There is a Machine That can Change How IClean my Food

I have always been careful about what I eat; organic wherever possible, local when I can find it and real food prepared with attention and love. I read labels, I try to avoid additives and I grow whatever I can in my garden.

Yet even the most carefully chosen organic produce can carry pesticide residues that penetrate the skin of fruit and vegetables, bacteria and microbes on the surface, waxes and coatings applied to extend shelf life and microplastics from packaging and handling.

When we diligently wash our food we assume we are cleaning it but mostly we are just moving water across its surface.

Earlier this year I bought a water ozonator and it has genuinely changed how I feel about the food I buy.

Ozone is a naturally occurring molecule made of three oxygen atoms — O3 rather than the O2 we breathe. It is produced naturally by lightning, which is why the air smells so fresh and clean after a thunderstorm. That particular quality of freshness is ozone doing exactly what it does in your kitchen: oxidizing and neutralizing organic compounds, bacteria, viruses, molds and chemical residues on contact.

Ozone is one of the most powerful natural sanitisers known. It is used industrially to purify drinking water, to sanitise food processing facilities and to treat swimming pools as a safer alternative to chlorine. It is between one and a half and three times more effective than chlorine at killing pathogens and it leaves no chemical residue. It simply reverts to oxygen after it has done its work.

What the water ozonator does is infuse ordinary tap water with ozone, turning it into an extraordinarily effective cleaning solution that you then use to wash your produce, your meat, your fish, your cutting boards and anything else that contaminates your food. It also prolongs the shelf life. Ozonation is touted to remove:

Pesticide residues — ozonated water breaks down organophosphates, carbamates and other common pesticide compounds on the surface of produce and in some cases penetrates slightly below the surface where a simple water wash cannot reach. Studies have shown ozone treatment to be significantly more effective than conventional washing at reducing pesticide residues on fruit and vegetables.

Bacteria and pathogens — E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and other foodborne pathogens are neutralised rapidly by ozonated water. For meat, fish, poultry and eggs in particular, washing with ozonated water before preparation meaningfully reduces the bacterial load.

Molds and fungi — ozone is particularly effective against mould spores, which are a significant and underappreciated source of mycotoxins in the food supply. Grains, nuts, coffee, dried fruit and certain vegetables are common carriers of mold that conventional washing does not address.

Waxes and surface coatings — conventionally grown produce is frequently coated with food-grade waxes to extend shelf life and improve appearance. Ozonated water helps break these down and remove them from the surface of fruit and vegetables.

Microbes on meat and fish — soaking meat and fish in ozonated water before cooking reduces surface bacteria and extends the freshness window significantly. Many people notice that meat washed in ozonated water smells cleaner and fresher even before cooking.

My ozonator sits on my kitchen counter and I use it every single day. The process is simple: fill a stainless bowl with water, run the ozonator for the recommended cycle whilst soaking your produce, meat or fish for five to fifteen minutes depending on what you are cleaning. Rinse and prepare as normal.

For leafy greens and soft fruit the machine uses a shorter soak. For meat and fish the soak is longer and for cutting boards and kitchen surfaces I use the ozonated water directly.

The produce comes out smelling genuinely clean in a way that water-washed produce simply does not and I notice it particularly with berries, which tend to carry a high pesticide load even when purchased organic, and with chicken, which is visibly and noticeably fresher after an ozonated water soak.

We talk a great deal in the wellness space about what we eat and less about what arrives on the surface of what we eat and what our bodies absorb along with every mouthful of food we prepare.

The Environmental Working Group publishes an annual Dirty Dozen list: the twelve conventionally grown fruits and vegetables carrying the highest pesticide residues. Strawberries, spinach, kale, peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, grapes, capsicum, cherries, blueberries and green beans consistently appear on this list year after year. Even organic versions of these can carry lower but still present residues from neighbouring farms, shared water sources and handling through the supply chain.

The mycotoxin burden in the food supply is similarly underappreciated. Aflatoxins in peanuts and corn, ochratoxin in dried fruit, grains and coffee, trichothecenes in cereals are fungal toxins that accumulate in our body over time and have been linked to immune suppression, liver damage and a range of other chronic health conditions. Ozone is one of the most effective known treatments for reducing mycotoxin contamination on food surfaces.

We spend considerable money and attention choosing clean, high quality food but the ozonator is the step that ensures the cleaning process matches our choosing process.

The ozonator is compact, simple to use and requires no installation it sits unobtrusively on your counter, plugs into a standard outlet and produces ozonated water on demand. The build quality is solid, the cycle times are straightforward and it comes with clear instructions for different food types and surfaces.

I bought mine and within a week it had become as non-negotiable a part of my kitchen routine as the morning lemon water. Once you start washing your food this way it becomes very difficult to go back to plain water and the nagging wonder of what you are not removing.

Ozone in high concentrations can irritate the respiratory tract, but the concentrations produced by a domestic countertop ozonator for food washing are significantly lower and are considered safe for household use. Avoid breathing directly over the ozonated water while it is running and ensure your kitchen is reasonably ventilated.

If you are already buying organic, already reading labels and already thinking carefully about what goes into your body, the ozonator is the logical next step. It addresses the contamination that even the best sourcing cannot entirely eliminate.

Buy it, put it on your counter and you will use it every day.

Your food will be cleaner than it has ever been before.