Woburn, MA. Xenon Corp. was recently awarded a contract to partner with Dr. A. Demirci in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, in conjunction with NASA, to investigate the use of pulsed light to sterilize food products, such as meat, fish and vegetables.

It's expected that Xenon's Steripulse-XL^® System will have far-reaching effects in the food industry. Presently, chemicals, mercury-emitting lamps or gamma rays are being used to kill spores or bacteria on food products, but both techniques contain the dangers of toxins or other elements that may prove deleterious to health or the environment. The Steripulse-XL System, it's expected, may prove to be an alternative to irradiation.

The ultra high peak power of pulsed light, used in Xenon's Steripulse-XL method, provides narrow pulses only a few hundred millionths of a second in duration that are 80,000 times brighter than sunlight; powerful enough to kill high levels of all microorganisms. It is considered to be not only safer by eliminating the need for mercury lamps or gamma rays, but energy efficient because of the ease of penetration of the high peak power, short duration, ultra-violet pulses.

Xenon's Steripulse-XL System destroys inactive microbes with remarkable rapidity and effectiveness, such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa. A simple example would be potatoes that turn brown after peeling. Xenon's Steripulse-XL system eliminates this problem by destroying spores before they multiply.

According to Lou Panico, CEO of Xenon, the Xenon Steripulse-XL system is also expected to have far-reaching applications in the areas of optical lenses, pharmaceuticals and aquaculture/farm fisheries.