Authors (including presenting author) :
Wong YM(1), Wong HS(1), Wong PK(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Administrative Services (Catering Services), Kowloon Hospital
Introduction :
Food hygiene and safety is the pre-requisite for quality Patient Food Services. With the food supply from reliable suppliers, the cleaning and sanitation process of the raw materials is still indispensable. We used to employ food grade chemicals / agents to remove dirt, microbes, pesticides and chemical contaminants. Yet thorough rising of the residue is required and staff has to follow carefully the instruction for required concentration and dilution to get effective results. With the application of the iEOG (Indirect Electrolytic Ozone Generation) technology, food ingredients could be sanitized in one step over the water tap without leaving residue to the environment.
Objectives :
To (1) enhance the food quality and freshness and at the same time (2) minimize the use of chemicals during the food preparation process to make the operation more user and environmental friendly.
Methodology :
To employ the iEOG technology with the use of the Ozone Disinfection System in vegetable washing, sandwich making and formula preparation so as to replace and reduce the use of chemical sanitizer on a daily basis. Upon connection of the system to the water pipe network, ozone would be electrolytically prepared from tap water without involving gas flow and impurities, and the bactericidal effect would take place in 20 to 60 seconds. Dirt, dust, microbes and chemical including pesticides would be removed without leaving residue on the food surface or in the drain. The hygiene and appearance of the resulted vegetables was observed and a microbiological test on contact surface was performed to verify the sanitation effectiveness of ozone water when the chemical sanitizer for sandwich preparation in the sandwich and liquid nutrition room was replaced.
Result & Outcome :
(1)To preserve the food ingredients better in terms of appearance and shelf-life (2)To replace the use of chemical sanitizer in sandwich and nutritional supplement preparation. With the installation of the Ozone Disinfection System, the sanitation process could be conducted in one step with no special mixing and/or dilution of any agent required. Microbiological tests in our routine confirmed its effectiveness on food contact sanitation of equipment/ tool after replacing the use of chemical agent. The freshness of the vegetables was found enhanced with the texture of the vegetables being crispy and the green colour was preserved by the dissolved ozone even after 10days in the freezer for trial. Staff found it user-friendly and time-saving for preparation while microbiological test gave good results on sanitation.
