Non-ionising UV-C irradiation, alone or in combination with other cleaning and disinfection methods, is a physical technology that is increasingly used for a wide range of applications. One of the main advantages of microbicidal non-chemical inactivation procedures is that they are considered eco-friendly as they do not leave potentially toxic residues in the environment. The aims of these strategies include improvement of the control of foodborne pathogens, the inactivation of food and environmental biowarfare agents, and arthropod pest control. New control and decontamination strategies based on physical technologies are promising means of improving microbial safety.
#Uv light combination treatment with food processing methods generator#
Pending further developments (such as beam steering, beam shaping and miniaturisation) and feasibility studies (such as testing with mites in real-life situations), the reported results and characteristics of the UV-C generator (modulation of energy output and adaptability to varying spot sizes) open up the use of this technology for a vast field of acaricidal applications that require long-range radiation. ConclusionsĪ high rate of mite mortality and lethal egg damage were observed after less than 1 min of exposure to 5 mJ UV-C pulsed irradiation at 60 Hz. about 100% egg mortality at an accumulated dose of as little as 5 kJ/m 2 for each exposure time. The effect of irradiation on egg hatchability was even more significant than that on adult mite mortality, i.e. The effect of exposure duration on mortality was minimal. The mortality of mites at 5 and 40 kJ/m 2 was 26% and 92%, respectively. The effects of UV-C irradiation on the hatchability of eggs were observed daily for up to 12 days post-irradiation. Post-irradiation acaricidal effects (mite mortality) were assessed immediately and also measured at 24 h. The exposure time for the mites and fresh eggs varied from 1 to 4 min at 5–300 mW, which corresponded to UV doses of 5–80 kJ/m 2. The distance from the light source to the target was 150 mm the target surface area was 2.16 cm 2.
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The pulse energy and pulse repetition rate were 5 mJ and up to 100 Hz, respectively. UV-C light was generated by a pulsed krypton fluoride excimer laser operating at 248-nm emission wavelength. The acaricidal effect of an experimental UV-C irradiation device was assessed using female adults and eggs of a model organism, the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae. Pulsed ultraviolet (UV)-C light sources, such as excimer lasers, are used in emerging non-thermal food-decontamination methods and also have high potential for use in a wide range of microbial decontamination applications.