Introduction to Liberty Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers and Dual Purpose use as Hypochlorous Acid Generators
Posted by Sam Petegorsky on
What are Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers?
Before we do a deep dive into Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers, the first question to answer would be what exactly are they, and what do they achieve? Produce Purifiers have long been popular in Asia and Europe to solve numerous problems that can be found in fresh produce including Residual Pesticides, Bacteria, Chemicals and some Allergens. (note, if one is allergic to the produce itself, this machine will not help, however, if the allergy is to residual chemicals and pesticides on the produce, the purifier may remove them)
While some may believe that washing fruits and vegetables can accomplish the desired objective, and in fact, it does help to reduce some of these concerns, it is not effective in resolving all of these issues, and even produce which was thoroughly washed can still have residual chemicals on them. In fact, most commercially available produce already goes through an automated high pressure washing process prior to being sold, yet still have residual chemicals on them.
Some people resort to cleaning their fresh produce with various soaps intended for this purpose, yet studies have shown that these soaps have limited impact, and the long term effects of consuming the residuals of these soaps themselves is unknown.
That is where Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers come in to play. As opposed to trying to wash off chemicals which are designed to stick to produce, these devices instead break down the chemicals, bacteria viruses etc, and render them inert.
First generation Produce Purifiers used Ozone Generators to create Ozone Water, which has strong oxidation properties, to achieve the desired results. However, the use of Ozone in itself creates its own set of problems, as Ozone is a carcinogen, and while it may solve one problem, it can also introduce a new set of problems.
Enter our Next Generation Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers. They use the electrolysis of water to generate Hydroxyl Radicals to create high levels of Oxidation that break down Chemicals, Pesticides, Dyes, Viruses, Bacteria and Fungi, without risk to your health.
I know what you may be thinking, Hydroxyl Radicals, sounds like some new-age pseudo-science. Yet the existence and efficacy of Hydroxyl Radicals has been known and documented in scientific literature from as early as 1927 (we will provide links to studies and articles at the bottom of the blog).
Hydroxyl Radicals are produced naturally in the atmosphere, it is how the atmosphere naturally reduces toxins including greenhouse gasses in the environment. It is also naturally produced by the human body to fight infection.
Hydroxyl Radicals are not absorbed by the human body, so coming in contact with them will have no ill effects on ones health, and have an extremely short shelf life, essentially only lasting as long as it is being actively produced by the electrolysis process.
The result of using Hydroxyl Radicals in our Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers is a highly potent Oxidation process, that is highly effective in breaking down harmful residuals on produce, while being completely safe for human contact.
Dual Usage as a Hypochlorous Acid Generator
While these products were initially designed and marketed as produce purifiers, simply by adding Non-Iodized Salt as well as Vinegar to stabilize the pH, these same machines can be used to generate Hypochlorous Acid, and due to their powerful electrodes, can be highly efficient in doing so.
How did we come to offer Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers ?
Initially, our company mission was to bring to market quality products for disinfecting surfaces. This included Foggers, Sprayers, and Hypochlorous Acid Generators.
In many cases, we realized that instead of re-inventing the wheel, we could use products that were already proven in the market for other uses, and re-purpose them for other uses. Our handheld foggers, were initially sold as high quality HVLP Paint Sprayers, as is they were unsuitable for disinfecting, as disinfectants have a much lower viscosity than paint, yet we discovered that by pairing these paint sprayers with smaller nozzles then were readily available on the market, they make excellent disinfectant foggers, exceeding the performance of other disinfectant foggers.
Similarly, our selling of Hydrogen Water Generators, was a result of customer inquiries regarding the use of our HOCl generators as Hydrogen Water Generators. We did not recommend this, as the products were not designed for that purpose, but realizing the demand, and using our available manufacturing contacts we were able to bring high quality Hydrogen Water Generators to market.
The introduction of our Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers came about in much the same way. Although we already offered 2 Liter Hypochlorous Acid Generators, we were looking for a large capacity HOCl generator, that could produce enough HOCl to fill our Liberty 10 Liter Backpack Foggers.
We could have chosen to manufacture a large capacity HOCl generator from scratch, but that would have been extremely expensive, and would have severely delayed our ability to offer it to the public. So instead, we began looking for dual use products that would accomplish the same results. At the same time, some of the contract manufacturers we already work with, had begun making Hydroxy Ion Fruit and Vegetable sterilizers for the European and Asian Market. We brought some in, tested them out (and got excellent results), and the result is our Liberty Fruit and Vegetable Purifiers.
Sources
Study on Pesticides in Produce From State of CT
Consumer Reports Articles about Pesticides in Produce
https://www.consumerreports.org/pesticides-in-food/stop-eating-pesticides/
Health Risks of Pesticides in Produce University of Washington FDA
https://depts.washington.edu/ceeh/downloads/FF_Pesticides.pdf
WebMD article about pesticides in cereal
https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20190614/weedkillers-in-cereal-what-to-know
Is Organic Produce any Better, Scientific American Article
Study on Hydroxyl Ions as a Germicide and Disinfectant from 1927
https://jb.asm.org/content/jb/15/5/341.full.pdf
Hydroxyl Radicals Overview Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyl_radical