Decontamination of seeds, beans and sprouts

SonoSteam processes are designed for decontamination of delicate seeds, beans and even sprouts

Whether it is seeds, beans or sprouts, the challenges with contaminations are very different, but the aim is to produce safe end products. The common denominator is that all these products are sensitive to various decontamination methods, including the use of thermal processes. Currently, there is no effective decontamination process being employed for such products in their raw state.

SonoSteam processes are ideal for beans, seeds and sprouts

The SonoSteam processes have been developed and tested on different types of seeds, corn, beans and even sprouts. The results show that significantly high reductions can be achieved within only a few seconds. SonoSteam processes do not affect the sprouting capacity or cause any sensory changes.

Control vs 1 sec. treatment

Case studies on - seeds beans sprouts

Beans and sprouts

Mung bean sprouts delicious and dangerous

Mung beans have been cultivated for thousands of years and are native to India. China have been growing mung beans for over 3000 years and large scale cultivations are mostly in India, Indonesia, China, Burma, and Bangladesh. In these countries, mung beans are used in different dishes. In western countries, mung beans are mostly popular known as bean sprouts.

Mung beans and especially the sprouts pose a great risk of human infections if not handled properly. Growing conditions for mung bean sprouts consist of a warm and highly humid environment which invites bacteria growth. Nevertheless, the mung beans themselves are also contaminated and it only takes a few bacteria strains in such an environment in order to create infectious bacteria doses in just a few hours.

Beans and sprouts may be contaminated with different types of infectious bacteria including Escherichia coli, Listeria, Bacillus cereus and Salmonella.

Bean sprouts were responsible for killing more than 30 people and hospitalizing over 3,000 people.

In June 2011, more than 30 people were killed due to a pathogenic E. coli strain and more than 3,000 were hospitalized. At least 100 of them will require lifelong kidney dialysis or kidney transplants.

In Europe, the use of chemicals to control bacteria is forbidden. A novel decontamination step like SonoSteam for beans and sprouts will be in high demand.

June 10th, 2011. German tests link bean sprouts to deadly E. coli

Safe bean sprouts with SonoSteam

SonoSteam achieves 100% decontamination on mung beans and sprouts

Tests and analyzes have shown that mung beans contaminated with Enterobacteriaceae (a family name of Salmonella and E. coli) were completely reduced with Sonosteam. Furthermore, the study showed that these bacteria were also absent on the sprouts after 3 days of sprouting.

In a different study, our laboratory decided to test a packaging of 7 day old mung bean sprouts from a local Danish supermarket. The starting levels were shocking with numerous high levels of food spoilage bacteria and E. coli! The same sprouts were subjected to a fast interval process of 0.5 seconds x 4 runs. This type of process reduces spoilage bacteria and E. coli with up to 2 logs without affecting sprouts negatively.

No sensory changes and 100% sprouting capacity each time

Sprouting capacity of mung bean sprouts are not affected by SonoSteam processes. These processes are designed to treat the delicate and heat sensitive surfaces of bean sprouts without causing any effect on the sprouting capacity or on the end product, the sprouts. Sprouts were incubated in the fridge until expiration date and compared to untreated sprouts. The tests showed that no sensory differences were found.

Beansprouts