Karotia cleans their carrots with ozone
Introduction.
Karotia Oy is an awarded Finnish carrot producer that has been run as a family business ever since the start in the 1950’s and is one of Finland’s largest carrot producers. The long experience of growing carrots has led to a vast knowledge in the production. For Karotia quality control, research and development are very important factors and they strive to continuously improve their processes. This has taken the company to where it is today. Karotia has in their development given special attention to and passion for the growth of their award-winning Baby Carrots.
The problem.
Karotia wanted an effective solution to clean and disinfect their baby carrots without affecting the taste. The aim of the additional cleaning step was to prolong the shelf life of the baby carrots, and thus, reducing wastage and increase profit.
The solution.
Karotia turned to Mellifiq for a disinfection solution that would not affect the taste of the baby carrots. We solved the problem by circulating ozonated water, from one of the Ozonetech RENA Vivo B-systems, over a water basin where the baby carrots are rinsed. The ozone level is automatically controlled at 1 ppm to ensure the highest performance of the washing system. The system effectively deactivates viruses and bacteria and the carrots are now always completely free from any microbial contamination. All this results in an extended shelf life without having any effects on the taste.
Evaluation.
The Ozonetech RENA Vivo B-series has now cleaned more than 1,000 baby carrots per hour for several years and is still up and running at high performance. The system is still successfully disinfecting the carrots without having any effects on the taste.