Sanitation of sesame seed without chemicals

In the last few months sesame seed has been an issue in the media. Organisms that may occasionally be found on sesame seed such as Listeria and E. coli are commonly controlled with effective chemicals such as Ethylene Oxide. However, Ethylene Oxide is forbidden in the EU. As a result large quantities of sesame seed have been recalled and removed from supermarket shelves across Europe. Did you know that UV Hoods by CleanLight are being employed effectively to eliminate such pathogens from sesame seed without the use of ethylene oxide? And without the high investement costs and high enery costs of steam based systems? These UV Hoods may be placed onto existing cleaning lines in Africa, India, or Europe. Account Manager Damian van Dijk at CleanLight explains: “One UV hood on a cleaning line can sanitize 450 kilograms per hour. So, on a high production cleaning line, our customers usually install several UV Hoods to achieve the required dosage of germicidal UV in a matter of seconds” Damian continues: So, those producers can guarantee extremely low CFU levels without having to resort to chemicals that limit the marketability of their sesame seed, and without having to slow down their existing logistical systems. Damian shares calculations proving that the use of germicidal UV is more cost effective than the use of old fashioned steam sterilization. “The electricity consumption of a UV Hood is only 3 KiloWattHour per 450 kilograms, which amounts to far less less than one Euro per metric ton. That is a very competitive operating cost in comparison to chemicals and in comparison to steam. These low operating costs are a primary factor for the growing popularity: “Ten UV hoods have already been sold to conscientious producers and processors of sesame seed outside of Europe. And the list is growing. Usually we can ship within 8 weeks of the order confirmation”. Arne Aiking, CEO at CleanLight adds: “Our technicians had originally developed these UV Hoods for large producers of flower bulbs and vegetable seeds in The Netherlands. That market has given us the experience and the volumes so we can now produce these UV hoods quickly and at competitive prices. The application on foods such as bell peppers, citrus, blueberries, apples, pears, stone fruit, and yes also sesame seed, is a whole new global market for our technology which we launched back in 2010.” The video below shows UV Hoods that have been running succesfully at an organic producer of sesame seed in East Africa since 2019.   Damian van Dijkdamian@cleanlight.nlOffice: +31-317-497620Mobile: +31-6-40395790