Using only electricity and water, researchers have created highly charged nanosized droplets filled with free radicals. When exposed to food surfaces, these so-called engineered water nanostructures can inactivate food-borne microbes and could provide a new “green” method to disinfect food.

Fruits and vegetables run the risk of contamination from bacteria acquired on fields or during packaging and processing, so food processors currently disinfect produce using a mild bleach solution, peroxides, or other chlorine-based compounds. Charged water droplets could offer a sustainable alternative that uses fewer chemicals and could be applied at many different points during food processing, the researchers say.

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