Evaluation of Ozonated Water’s Efficacy in Rinsing Equipment in a Processed Fishery Products Industry

Ozonated water may represent a complementary approach to improve routine hygiene during fish processing. This study evaluated its effectiveness in reducing microbial contamination on food-contact surfaces of a cod-processing machine during scheduled production breaks and at the end of production. Tap water and ozonated water were compared under routine industrial conditions by monitoring Total Mesophilic Counts (TMC) and Total Psychrotrophic Counts (TPC) at multiple time points throughout the working day. Both treatments reduced microbial loads, but ozonated water achieved significantly greater reductions in TPC during morning and end-of-day rinsing and in TMC during morning rinsing after Holm’s correction for multiple comparisons. No significant differences were observed during lunch rinsing or for TMC during end-of-day rinsing. Microbial loads increased again during subsequent processing periods under both treatments. After final chlorine-based sanitation, neither TMC nor TPC differed significantly between treatments after Holm’s correction. Overall, ozonated water improved the effectiveness of selected rinsing procedures under real processing conditions and should be considered complementary to conventional end-of-day cleaning and disinfection. Its use during production breaks may therefore represent a practical complementary measure for controlling microbial accumulation in fish processing environments.