countries

新鲜水果和蔬菜是健康饮食的重要组成部分，需求量很大。农产品在全球范围内种植、交易和运输，消费者要求全年都能获得各种各样的新鲜产品。这种需求，特别是在发展中国家，对土地使用、水、种植方法、收获、加工、包装和运输的影响是巨大的。全球生产供人类消费的水果和蔬菜中约有一半（13亿吨）变质或浪费，这意味着用于生产、加工和运输这些食物的资源损失巨大，并对粮食安全构成威胁（粮农组织，2011年）。我们的创新消毒剂对致病性和腐败微生物有效，在食品供应链的收获后/加工区域使用它可以减少交叉污染/浪费并延长保质期。我们在东非现有的水回收/产品净化装置减少了水和电的使用（分别减少了80%和90%），减少了化学品的使用（以及对塑料桶的需求），提高了生产效率（通过将批处理过程转变为连续流过程）。我们的消毒剂比传统的农产品去污化学品要温和得多，这对在包装环境中的工人来说是一个很大的积极因素。2019年，南美洲生产了1.15亿吨水果和蔬菜（粮农组织，2021年）。ASL希望探索南美的新鲜农产品领域，并针对合适的企业建立互利的合作研究项目和持续的商业关系。该项目旨在研究南美生鲜农产品市场和生产挑战，在3-4个南美国家确定一系列公司，准备营销材料，安排基于网络的会议，传播我们的技术并讨论潜在的利益。该项目的最后阶段将是访问感兴趣的公司，以查看他们的设施，计划合作实地试验，并最终实施能够减少食物浪费、提高资源利用率、减少化学品使用、提高效率、提高生产力和降低病原生物/消毒副产物进入食物链的风险的商业系统。

Fresh fruit and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet and demand is high. Produce is grown, traded and transported on a global scale and consumers demand availability of a wide range of fresh products throughout the year. The impacts of this demand, particularly in developing countries, on land usage, water, growing methods, harvesting, processing, packaging and transport are enormous.Around half (1.3 billion tonnes) of fruit and vegetables produced globally for human consumption is spoiled or wasted representing a significant loss of the resources spent producing, processing and transporting that food and a threat to food security (FAO, 2011).Our innovative disinfectant is effective against pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and its use in the post-harvest/processing areas of the food supply chain can reduce cross-contamination / wastage and extend shelf life. Our existing water recycling / produce decontamination installations in East Africa have reduced water and electricity usage (by 80 and 90% respectively), reduced chemical usage (and the need for plastic drums to store it) and improved throughput efficiency (by turning a batch process into a continuous flow process). Our disinfectant is much less harsh than traditional produce decontamination chemicals which is a big positive for workers in the packhouse environment.South America produced 115 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables in 2019 (FAO, 2021). ASL would like to explore the South American fresh produce sector and target suitable businesses with the aim of setting up mutually beneficial collaborative research projects and on-going commercial relationships.The project aims are to research the South American fresh produce market and production challenges, identify a range of companies in 3-4 South American countries, prepare marketing materials and arrange web based meetings to disseminate our technology and discuss potential benefits. The final stage of this project would be to visit interested companies in order to see their facilities, plan collaborative field trials and ultimately implement commercial systems capable of reducing food waste, improving resource utilisation, decreasing chemical usage, improving efficiency, increasing productivity and reducing the risk of pathogenic organisms/disinfection by-products entering the food chain.