PhytO3 Concepts

PhytO3 combines a number of proven concepts of the food-processing industry and makes them available to farmers. It thus shortcuts a major deficiency in the current food production process: By providing a plant treatment which minimizes the use of pesticides, it reduces the cost of producing food and the health risk to the consumers and to staff in production.

PhytO3 Technology

PhytO3 is based on the idea of using ozonized water and UV light to remove biological pest from plants:

Ozone is highly reactive and needs to be applied for only a very short time to kill bacteria, fungi and viruses. It is environmentally friendly since it decomposes into harmless oxygen (which is an essential part of the environment air). Ozone water kills pests by destroying the complex molecules of which the microorganisms consist. Thus, the pest is essentially burned while leaving the plants unharmed, if applied correctly. Many plants have a protective layer on their leaves which prevents damage to them.
Ultraviolet light also is effective against many microorganisms, but applies completely different mechanisms than ozone. The very strong radiation damages the DNA of the microorganisms. Again, plants are to a certain degree protected against UV radiation.

The combination of these two methods is extremely effective and has been used, for example, in water disinfection for about 50 years. The PhytO3 method provides, however, additional advantages:

UV light under certain circumstances destroys ozone. Therefore, if the combination of ozone water and UV light is chosen correctly, the combination not only disinfects the surface of the plants very effectively, but superfluous ozone is destroyed by the UV light.
The combination is known to induce a higher resistance of many plants against microbiological pest, a mechanism called "systemic acquired resistance (SAR)".

Vegetables

PhytO3 Advantages

Fruit

Compared to chemical pesticides, PhytO3 has a number of advantages:

No residues - the products can be consumed without decontamination
Products can be used for baby food
PhytO3 can be used in biological production since it does not contaminate plants or soil
PhytO3 can be used in environments where pests are immune to conventional pesticides without need for genetic engineering
The method allows for a higher efficiency than biological production
Soil does not need to be decontaminated before change of use
Reduced production cost by reducing pesticide use
Reduced risk of sickness or death of laborers because of pesticide poisoning
Compliance to legal regulations concerning use of pesticides

More information

Note: Ventafresh and PhytO3 are patented technologies. If you're interested in testing the products or working with them, please contact SwissFood Tech Management, Inc.