Killing Bacteria With Stylish Kitchen Appliances

From CNET News.com:

The Lotus Sanitizing System from Tersano claims to eliminate fungus and other bacteria from food with an environmentally-safe blast of ozone. As an added bonus, it also helps remove cat puke stains from the carpet. More on that in a second. The unit, which sells for $169.99, is effectively a home ozone generator. A pump sucks in ambient air, and then hits it with a jolt of electricity. The electricity causes the oxygen molecules in the air, which consist of two oxygen atoms, to turn into ozone, which has three oxygen atoms. Ozone is an unstable molecule and reacts with the first thing it comes in contact with. If it runs into iron, it will make iron oxide. If it's a bacteria or some other microbe, it attaches to the cell wall and blows it open. Fruit and vegetables sitting in the water subsequently get disinfected. The company claims it can kill more than 99 percent of creepies on produce, if used correctly. A squirt bottle full of the ozone-infused water will have cleaning properties for a good 15 minutes.

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