2. Where do mangoes come
from?
Washed
Planted Washed
Picked
Traveled to Home
market Picnic
Restaurant
3. What is Listeria and what can it
do to humans?
Listeria is a bacterial genus. It can cause a serious but
rare disease in humans called listeriosis. The most
common symptoms are fever, muscle aches, and
vomiting. It usually infects pregnant
women, newborns, adults with weakened immune
systems, and the elderly. Listeria can be found in
soil, so it can infect vegetables. Animals can carry
Listeria. It can be found in fruits, uncooked
meat, and milk.
4. So, how are you going to solve
this?
Well, we found that a mix of two
chemicals can kill Listeria. One is
alcohol, and another is Quaternary
Ammonium. Creating a wash or rinse
of these chemicals will have a 99.9%
chance of killing all the Listeria. Also,
once consumers buy the product,
keeping in under forty degrees can
prevent further growth of bacteria
5. How could this fruit be washed?
The mangoes could be washed using an
industrial fruit washer (surf type). After
the fruit is picked, the mango can be
loaded onto a conveyor belt that then
washes the fruit. In this case, we could use
a mix of Quaternary Ammonium and
alcohol.
6. Some mangoes are grown in poor
countries. How would farmers pay for
these chemicals and machine?
Well, mangoes are grown in places like
Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean,
so this would be a reasonable problem. If
Thailand grows many mangoes, for example,
then the government could implement a
program to give grants to farmers so they
could buy the chemicals and machines
needed to go through this procedure. It
would greatly reduce the risk on
contaminated foods, and could be used on
other agricultural items.
7. Has an event like this
happened?
Yes. In early September, 2011, this was a
Listeria outbreak in cantaloupes. As of
November 3, 2011, twenty nine people
have been confirmed dead in
outbreaks with cantaloupes from
Jensen Farms in Colorado.
