REDUCE MANAGEMENT OVERHEAD AND IMPROVE SANITISATION EFFICIENCY WITH ArcAqua

THE PROBLEM

Wonderful Citrus is the largest integrated grower, packer and shipper of fresh citrus fruits in the United States. They process more than 26 million cartons (245 tonnes per hour) of citrus fruit at their Californian facilities.

The world’s leading citrus pack houses employ a combination of post-harvest cleaning and sanitising techniques to ensure that fruit is safe and lasts for longer. Cleaning alone is insufficient.

The efficacy of a chlorine based sanitising solution is directly related to how well the chlorine concentration and pH levels are managed. Even the best pack houses struggle to continually get the management of these factors right.

THE SOLUTION

June 2017, ArcAqua systems where installed over the brush beds in the pre-sort areas of Wonderful Citrus’ Halos facility. The primary use case was to prove that ArcAqua sanitised the fruit as well as or better than alternative chemical approaches. The secondary use case was to prove that ArcAqua helped to reduce cross- contamination by sanitising the brush beds.

EVALUATION

Initially, Wonderful Citrus tested ArcAqua against various other ozone based and chlorine based solutions. ArcAqua proved to be more effective at sanitisation, preventing brush bed contamination, eliminating chemical management overhead, reducing water usage and leaving no chemical residue.

Wonderful Citrus also analysed the safety aspects of the system. After extensive environmental testing they concluded that ArcAqua was safe to use. Wonderful Citrus made the decision to move forward with ArcAqua and install at their Halos facility.