You might not see bugs and bacteria on fresh fruit and vegetables, but they’re there. Texas A&M food engineers are experimenting with new technologies to eliminate these threats to keep our produce safe and healthy.
Many Americans assume fruits and vegetables sold in supermarkets are safe, wholesome foods that are good for us and won’t make us sick. This can be a deadly assumption. Despite rigorous national standards, spinach infected with Escherichia coli and salmonella-tainted tomatoes have hit the market, in recent years, sickening more than 1,000 people in the United States.
But food engineering researchers at Texas A&M are perfecting several methods to ensure the safety of fresh produce: electron beam, or e-beam, irradiation, which kills disease-causing organisms that survive conventional decontamination methods, as well as several advanced packaging techniques.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Texas A&M University
