Case Summary

• Industry: Coffee chain
• Application purpose: Maintain ice hygiene standards and to avoid the breeding of biofilm and mold in the ice maker
• Product: IDS Automatic ice cube disinfection system
• Machine performance: Up to 3,000 Ib/day (ice machine capacity)
• Ozone generation: Up to 50 mg/hr (+-10%)
• Size: W56 X D225 X H180 (mm)

Problem

Taiwan is located in the subtropical zone, meaning hot and humid summers account for nine months of the year. With Taiwanese cities being among the most densely populated in the world, the combination of heat and humidity, and the hustle and bustle of urban life have made coffee shops great places to decompress with a cold drink for the local population.

Louisa Coffee is a new coffee chain that’s seen explosive growth over the last few years. They currently have more than 400 branches nation-wide, providing high-quality coffee, great service, and a comfortable environment at reasonable prices. For customers, this brand represents both quality and affordability. The brand’s emphasis on quality control has been a large part of their success, and they are building customer loyalty as a premier coffee chain. 

Louisa has done this through offering iced coffee, iced tea, and smoothies as their main products during Taiwan’s intensely hot and humid summers. In order to grow steadily and sustainably, this new chain of coffee shops is unwilling to compromise on hygiene, with quality of the ice being just as important as the drink itself. They know building goodwill and paying attention to customer needs are critical to their continued growth. Therefore they needed a solution to ensure hygiene standards are met with every single cube of ice served.

But ice machines are a hotbed for bacteria, mold, and food borne pathogens. This is due to numerous causes such as biofilm peeling off from inside tubes, cross contamination from ice scoops and other sources, and falling pathogens from the air when the ice tank is open. There have been several shocking news reports all over the world detailing just how dirty ice can be from major fast food chains and restaurants once tested against other dirty places like toilet seats. Having painstakingly built up a reputation for being a quality brand, Louisa could not afford to take any chances with similar reports of dirty ice.

Solution

After carefully assessing several vendors of ice disinfection solutions, Louisa Coffee chose BioSure IDS (Ice Disinfection System) to ensure ice served to customers is safe to consume. 

Biosure engineers have studied the rigorous process of ice machine hygiene in depth. After years of research and development, they continue to iteratively improve products to tackle the challenges that businesses face in keeping their ice clean and edible. The IDS features a fully automatic design to achieve continuous disinfection, greatly reducing the risk of failed inspections and giving business peace of mind that there won’t be a need to worry about sanitation human error.

How it works

The IDS is equipped with a professional commercial-grade ozone generator which can efficiently sanitize through producing high-concentration ozonated water and controlling it at a lower concentration for continuous sanitation without affecting the machine life and taste of ice. After sanitizing, the ozone it produces is quickly reduced to water and oxygen, with no by-products or residues.

Test bacteria counts comparison test in S brand Shanghai factory

For the food industry, taste is of the utmost importance. The ice made after being equipped with the IDS has been tested by professionals at food research institutes and guaranteed not to affect the taste of the ice and beverages. 

It has been tested with all major international brand ice makers. On top of this, integration of the IDS with on-premise equipment does not affect its materials or mechanical parts. It’s safe for employees to work around the ice maker without worrying about off-gassing. This is why the water bottling industry also uses ozonated water as the industry standard.

Results

Louisa’s insistence on quality has been critical to their growth and continues to be one of their brand pillars. The BioSure IDS was born to meet these expectations. Once the BioSure IDS is installed in a commercial ice maker, it sanitizes immediately after turning it on. Tests done in the Food Industry Research & Development Institute in Taiwan have proved that the internal waterway and surface of the ice maker maintain a sterilization efficiency greater than 99.999%. The IDS system also ensures that the stores meet the legal health standards and helps to avoid liabilities such as fines involved with random site tests.

The food and beverage industry is very satisfied with this result, making the BioSure IDS an invaluable tool for businesses looking to meet high-quality standards for their customers.?

BioSure Professional is the leader in the industry applying electrolytic ozone generators in ice makers, with plans to roll out the IDS in more than 400 food and beverage businesses in the near future. 

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