“We wanted to find a way to reduce mold counts in the room where we process butternut squash, but our facility did not lend itself to a true clean room environment,” said Peter Martin, production manager for Martin Farms. “Instead, we have had excellent success using a surprisingly simple solution: We pressurized the space and installed ultraviolet-C (UVC) lights manufactured by Steril-Aire Inc. (Cerritos, Calif.) to function as an air-cleaning mechanism. Our mold counts have dropped dramatically, our air quality has improved, and our shelf life has increased dramatically as a result.”
Before arriving at this solution, Martin Farms was experiencing high mold and yeast counts based on weekly product sampling performed by Primus Labs as part of the company HACCP program. Yeast occurs naturally in the squash itself but can multiply to undesirable levels if ambient conditions allow.