Photo: James Even / Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Fresh Plaza: Scientists in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, have developed an antimicrobial wash for fruit and vegetables, which can reduce the risk of food-borne pathogens contaminating fresh produce in food processing operations.

Joshua Gurtler, an Agricultural Research Service scientist at the Eastern Regional Research Center and his collaborators at NatureSeal, Inc., tested hundreds of antimicrobial formulations before they found the right combination of lactic acid, fruit acids, and hydrogen peroxide.

First Step+ 10 is designed to reduce the numbers of those sickened and killed by food-borne pathogens. It is expected to be used in flumes and rinse tanks to wash fresh produce. Several NatureSeal constituent processors have already expressed an interest in using it, Gurtler says.

Read the full story at Fresh Plaza