Forrester Estate is using Bio Turbo to remove ethylene and airborne pathogens from cold rooms and to reduce cross-contamination.
The fruit exporter based in Zimbabwe evaluated the efficiency of Miatech’s Bio Turbo solution for removing ethylene and airborne pathogens in cold rooms to enable the company to expand market operations.
About 90% of citrus losses are caused by a single type of fungus called “Penicillium digitatum,” more commonly known as “Green Mold.” One infected fruit is enough to generate billions of spores that fly around the cold room infecting healthy fruit items. This was occurring with Forrester Estate.
The company produces clementines, lemons, and peas for export to Europe. It faced issues with mold spreading on many fruits and vegetables, especially the citrus fruit. There were also problems with ethylene causing fast ripening, shriveling, and unpleasant decay odor.
Forrester Estate began to explore possible solutions for improving its storage, and decided on Miatech’s Bio Turbo system.
Bio Turbo employs a patented four-stage air purification process that effectively removes ethylene and 99.5% of airborne bacteria. Although Bio Turbo technology uses ozone in one of its four stages to destroy ethylene and airborne pathogens, ozone is never released into the cold room. This makes Bio Turbo technology completely safe for humans, creating a better and safer work environment.
After more than two years of continuous use and good results, Forrester Estate decided to conduct trials to evaluate the efficiency of Bio Turbo.
John Perrot, general manager of Forrester Citrus Zimbabwe, wrote a letter to Coldroom Ozone (Pvt) Ltd, the Miatech dealer in Zimbabwe, in which he described in detail the firm’s findings.
“We have done a few trials with the clementines which were packed in week 19 (May 2018). Four cartons were pulled out in week 33 (14 weeks after packing) and checked for mold and fruit unfit for sale. There was less than 1 % decay.
“The fruit was checked again in another four cartons in week 42 (October 2018); still, we found less than 2% decay. Before Forrester purchased a Bio Turbo we would face 25% decay in any stored fruit.
“The Bio Turbo has changed our approach to store more fruit for the regional markets for clementines and lemons,” said Perrot.
Access www.miatech.org or http://bio-turbo.com/ for further information.
