Australian leafy greens and fresh-cut produce supplier One Harvest is rolling out a new food safety system across its Australian operations.
The system was developed by SmartWash Solutions, a US-headquartered company that offers an integrated package of process control equipment, organic and conventional food wash enhancers, data management, precise calibration with known solutions, and a customer service partnership designed to mitigates cross contamination and improve wash line efficiency.
SmartWash Solutions initially developed a validation protocol and conducted extensive equipment testing at One Harvest’s Perth processing facility.
Anina Immelman, head of technical at One Harvest, said SmartWash Solutions’ systems provided a preferred alternative to PAA (peracetic acid) in producing high-quality, fresh-cut products that exceed all food safety standards.
'SmartWash provided substantial improvements in the quality of our finished product, including the potential to significantly extend shelf life,” Immelman said.
“Additionally, our validation protocol showed the microbial mitigation results we expected. Overall, we found many strong reasons to convert from PAA to SmartWash coupled with chlorine, which set up a win-win scenario for us, our customers and the consumers.”
One Harvest expects to complete the installation of SmartWash systems at its facilities across Australia by the end of August.
'One Harvest is now our largest customer outside of the United States, and we continue to expand across the globe as growers and processors see the advantages of SmartWash in food safety efficacy, process control improvement and enhanced product quality,' said Steven Swarts, director of business development at SmartWash Solutions.
Swarts said SmartWash Solutions overcame travel and shipping restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to prevent supply chain delays, and ensure installation, training and operation of the SmartWash system was uninterrupted.
'Exceptional customer service is the essence of SmartWash, and we have had many chances to prove this during the past year and a half,” Swarts explained.
“At one point, we sent our products to Australia via airfreight, and instead of travelling to the site, we deployed a 24-7 remote training and operations team. Between video conferencing and our access to One Harvest’s real-time data feed, we have been able to maintain constant communications and operational integrity.'
