As recurring outbreaks of cyclospora, salmonella and E. coli continue to disrupt the fresh produce supply chain, food safety experts and growers face a persistent challenge of how to stop dangerous pathogens without relying solely on harsh chemical treatments or localized machinery. Denver-based ag-tech startup Onza Corp. believes it has developed a root-cause solution by converting ozone — one of nature’s most effective antimicrobials — from an unstable gas into a deployable solid crystal format.
While ozone gas has long held FDA and USDA approval as an organic sanitizer, its industrial use was historically bottlenecked by its tendency to dissipate back into oxygen within 15 to 20 minutes. In a conversation with The Packer, Onza Corp. CEO Chuck Smith discussed the timeline and core challenge of how the breakthrough originated.
“This technology has been developed over the past four years. Ozone has a very short shelf life — you can really only use it at its point of production, as it lasts about 20 minutes in its gaseous form before dissipating back into oxygen. We are now able to extend those uses by crystallizing it and putting it into a solid-state form,” Smith says.
Applying Solid Ozone From Field to Fridge
By entrapping ozone gas inside a crystalline matrix, Onza Corp. created slow-release sachets that can accompany produce continuously from harvest fields to kitchen refrigerators. Chief Science Officer Stephen Goldman says the physical sachet sizes adapt across different stages of the supply chain.
"[Our product can be used at] every single point. As soon as you harvest fruit or vegetables, they start to decay immediately. We are designing very large sachets — on the order of 200 to 300 grams, about the size of a football — that go directly into the farm bins. If you’re repackaging produce into a cardboard box or a clamshell, as with berries, you can insert our small one- to five-gram sachets directly into the produce being transported to grocery stores.” Consumers, he says, will even be able to use the sachets at home in their refrigerators.
Extending Produce Shelf Life and Reducing Foodborne Illness
Compared to standard industry washes like chlorine, which typically yield only a log-one (90%) reduction in bacteria, crystallized ozone demonstrates significantly higher efficacy against resilient pathogens. In strategic partner trials conducted on romaine lettuce, Goldman highlighted key performance metrics.
“We’ve done inoculations with our strategic partners on listeria, salmonella and O157 E. coli, and we’ve achieved log-five or higher reductions in all of those organisms spiked and inoculated directly onto the romaine lettuce itself. A standard chlorine wash of lettuce, for example, would yield a one-log reduction or less for those types of organisms.”
In addition to neutralizing foodborne illness risks like cyclospora, the continuous release of ozone gas slows natural decay and spoilage. In controlled shelf-life studies across multiple commercial berry lines, Goldman noted dramatic results:
“We buy retail berries, put our sachets with half of them and leave the other half untreated. Across four different retail brands of blueberries, we saw a nine-day extension in shelf life.”
Organic Food Safety: Achieving a Clean-Label Produce Brand
Crucially for food processors seeking “clean label” status, the solid matrix relies strictly on ozone, a binding sugar molecule and food-grade Tyvek packaging. Because ozone leaves behind zero chemical residue or flavor alteration, it allows suppliers to maintain natural standards while enhancing safety.
“A lot of folks want to have a clean label with fewer chemicals and preservatives,” Smith says. “How do we make it more natural? Well, our product relies on just three things: ozone, a sugar matrix we use to bind the molecule in the crystal, and food-grade Tyvek. Because ozone is already a GRAS ingredient and deemed organic by the USDA, it allows us to help producers achieve a clean label.”
Currently undergoing real-world commercial trials with major leafy green and berry partners, Onza Corp. plans to expand its crystallized ozone sachets into commercial grocery distribution over the next 60 to 90 days.
