ABSTRACT
In recent years, increasing attention has been focused on food safety and on the intervention methods to reduce and/or eliminate human pathogens from fresh products, especially fresh seafood. The traditional technology utilizes water with or without a sanitizing agent (e.g., chlorine, acid, iodine, and quaternary ammonium compounds) to wash fresh seafood, however, with a limited effect in killing bacteria on seafood surfaces. Many research and industrial trials are underway to validate the use of ozone in the seafood industry as an alternative treatment to improve its safety. Ozone is a strong oxidant and potent disinfecting agent. Notably, when ozone is applied to a food surface, it leaves no residues since it decomposes quickly in oxygen. Numerous ozone applications have been installed throughout the seafood industry around the world during the past 20 years. Chemical and physical properties of ozone, its generation, and antimicrobial power of ozone were explained as well as many advantages of ozone use in the seafood industry. The present chapter addresses some of the developments in ozone technology application in the seafood industry.
