Cleaning grains with ozone

Paulic Minotiers is a small enterprise, with 5 mills in
centre of Brittany (15,800 t), 21 employees, a research lab and a president,
Jean Paulic, who is eager to move forward.

Since 1993, Goémar in St. Malo
is doing research on decontamination of cereal seeds using ozone.

In
2006, the two companies developed the Oxygreen process, and dedicated one of the
mills of Paulic in Plounévez-Quintin, for manufacturing the branded flour
Qualista.

Ozon and wheat
The Oxygreen stage is positioned between the preliminary cleaning and milling
process. The ozone (O₃) gas is used in a closed reactor, in
which the grains are set in motion.

Often it is in the upper layers of
the grain that hide mycotoxins, bacteria and insecticide residues.

The
ozone neutralises contaminants in the grains, at the surface and in depth. The
gas disappears completely after treatment.

What
is Qualista flour?
“After the ozone treatment the flour is richer in
fibre and protein,” says Jean Paulic. “It is also rich in mineral salts. In
terms of taste and conservation, this provides a plus.”

Ozone destroys
the pathogens and fungi. “In the tests carried out on naturally infested wheat,
there has been a decrease in contaminating pathogens and fungi up to a ratio of
10,000,” adds Christophe Crussaire, director of Minotiers Paulic.

Insects
and larvae (tribolium, weevils) are eradicated. “Insecticides molecules have
disappeared or are insignificant. This is also noted in Qualista flour, where a
drop of 30 to 50% of mycotoxins, including DON, a familiar one in moderate
temperate countries, was observed.”

Food and
feed
The French baguette made from Qualista flour would cost no more than
a baguette made from eco-flours, according to Jean Paulic.

Even animal
feeds can profit from the system, because the parts of the grains that go into
animal feed are free of contaminants and thus well suited in diets for young animals.