RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PURE Bioscience, Inc. (OTCQB: PURE), creator of the patented non-toxic silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, and SmartWash Solutions®, a produce industry leader in fresh cut food safety, jointly announced recent successful study results documenting that the pretreatment use of SmartWash Boost™ dramatically reduces the risk of foodborne illness in iceberg and romaine lettuce by increasing lethality.
Dramatic Efficacy
The pretreatment combines PURE Biosciences’ SDC based PURE Control® and SmartWash Solutions chemistry to “boost” the established lethality of the free chlorine wash process and increase E. coli die-off by more than 0.7 log* when used with industry food-safety best practices.
A recent study presented by the USDA-ARS shows that SmartWash Boost™, a patent-pending process aid used to pretreat iceberg and romaine lettuce prior to washing, increases lethality and accelerates the death of E. coli during cold storage.
Commercialization
“The fully integrated Boost control system can be added on to any standard wash system. This novel application and chemistry have been used commercially and is now available to the fresh-cut market today,” said Steven Swarts, Director of Business Development at SmartWash Solutions. “As presented by the USDA-ARS, this uniquely effective tool provides the additional incremental lethality needed to drastically reduce the potential for food borne illness when coupled with SmartWash Solutions industry leading wash system cross-contamination control. This is a huge win for companies seeking to prevent recalls, protect their brand and assure consumer health, trust and safety.
“We have spent hundreds of hours working in our pilot plant to design the very best wash system for cut products. We are excited to receive third party results that validate and reinforce our internal studies, proving significant incremental lethality in the process,” Swarts concluded.
Tom Myers, PURE’s Chief Operating Officer, said that, “PURE Bioscience has been working closely alongside SmartWash Solutions throughout this process and we are thrilled that the pre-treatment results reported last year at the 2019 IAFP have been recently validated by the USDA-ARS. We are supporting the commercialization effort of SmartWash Solutions and the industry in this significant step toward a safer produce supply, as enhancing food safety is and remains the core of our business strategy.”
*Log reduction is a mathematical term used to show the number of microbes eliminated from a surface by disinfecting or cleaning. A 1-log reduction means that the number of microbes is 10 times smaller, a 2-log reduction means that the number of microbes is 100 times smaller and so forth.
Technical Study Details
This report from the USDA details the efficacy of the new pretreatment process and solution, PURE Control/SmartWash Boost. The technical details are available in the links below.
- Study results presented by the USDA-ARS at the 2020 IAFP event
- White paper regarding benefits of Acidic Silver Ion pretreatment
- Presentation overviewing research modeling process
About PURE Bioscience, Inc.
PURE Bioscience, Inc. is focused on developing and commercializing our proprietary antimicrobial products primarily in the food safety arena. We provide solutions to combat the health and environmental challenges of pathogen and hygienic control. Our technology platform is based on patented, stabilized ionic silver, and our initial products contain silver dihydrogen citrate, better known as SDC. This is a broad-spectrum, non-toxic antimicrobial agent, which offers 24-hour residual protection and formulates well with other compounds. As a platform technology, SDC is distinguished from existing products in the marketplace because of its superior efficacy, reduced toxicity and mitigation of bacterial resistance. PURE is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California (San Bernardino metropolitan area). Additional information on PURE is available at www.purebio.com.
About SmartWash Solutions®
SmartWash Solutions is an industry leader in food safety technology, helping processing plants around the world maximize food safety, achieve FSMA compliance, control wash water chemistry, track wash-line efficiency, prevent food-borne outbreaks and save money. Visit smartwashsolutions.com or call 831-676-9750 for more information.
Forward-looking Statements
Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this press release concerning the Company’s expectations (including with respect to SmartWash Solutions), plans, business outlook or future performance, and any other statements concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or other matters, are “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the Company’s failure to implement or otherwise achieve the benefits of its proposed business initiatives and plans; economic and other disruptions resulting from COVID-19; acceptance of the Company’s current and future products and services in the marketplace, including the Company’s ability to convert successful evaluations and tests for PURE Control and PURE Hard Surface into customer orders and customers continuing to place product orders as expected and to expand their use of the Company’s products; the Company’s ability to maintain relationships with its partners and other counterparties; the Company’s ability to generate sufficient revenues and reduce its operating expenses in order to reach profitability; the Company’s ability to raise the funding required to support its continued operations and the implementation of its business plan; the ability of the Company to develop effective new products and receive required regulatory approvals for such products, including the required data and regulatory approvals required to use its SDC-based technology as a direct food contact processing aid in raw meat processing and to expand its use in OLR poultry processing; competitive factors, including customer acceptance of the Company’s SDC-based products that are typically more expensive than existing treatment chemicals; dependence upon third-party vendors, including to manufacture its products; and other risks detailed in the Company’s periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), including its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2020 and Form 10-Q for the third fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2020. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. By making these forward-looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release.
