A Bainbridge firm is changing the way industry giants keep food bacteria free.

Island-based Ozone International is changing the way the industry keeps the world’s food supply bacteria free.

The outfit started nine years ago when Jim Brandt was looking for a way to get rid of the sulfur smell from his well. His quest led him to a now defunct operation in Poulsbo that used ozone to oxidize minerals and make them soluable for removal by filtration.

Intrigued by this innovation, Jim and his son Jon became interested in other applications for ozone.

“Jonathan was the reason we got so involved at the time,” Brandt said. “I thought it was great technology but at the same time I was still a practicing physician and didn’t want to get actively involved in running a company. That was four and a half year’s ago.

“Three months later we formed Ozone International.”

The company started in Jon Brandt’s basement on Sunrise Drive and made a few location changes before finally settling down in the former Znetix building on Miller Road.

“What Jim and Jon discovered is when you take ozinated water and combine it with a high-pressure water stream, these two cold-water streams can eliminate all the chemicals and hot water that a food facility would traditionally use,” said Colin Chapman, CEO of Ozone International. “Ozone has been used in the food production business for many years, but only as a sanitizer.”

The FDA approved the use of ozone in industrial food applications in 2001.

Patents came through at the end of last year for Ozone International technology that allows the triple oxygen molecule to be used as a cleaning agent as well as a sanitizer – essentially negating the use of traditional chemical and hot water treatment that is costly in terms of fossil fuel consumption and disposal, as well as a blight on the environment.

“You can’t even see inside these facilities, there is so much condensation and steam, and they’re spraying chemicals everywhere,” Chapman said of food packaging plants. “Then there are worker safety issues. We’ve had people come up to us with chemical burns all over their skin.”

“Our solution is very environmentally friendly and it saves producers money,” he said. “It used to be that businesses would say ‘we can’t be organic because it will cost more money and we’ll have to raise prices.’ We offer something totally organic, plus it allows them to save money and they can perform their sanitation in about 30-50 percent less time and they can perform that sanitization with 20-40 percent fewer people. So it is a real win-win for them.”

With little marketing, Ozone International attracted the attention of industry giants such as Nestle, Tyson and Jimmy Dean, who have all invested in the company’s cleaning systems.

“Our first sale wasn’t until 2004 when Tyson purchased the first system,” Chapman said. “That was a big vote of confidence in us, that a company as large as Tyson would look at a small Bainbridge Island company and say, ‘you know, we need to give this a try.’”

Tyson was able to significantly increase their annual production due to the time saved by using ozone rather than tradition methods, Chapman said.

But change is difficult to accept for some companies, as Ozone International looks for expansion opportunities in Europe and Canada.

“It takes a lot of effort to recalibrate people,” Chapman said. “For the last 20 years they have been using chemicals and hot water, and we’re asking them to switch to ozone and cold water.

“They are going from a four-step process where they go as fast as they can, to a one-step process where they slow down and have to be more methodical. We have to reach in and change the way they think of sanitization.”

Ozone International has signed agreements with distributors based in Norway and Canada and hopes to ease into a larger market while balancing the company’s goals of being a responsive supplier.

“Our key goal is to be the highest-quality ozone supplier to the food processing industry,” Chapman said. “We are a high growth business and can have an impact both locally and internationally.”

Other plans for the company include moving the industrial manufacturing of equipment to California and establishing the Bainbridge location as a headquarters and refurbishing center.

“We have enough on our plate as we manage growth in the U.S., which should become exponential soon,” Jim Brandt said. “Right now we are doing some extensive hiring across the country. We are exteremely optimistic with the technology that we have and the timing couldn’t be better.”

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Heady stuff

Find Ozone International at www.o3international.com, or call 780-5552.