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Ozone Preservative Has Multiple Benefits
Posted by perle0 on 2007-02-13 13:46:05
(5211 views) 
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[News]
[Spain] |
 Researchers in Spain have found that exposing grapes to ozone was 90% as effective as sulphur dioxide in preventing decay. This could benefit wine-drinkers who are allergic to the sulphites currently used for this purpose.
Ozone-treated grapes also contained up to four times more antioxidants, the team said in a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of the Science and Food of Agriculture. |
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Sulphites are commonly used as a preservative in a wide range of food products, including wine. But sulphites are known to cause violent allergic reactions some people, particularly those with asthma, which means many wines now have to put "contains sulphites" on their bottles, under the EU's allergy labelling rules. Switching to ozone to preserve grapes would remove this danger and the need for additional labelling.
Ozone is more expensive to use than sulphites, though, which could prove to be a bit of a hurdle. This might be outweighed, though, by the discovery that ozone increases the antioxidants found in wine. Recent discoveries that these antioxidents have powerful health-preserving qualities mean that some winemakers may want to use the more expensive ozone method in order to promote their wine's higher antioxidant levels. |
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