7 replies to this topic

[sheeja]

Hai,

Is Chlorine or Hydrogen peroxide more effective for sanitizing vegetables ?Is there any side effects reported.
Can we just discuss about it.

thanks
Sheeja

[GMO]

I've always used hypochlorite but as discussed on another topic, it seems to be more effective at keeping the water clean than disinfecting the vegetables.

Hydrogen peroxide should work although again may act on the water rather than the vegetables and has the advantage of degrading to water so there would be no residues but both are very unpleasant chemicals to use from a health and safety point of view.

[Jean]

Hai,

Is Chlorine or Hydrogen peroxide more effective for sanitizing vegetables ?Is there any side effects reported.
Can we just discuss about it.

thanks
Sheeja

Dear Sheeja,



IMO, chlorine is being used conventionally for sanitization because it is easy to prepare, measure the concentration, low concentration (50 to 200ppm) required for killing, immediate killing action, broad spectrum of germicidal action and comparatively less expensive. From my experience the use of chlorine as a sanitizer is time consuming as I mentioned in the previous thread on vegetable sanitization. The chlorine action is effected by the pH and temp of water as both parameters fluctuate in my unit at times. If the amount of organic matter is high then it can affect the chlorine activity and high levels are toxic and can affect the taste of the produce. Some fruits like strawberry, grapes and berry cannot be kept for long time after chlorine sanitization as they tend to spoil and rot. The chlorine activity is best at water temperature of 20^oC and ph 6.0 to 7.5.



As GMO mentioned, Hydrogen peroxide breaks down to water and oxygen and there is no harmful products generated. But hydrogen peroxide degrades faster when exposed to ultraviolet light and therefore must be made fresh and used within a short period of time. But I believe there are not much disadvantages compared to chlorine and have experience with the same yet.

[sheeja]

thanks Jean for you valuable advice but for chlorine we need to do a final wash aftet chlorine wash but for the hydrogen per oxide based sanitizer,there is no need of final rinse (as per the new supplier).
And also hydrogen per oxide based one is coming as readymade standardised,just we have to connect it next the vegetable washing sink.So less time consuming no need to check the concentration.

[Jean]

Dear Sheeja,



Yes, you are right. So you find Hydrogen peroxide better sanitizer than chlorine. Here we still use chlorine for vegetable sanitization and may intend to shift to better sanitizer.

[Jean]

Dear Fletcher,



Thanks for the useful pointer on Ecological sanitation. This indeed will help to reduce the number of pathogens gaining entry in the ecosystems and resulting in pollution. This as in fact is a long term process. I happened to read somewhere (can’t re-collect) that some vegetables can be grown using human urine as a fertilizer and the yield was high, the vegetable was bigger and better than the normal ones cultivated using the conventional methods.

[mrhygiene]

chlorine

[B. Nowak]

Which european regulation tells about sanitizing vegetables? I am lookng for information what concentration of chlorine dioxide is the best for peeled vegetables?