PURE Bioscience's SDC-Based Food Contact Surface Sanitizer Gets U.S. EPA Registration Status

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Aug 22, 2009 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- PURE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- PURE Bioscience, creator of the patented silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial, announced that it has obtained U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration for its SDC-based sanitizer for food contact surfaces.

The new sanitizer was registered by PURE's subsidiary, ETI-H2O, under the trade name Axen50 for sanitization of food contact surfaces and equipment in dozens of environments including farms, food processing plants, schools, hospitals and other institutions, restaurants and homes.

Michael L. Krall, President and CEO of PURE Bioscience said, "This long-awaited registration opens new markets for PURE Bioscience. Foodborne illnesses create significant health and economic problems in the U.S. and internationally, and PURE welcomes the opportunity to offer a technology to help stem the spread of these dangerous pathogens that cause millions of illnesses."

Krall continued, "The EPA's registration of Axen50 as a food contact sanitizer cleared a big hurdle for PURE. Now that we've established a food contact tolerance of 50 parts per million of silver, this registration provides two roads to market for SDC-based food contact surface sanitizers via the EPA. We plan to add the extensive broad-spectrum antimicrobial claims from our existing disinfectant registration to the registration of the new food contact sanitizer, and, also through the EPA, we expect to amend our disinfectant product registration claims to add the new food contact sanitization claims. The EPA regulatory work will include state registrations by distributors and is expected to take at least six months.

"In addition, this registration accelerates our ongoing pursuit, through USDA, of additional direct food contact applications of SDC-based formulations as antimicrobial processing aids."

The CDC estimates that foodborne pathogens cause 76 million illnesses per year in the US resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,200 deaths. And although Americans have come to expect such risks associated with meat products like raw hamburger, the proportion of outbreaks caused by seemingly innocuous fruits and vegetables is increasing. E. coli alone causes approximately 70,000 infections each year, and 5-10 percent of those infected develop a potentially fatal kidney complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Foodborne illness creates not only health but also confidence issues for consumers. Food recalls can cause a significantly negative economic impact on businesses. For example, Salmonellosis is estimated by the CDC to cost more than $1 billion in medical costs and lost wages annually.

Food contact surface antimicrobials are processed as "sanitizers" by the EPA and, if registered, can only carry a 60-second sanitization claim, even if laboratory testing demonstrates faster kill times.

SDC is an electrolytically generated source of stabilized ionic silver. As a platform technology, SDC is distinguished from competitors in the marketplace because of its efficacy, low toxicity and the inability of bacteria to form a resistance to it.

PURE Bioscience develops and markets technology-based bioscience products that provide solutions to numerous global health challenges. PURE's proprietary high efficacy/low toxicity bioscience technologies, including its silver dihydrogen citrate-based antimicrobials, represent advances in diverse markets and lead today's global trend toward industry and consumer use of "green" products while providing competitive advantages in efficacy and safety. Patented SDC is an electrolytically generated source of stabilized ionic silver which formulates well with other compounds. As a platform technology, SDC is distinguished from competitors in the marketplace because of its efficacy, reduced toxicity and the inability of bacteria to form a resistance to it.

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