New Method Uses Ozone
To Disinfect Chicken Eggs

o prevent the possibility of
exposure to salmonella
infection, raw eggs are dis-
infected before being mar-
keted to consumers in the United
States. A new device that uses air
containing a low concentration of
ozone gas has been shown to be more
effective at disinfecting eggs in their
shell than the conventional method
of washing them
with detergent and
dipping them into
wax solution to seal
eggshell pores. The
device was devel-
oped by Professor
Shmuel Yannai at
the Technion-Israel
Institute of
Technology, who
published his study
results in the Israeli
journal HaSade.
According to
Professor Yannai
Professor Yannai, a
toxicologist at the
Techion's
Department of Food Engineering and
Biotechnology, the danger of salmo-
nella transmission via pathogens on
the eggshell is much greater than
from the inside of the egg, where
only about one in 10,000 to 20,000
eggs is infected with salmonella.
Much more frequently, bacteria
found on the shell's surface infects
the egg when it is cracked open or
when uncooked food is prepared on
kitchen surfaces where eggs had been.
"The current method of disinfect-
ing eggs by dipping them in water
dissolves the shell's cuticle, its exter-
nal protective layer, and actually facil-
itates the bacteria's entry into the egg
through the porous eggshell,"
Professor Yannai noted. In addition,
detergent doesn't eliminate all bacte-
ria from the shell.
The new method, which is more
economical and faster than using
detergent and water, uses an "ozona-
/— tor" developed at the Technion. The
device generates large quantities of
ozone and air mixture to oxidize bac-
terial membranes, thereby killing
pathogens as well as bacterial and
/-)
\- fungal spores which are immune to
most other environmental factors.
Despite ozone's negative image, it
is safer to use than detergent and
water, Professor Yannai stressed. The
ozone treatment, when preformed as
recommended by the Technion
researchers, does not permeate into
the edible parts of the egg, breaks

down spontaneously within 30
minutes, no trace of ozone is left.
Eggs disinfected with ozone will
reach Israeli markets in the near
future, and are expected to cost a few
cents more than those conventionally
disinfected.
Infection with salmonella causes
stomach pain, diarrhea, fever and
other symptoms in healthy people,
but in babies, the immunocompro-
mised and elderly,
may cause severe
illness and death.
The ozonator
has sparked inter-
est from egg mar-
keting companies
in Britain,
Germany,
Switzerland and
South Africa.
The Technion-
Israel Institute of
Technology is one
of the world's
most prestigious
science and tech-
nological universities and Israel's
major center for applied research.
The American Society for Technion is
the university's liaison and fund-rais-
ing arm in the United States.

/--••

Bedouin Girls
In Med School

Two Israeli Bedouin girls, who have
just successfully completed a two-year
course of enrichment in the medical
science at Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev in Beersheva, have become
the first of their community to be
admitted to medical school.
Along with 24 other Bedouin, the
two girls undertook studies in basic
sciences, cancer, diabetes, lab proce-
dures and infectious diseases and
were required to carry out research
projects.
They were the only graduates to
apply to BGU's Goldman Medical
School although other course gradu-
ates plan to continue their studies in
nursing, physiotherapy and other
paramedical fields as well as biology.
Higher education for girls has not
received high priority among the
Negev Bedouin, 80 percent of whom
never enter high school. With 18 out
of the enrichment course's 26 gradu-
ates being girls, that situation seems
due to change drastically.

— WZPS

Wishing our Customers,
Families and Friends
A Healthy,
Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

To All Our
Friends and Customers

(DAILY FALL ARRIVALS)

rfrIARGUEIFELIE

On The Boardwalk

932-5252

HAPPY
HOLIDAYS

Harold Finegood, C.E.O.

of the

Sarah-Lil

Co.
And Member of The Birmingham Temple

Warm Wishes
for a
Happy and Healthy
New Year

Roz aefiefff gecied

9/26

1997

R45