Science and technology have teamed up to prevail over safety threats to food products, processes and personnel for several decades now. The marshalling of forces against the latest coronavirus is no exception.

For example, Oxyion, whose Oxyion advanced air and surface sanitation technology is capable of eliminating up to 99.9 percent of viruses and bacteria, was confident its system could check the new virus as well.

“We suspected that our systems would have success against the coronavirus because of the established data showing our effectiveness against norovirus, rhinovirus and other influenza A types, including H1N1,” said Gabriel Almazan, managing director of Oxyion North America. “Generally speaking, viruses are controlled faster than even pathogenic bacteria.”

Dating its origins to Chile in the late 90s, Oxyion North America is headquartered in Fresno, CA, where it serves customers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. It has more than 7,000 units deployed around the world.

Jimmy Williams, sales and marketing director, said that the hydrogen peroxide-based Oxyion system inactivates and neutralizes viruses, as well as a range of pathogenic bacteria, molds and mildew, through its proprietary sanitizing technology, which is environmentally sound.

Oxyion units are able to naturally create a chemical-free sanitizer by capturing ambient air, passing it through an electrical field inside its unit’s core. There are no consumables or costly on-going inputs.

“Our experience in the development of environmental purification systems for two decades enabled us to inactivate the latest threat to the integrity of perishable products and personnel during the current pandemic, and likely what comes next,” Williams said.

Numerous domestic and foreign regulatory agencies confirm Oxyion’s capability, including a timely independent lab study by Food Safety & Management Group Inc. completed in April 2020.

Entitled, Effect of Oxyion Technology Creating a Safer Environment for Control of Human Coronavirus on Various Inoculated Surfaces, it concluded Oxyion’s environmental purification systems neutralize up to 99.99 percent of surface level Human Coronavirus within 15 minutes, and the viral colonies were non-detectable in less than one hour.

Prior evaluation studies over the past decade by USDA, Barc West and Kansas St. Food Science Institute, proved Oxyion efficacy and time efficiency, making it a vital contributor and invaluable component in countless conventional and organic food processing facilities.

“One of our largest areas of growth in 2020 was from customers who were already using Oxyion units in their packing and cold storage operations, and then transitioned to our systems to reduce the risks related to COVID-19,” Williams said.

Last spring’s sanitizing effort by Henry Avocado, an Escondido, CA-based grower/shipper, is a case in point. Although Henry had moved to a modern 50,000-square-foot facility in 2018, ownership wanted a facility-wide surface and air sanitation upgrade that would address the perils of COVID-19 exposure to employees, while providing the ultimate level of overall food safety.

The solution was to install Oxyion generators that work with existing air-handling systems to continuously destroy harmful pathogens in ventilation systems and the common areas they serve throughout Henry’s production and cold storage areas. Phil Henry said of his relationship with Oxyion, “They provided a food-safety solution and an important level of biosecurity that is integral to our best practices initiative.”

“Henry’s commitment to bring their customers an overall better, safer avocado enabled it to develop one of the best overall post-harvest solutions currently available in the industry,” Williams added. “We were proud to play a role in setting that bar so high.”

Important too, is what separates Oxyion from competitive sanitary processes. Oxyion is not a passive air filtration ionizer or UV light system; nor is it an ozone generator that relies upon harmful concentration levels to have some control effect.

Instead, it uses a combination of highly reactive molecules that interact with airborne and surface-level virus, bacteria, mold spores and other microorganisms  to break down their protective jacket and rendering them inactive.

Another company embracing the Oxyion technology, Western Precooling Group in Oxnard, CA, was introduced to the sanitizing process by a client company several years ago. “Our customer imported fruit to the U.S. and was familiar with Oxyion’s impact on extending product shelf life,” said Roxanne Ostrem, Western’s director of food safety.

Based on a subsequent efficacy study requested by Ostrem, Oxyion systems demonstrated the positive difference in product storage with and without the system in operation. It was significant enough to prompt Western Precooling to order several additional units for offices and shop areas to improve and maintain air quality for its employees.

A similar evaluation occurred across the border. Giddings Mexico, a fresh grower and exporter of a variety of berries, has used Oxyion as a key part of its food sanitation process since 2015. The decision was made after Giddings performed in-house tests in a pre-cooling area and in the refrigerated storage rooms — both before and after installing the sanitizers in several Giddings locations. The trial showed Oxion treatment significantly reduced bacteria, mold and yeasts, according to Daniel Cervantes, operations manager.

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