Cleaning and sanitizing agents of the future may come from plants.
An Edmonton company has received almost half a million dollars from Ottawa to evaluate and potentially commercialize a group of naturally occurring cleaning agents for food and food preparation surfaces.
Innovotech has developed and patented these agents, derived from natural plant pigments that are currently registered in Canada as food dyes. The combination of these pigments with certain light sources and oxygen kills micro-organisms.
“This novel approach to sanitation can extend the shelf life of food products and reduce food contamination, which is of benefit to both producers and consumers,” said Merle Olson, Innovotech’s research director.
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The program will be administered in Alberta through the Agriculture and Food Council.
“This research is aimed at developing products that meet the needs of both the traditional and the organic food markets for a safe and effective way of controlling contamination and spoilage of food.” says Dee Ann Benard, chair of the council.
Innovotech is a product development company focusing on the development of solutions to medical, agricultural and industrial problems caused by microbial biofilms.
Biofilms are protected communities of micro-organisms that are common and difficult to treat due to their inherent resistance. They have been implicated in many infections in agriculture, human health and industry.
