January/February 2024 - 7

CONTROLLED ATMOSPHERE STORAGE
shelf-life sapping heat. The lab has
hydrocooled the peaches for 30 minutes,
15 minutes and 7.5 minutes.
Although the tests with aqueous ozone
have been limited to batches of about
100 peaches, if the research warrants
full-scale implementation, commercial
hydrocoolers would be used and
ozone would be used to replace water
chlorination.
The facility was built in 1994 for
research on controlled atmosphere
(CA) storage of the famous onions,
but the research now includes Georgia
vegetables and fruit. Using the facility's
15 CA storage rooms, researchers can
test different concentrations of oxygen,
carbon dioxide and ozone.
" (Ozone) suppresses disease growth
and in general sanitizes the air or water
that they (fresh fruits and vegetables)
are washed in, " Deltsidis said.
Ozone, however, is highly reactive and
can damage plant tissue and not just
pathogens, creating a mission for the
UGA postharvest physiologists.
" I work hand in hand with industry,
and I do targeted projects, trials and
experiments to solve issues that need a
short and quick answer, " he said, " but
getting a short and quick answer is very
often not possible due to the complexity
of live organisms. "
Deltsidis has been working on ozone
research for about three years, but
cautions against telling packers and
shippers that ozone is an across-the-board
postharvest, CA storage solution to extend
shelf life for all fruits and vegetables.
" There are a lot of moving pieces in
reducing food waste, " Deltsidis said. " A
lot of technologies are complementary
to cold storage. Some are easy, but
ozone is one of the harder, very reactive
treatments that can be detrimental to the
supply. It doesn't work for everything,
and is not a solution that can be applied
for all crops. "
Almost all of Deltsidis' research is
on extending the viability of fruits
and vegetables after harvest, but he's
also working with Georgia blackberry
growers on a novel approach to reducing
food waste: ensure that fruit varieties
are well-suited to Georgia's weather
and location and possess attributes
consumers want.
* Gentle: Sorts by size without bruising peaches, apples, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes.
* Accurate: Precisely grades grape tomatoes, cherries, nuts and small berries, maintaining
that accuracy for larger products including cantaloupes and pineapple.
* Fast: Thirteen standard models custom-designed to meet your needs sort from 1,000
lbs./hr to 150,000 lbs./hr.
* Simple: Effective but simple design provides a rugged, low cost, low maintenance
machine at a high value to our customers. It can even be used in the field!
* Versatile: Specialized rollers allow for accurate sizing of round products (potatoes,
onions and citrus), long products (carrots, russets and cucumbers) and irregular products
(bell pepers, jalapenos and garlic).
KERIAN MACHINES INC.
1709 Hwy 81 S, P.O. Box 311, Grafton, N.D. 58237
Phone: (701) 352-0480 * Fax: (701) 352-3776
Web site: www.kerian.com * E-Mail: sales@kerian.com
PRODUCE PROCESS ING
7
Peaches in a 20-gallon tub
of an aqueous ozonated and
highly oxygenated water
solution which is monitored
for pH, temperature, electrical
conductivity, dissolved oxygen
and other factors.

http://www.kerian.com

January/February 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2024