A novel polymer bead enabled ozone washing process to reduce the prevalence of potato soft rot in storage - OZONE-BEAD-WASH

软腐病是马铃薯块茎的一种细菌感染，在为消费者提供高质量马铃薯的努力中，沿着储存和供应链给该行业造成了巨大损失。目前的洗涤过程在某些情况下不能保证去除细菌，本项目旨在开发一种更有效的清洁系统。新系统将臭氧处理（一种活性形式的氧气，是一种有效且低残留的消毒剂;经常用于饮用水处理系统）与创新的隔离和软处理系统相结合，该系统旨在最大限度地减少对马铃薯皮的损害，并将臭氧化水输送到块茎表面，在那里它可以更有效地擦拭污垢和消毒。这个工业主导的项目结合了英国臭氧处理、聚合物开发、农业工程和马铃薯包装领域的一些领先公司，并得到了马铃薯理事会萨顿桥研究机构的科学支持。我们的目标是能够将软腐减少50%，这可以为英国行业节省高达1亿英镑的废物成本。

Soft rot, a bacterial infection of potato tubers, leads to large losses for the industry along the storage and supply chain in their efforts to supply high quality potatoes to the consumer. The current washing processes cannot guarantee the removal of the bacteria in some circumstances, and this project aims to develop a more effective cleaning system. The new system combines ozone treatment (an active form of oxygen that is an effective and low residue sanitiser; frequently used in drinking water treatment systems) with a innovative segregation and soft handling system that is designed to minimise damage to the potato skins and to transport ozonised water to the tuber surface where it wipes off soils and sanitises more effectively. This industrially led project combines some of the UK's leading companies in the fields of ozone treatment, polymer development, agricultural engineering and potato packing, with scientific support from the Potato Council's Sutton Bridge research facility. We aim to be able to reduce soft rot by 50%, which could save the UK industry up to £100 million in waste costs.