The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of ozone in gaseous and aqueous phases as an antimicrobial agent on food, including meat and poultry. Responding to a petition from the Agriculture and Food Technology Alliance of the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, Calif., FDA published a final rule June 26 that permits use of ozone as a food additive (66 Fed. Reg. 33,829).

The agency said proposed use of the agent includes as an additive in preparing, packing, or holding raw agricultural commodities. The notice states that the use of ozone is consistent with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321) as amended by the Antimicrobial Regulation Technical Corrections Act of 1998 (ARTCA). Use of the additive is regulated under ARTCA (21 U.S.C. 348), the notice states, but warns that ozone use may also be subject to regulations as a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

The agency said manufacturers who intend to market ozone for pesticide use should contact the Environmental Protection Agency to determine whether the use requires a pesticide registration under FIFRA.

Ozone use in the food industry has not been widespread because it must be manufactured on site and is too unstable to be shipped (3 FSR 295, 3/28/01).

Volume 3 Number 27, July 4, 2001, Page 637, ISSN 1524-1866