METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR KILLING INSECTS ON FRESH PRODUCE

摘要

To kill insects on fresh produce, the fresh produce is placed into the interior of a vacuum chamber and a partial vacuum is drawn and maintained within the interior for a time interval adequate to kill the insects. In some examples the holding step is carried out with the absolute pressure maintained in a range of 4.57 to 5.0 mm Hg. In some examples a pathogen-killing sanitizing gas is injected into the vacuum chamber at the end of the time interval. In some examples the partial vacuum is continued to be drawn within the interior during the holding step while adding small quantities of an inert gas into the interior