Fruit and Vegetable Cleaner

The fruits and vegetables available in the market sometimes contain pesticides residues and bacteria. To achieve a healthy intake of these foods it is also important to properly clean them before consuming as their presence could disturb long-term hormonal functioning. 

Generally, we wash the fruits and vegetables with fresh water before eating but an Argentinean company has developed a cleaner specially to clean veggies and fruits. The cleaner is in the form of a spray. The company claims that its efficacy is almost 100 per cent.  

Also, we know that the shelf life of the fruits and vegetables is not much, it perishes quickly, creating problems of pathogens and microbes. To avoid these problems, the spray as a cleaner is quite effective as claimed by the developing agency.  

According to a report recently published by the World Health Organization, people should consume a minimum of 400 grams of fruits and vegetables every day to mitigate nutritional deficiencies and prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. "We developed, together with the national SME PAMPA TRADE SA, a novel fruit and vegetable cleaner that reduces 99 per cent of bacteria (such as listeria, Escherichia coli, and salmonella) and pesticides, such as organochlorines or carbamates," stated Erica Stacey, the sub-chief of Food Technology at INTI (Argentina). 

The cleaner comes in a sprayer and must be rinsed off the food before consumption. 

Another advantage of the cleaner is that it would allow increasing the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by at least 50 per cent. In addition, it is biodegradable, which makes it friendly to the environment. 

"The novelty of this work is its transfer model, which allows a national SME to access a development that has a low economic risk and good sales projection associated with the importance of this type of innovation," stated Javier Ibañez, President of INTI. The product will bear the legend "developed and formulated in INTI", which will make the Institute's presence visible in daily life products.