“This goes above and beyond best practices to help ensure our team in the packing and shipping room is protected,” Bob Jones, Jr., The Chef’s Garden
HURON, Ohio (PRWEB)
April 30, 2020
The Chef’s Garden is using technology proven to be effective against challenging viruses such as MRSA and H1N1 to keep people and produce safe in the farm’s packing and shipping rooms—the only farm using this powerful technology for fresh produce.
“This goes above and beyond best practices,” explains Bob Jones, Jr. of The Chef’s Garden, “to help ensure that our team in the packing and shipping room is protected, and the produce that we deliver to our partners—meaning, our customers—is protected, as well.”
Jones was interviewed about the farm’s use of this technology for a news story that appeared on Cleveland Channel 19 on April 27, 2020. On that show, he discussed the Extreme Microbial Technologies’ air purification system and its benefits.
This system uses a three-stage process that pulls air in through a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. Hydrogen peroxide plasma is then passed through that air. Through that process, ionized high energy clusters are produced—in fact, millions of them. This system charges the air in a way that allows it to continually be purified, removing environmental contaminants. In other words, the air is disinfected, but so are the surfaces contained within the air.
“It is extremely difficult to keep surfaces purified if the air and environment around them are contaminated,” said Randy Mount, CEO of Extreme Microbial Technologies. “This technology has the potential to reduce the spread of viruses in indoor spaces where new contaminants are constantly being introduced. We’re excited to work with The Chef’s Garden to help protect their workforce and their produce and believe this will become standard operating practice to protect employees and customers for many companies moving forward.”
“This allows our packing and shipping air to be continually sanitized in a way that’s safe for people,” Jones explains. “We’d researched options for years and recognized that a system that holistically reduces contaminants would be a critical investment for now and for the future.”
Ionized hydrogen peroxide like that in the system used by the farm has been found to be 99+% effective in reducing MRSA, H1N1, pneumonia, meningitis, and stomach viruses, according to research conducted by the Food Science Institute at Kansas State University.
Multiple Layers of Protection
Infectious disease experts around the United States are sharing how, overall, more holistic ways need to be used to mitigate the risks of exposure to disease.
Dr. Mark H. Weir is the director of the Ecology Epidemiology and Population Health Program, Infectious Disease Institute, at The Ohio State University. He recently shared that, although washing hands and keeping personal spaces clean is vital in the fight against infection, we need to go beyond that to look at our broader environment and use a multi-tiered protective approach.
Meanwhile, New York’s former Lieutenant Governor, Betsy McCaughey, is on a committee focused on reducing infection—and she is calling for businesses to use technologies that eliminate bacteria and viruses on surfaces and in the air. That’s exactly the strategy that The Chef’s Garden has proactively taken.
Proactive Approach
The farm had already begun testing and using this technology in June 2019. “If there is an advanced technology that protects people, product and company,” Jones adds, “it’s The Chef’s Garden’s philosophy that we should take advantage of it.” This purification system is an ideal example of how the company puts its philosophies into practice.
Here is more information about The Chef’s Garden’s overall food safety procedures, which includes 112 daily standard operation procedures, three daily cleaning cycles, and two bonus procedures, which includes the air purification system that will continue to be used at the farm long after the COVID curve is flattened.
This cutting-edge, currently one-of-a-kind technology protects the produce that is harvested and shipped fresh, includes in home deliveries.
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About The Chef’s Garden:
In order to grow foods that look good, taste good and are good for you, the team at The Chef’s Garden is committed to regenerative agriculture and practices that replenish nutrients depleted from the soil. Embracing the traditional philosophies of farming and recognizing the importance of growing crops through natural means, The Chef’s Garden is deeply dedicated to “growing vegetables slowly and gently, in full accord with nature.”® We believe that by rebuilding the soil naturally it will return to us a more nutritious, flavorful product.
About Extreme Microbial Technologies:
Dayton-based Extreme Microbial Technologies was formed to help protect people and plants from microbial contamination in any indoor environment. Since 2016 we have helped a variety of businesses and consumers across the country reduce the dangers of illness caused by bacteria, viruses, molds and mildew in offices, production facilities, schools, restaurants, homes and more, as well as helping indoor growers protect plants and finished goods.
