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-   -   Food sanitization in the Covid era : Off the shelf, DIY & Cupboard approaches (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/223328-food-sanitization-covid-era-off-shelf-diy-cupboard-approaches-3.html)

I fully agree with you. I cannot comment if UV-C sterilisation of everyday products is a solution or not but I feel there are a lot of things taken for granted. The very fact that it is a form of light reduces its efficiency when stacking stuff over each other. Using it on buckets and trolleys filled with stuff will surely not help.

Only the surface exposed directly for a certain duration will be sterilised. That too, those that are clean from other dirt, oil and any type of coating over the original surface will provide happy cover to the Virus. Moreover, all the research that has been shown to enhance, if not maintain food quality are for vegetables with a smooth surface. Having a rough surface might itself lead to shadows that might not help with the UV-C.

I feel there is a blatant use (no offence to anyone) of UV-C in a lot of 'jugaad' level products these days. I am worried that we are adopting a double-ended sword without due considerations.

I believe in DIY and that is what lead me to this research. Here is an elaborate article I wrote sharing my concerns if you are interested, uv-c-lamps-next-ro-plants-making

And if you are interested in finding the actual time taken to sterilise a similar strain of Coronavirus, check this excel sheet I made with accumulating information from research papers. It is Work-in-progress, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

I am very eager to understand this process better and thank the OP for starting such a thread to have this conversation.

How efficient is UVC treatment of Fruits and Vegetables? How long these food items need to be inside the TruV bag for it to become 100% germ-free? Also, can we consume those immediately after taking out of the bag?

Sir,

Your concern is correct but Please read the text fully before commenting.

That was a demo pic taken without looking at it directly but by my outstretched arm at 120 degrees. What you don't see in that pic is the 20 odd images I discarded because their perspective was incorrect. Nowhere do I say that's how it must be operated. We are aligned 100% when I said it must be shrouded nad ideally operated out of sight.

Please see the final image. There's like atleast 6 layers of towel like fabric on top of the box plus it is operated via a wifi switch. Here's a sample.


Nice but That's the problem of small boxes. My recommendation is the cupboard with dual safety approach (timed switch and pressure switch) ideally or the simpler tru-v bag.

30-40s might be good for Sars but i am spending 8-10 min for the other pathogens as well.

For Covid alone I guess a min is enough. 100% germ free depends upon the veggies as I indicated in that research paper extract. You can't go wrong with anything from 2-10 min.

Sir I think you didn't observe the images closely. Of course nothing is stacked. That's why I used it in a large bucket.

Thanks for the links. Will see on the weekend.

Difficult time calls for difficult measures. However difficult should not turn into extreme bordering to paranoia.

Cleanliness is good and the creative and innovative ways that people have resorted to during this lockdown is really commendable clap:

However, with UV lights, the risks could be far greater than benefits. At home, simple and effective solution could be :

1. Once bought, keep items in direct sunlight if possible for a couple of hours.
2. Use of sodium bicarbonate (Baking Soda) solution and soak groceries in it for 30 mins.
3. Use Sanitab dissolved in water to disinfect fruits and vegetables. A stronger solution can be used to wipe packed food items. It is versatile easy to use.

The virus needs to be in respiratory tract to infect. In digestive tract, it will be killed by gastric acid.

You should try the smaller, old school medical shops. I found it at one.



This product has been packed at Bangalore.

Baking Soda is not a disinfectant. It will neutralize/clean the fertilizer sprayed on Fruits and vegetables but will not kill viruses.

Well, for Coronavirus, one needs 2410J/m2 energy [Ref Darnel 2004]. We have seen the calibration and maximum throughput after my patented design is 13J/m2. This is done by the most reputed organization in India. Thus, as per my design, my system takes 13 minutes for 99.99% (2410/13 = 183 seconds) sterilization. Also the same design is certified for 5 minutes for 90%. One has to account for the actual UVC emission from the lamp and the Cos theta arc that the light spreads into. For example, an 11W UVC lamp actually emits ~2.2W of UVC; which is just at the lamp housing. The density decreases as the object moves away from the lamps.

Thanks. Have now been earmarking those for visit when I am out.

Off topic - I love how you are involved with the ownership of your threads and take time to address any agreements/disagreements. I absolutely adore folks that take "pride in their own work". Something we many times do not see in India where hotch-potch is frequently the norm!

Look forward to reading more of your threads and participating in them with better vigor...:thumbs up

I am thinking of Tincture of Iodine, whatever that was. Unless my memory is wrong, which it occasionally ( ;) ) is, it stings!

Ah... All tinctures will sting, because they're composed of alcohol as one of the solvents (apart from water). But Tincture of Benzene (or was it Benzoin?) had the worst sting of them all. I remember, because we used to have both at home in my childhood, and I wasn't any saintly child. :)

:OT Dettol stings too. Savlon does not. Nor does Betadine. And Listerine stings real bad if one has mouth ulcers.

Whoops. Just after posting, I thought, "I've been blaming the Iodine: maybe it was the alcohol."

We took a lot of care and still more care is being taken. However, I have observed that Ginger if washed becomes unusable and starts smelling stale. I washed polythene bag full of ginger and then had to put them in freezer else it would become stale, and now problem is that whenever the ginger taken out from freezer comes back to room temperature, its literally too soft. How can ginger, onion be washed ? For other vegetables, we keep a bucket full of soap water (tide detergent) and keep chilies, potato, tomato, etc. in that for 30 mins and rinse before storing. Can a polythene bag carry coronavirus ? How to buy vegetables from market ?

Always wash onions just before use. And after peeling 1-2 layers of skin. With plain water. Never wash and store.

Regarding ginger, wash under running water, pat dry , keep it on a newspaper and place this indoors(maybe dining table, window ledge) till it's dry completely. Then put it in a paper bag and keep it in fridge. No smell or sogginess for at least a week

I've taken a simple natural route. Since the Novel Corona Virus can be effectively cleaned only by using alcohol or soap, I am using a natural soap extracted from Soap Nut (Reetha). This is something our grandmothers/mothers used decades back to wash their hair. Reetha has saponin which is a surfactant and is a soap.

A little of this extract in a bucket of water to wash all veggies - including salads and fruits eaten with skin. It is completely natural.

Onions, potatoes, ginger, garlic pods and other such items that should not be washed are put out in the sun for the day. Delhi has a very high UV index these days...

But is it completely a) safe? and b) tasteless?