Preventing and controlling listeria in food processing environments can be a challenge. UVC can be a tool to help reduce microbiological growth including listeria. Specifically companies working in the field of ready-to-eat products can benefit from implementing UVC technology. 

 news1

UVC light is is proven to be effective against listeria bacteria even at low doses and short exposure times.We recommend to look at two situations where UVC can be of help: 

1. Evaporators

2. Conveyor belts

 

1. Evaporators as potential infection source

Evaporators create an environment where listeria bacteria can reproduce. The moisture from the evaporator coil supports their growth. When the bacteria remain in the evaporator there is no direct risk, but with 24/7 ventilation through this evapoarator coil and regular cleaning there is a real risk of spreading them througout the production facilities. Consider to installa UVC lamps directly into the evaporator, this prevents the growth of bacteria at the sources and reduces contamination risks of the final product. 

 

Why choose UVC light?

It works 24/7. The design of the coils is very suitable to use with UVC light, aluminium reflects UVC light so the small spaces even deeper in the in the coil get disinfected effectively. You prevent the forming of biofilms and as a result air quality will improve. 


How to integrate

There are two good options to implement UVC into an evaporator. In situations where enough space exists between the ventilator and the coil you can impement it directly into the system by using an FDM (flange) module and a UVC lamp in the required length.

Alternatively you can choose to build a stainless steel frame or aluminium frame in front of the evaporator and mount it to the ceiling. We can custom design these on request. 

evaporator disinfection2 uvc ionization air desinfection



2. Cross contamination via conveyor belts


A conveyor belt that comes into direct contact with a product can transfer micro-organisms from one prodcuct to another. It is common to clean and disinfect conveyor belts with regular intervals, but there are few options to disinfect 24/7 and during production. UVC can be a method to improve general hygiene and specifically reduce risks of cross contamination. Listeria bacteria are very susceptible to UVC radiation. 

 

Different UVC disinfection systems
For longer belts (up to 25m including return) we advise the UVpro BD2016-HD. Mounted close to the surface normally from the bottom of the belt. For belts up to 10m (including return) we recommend the UVpro BDM2018-HD. Combine multiple units for longer belts.

 

uvpro bd 2016 2

UVpro BD2016-HD

uvpro bdm 2018 hd 4

UVpro BD2018-HD

 

Results

Generally during production conveyor belt micro-organism count will rise unless regular cleaning an disinfection is done. With UVC disinfection results can drastically improve with each cycle of the belt. See example results below: 

Cycle Salmonella Pseudomonas  Listeria
0 0,00% 0,00% 0,00%
1 82,67% 83,91% 61,43%
2 96,13% 98,62% 94,29%
3 99,20% 99,43% 98,67%
4 99,33% 99,46% 99,43%
5 99,57% 99,59% 99,53%
6 99,50% 99,79% 99,83%

 

>

+