In the heart of Puebla, Mexico, lies a small potato-farming village. It's the place where I was raised. The vibrant green of ancient forests has been overshadowed by the relentless expansion of ubiquitous non-organic potato farms that surround our local river which supplies water to our village. Growing up in this agricultural community, I witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of glyphosates, the chemical herbicides used widely in these potato farms. The once pristine forests, home to trees that have stood tall for centuries, have been stripped away, leaving behind sick animals and polluted Puebla rivers. It is a crisis that demands urgent attention and an innovative solution.

In today's fast-paced world where we all grab a beverage or a snack to-go, sustainability has become a critical focus for food and beverage companies. As they strive to improve their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores, the deployment of sustainable technologies takes center stage. This post explores the importance of food and beverage companies embracing UV-C LED water treatment as a replacement for legacy mercury-based 254nm UV-C systems. We will delve into the benefits of UV-C LED technology and its positive impact on ESG performance.

More than 90% of Calif. pot farms are infected with a ‘severe’ pathogen called Hop-Latent Viroid (HLVd). An infectious pathogen inside California’s pot farms called Hop-latent viroid, or HLVd is attacking cannabis plants and growing invisibly for months only to spoil a crop just as a farmer is ready to harvest. Scientists believe that it’s in nearly every cannabis farm in California and could be causing billions of dollars in damages to the national weed economy. Hop-latent viroid, or HLVd, shrivels pot plants and reduces how much weight they produce by as much as 30%! It also destroys the amount of THC, marijuana's most common active compound, that a plant produces, greatly reducing the value of affected plants.

Recently, UV-C LED light technology has been gaining popularity as it is widely recommended to be utilized as a disinfection technology in water supplies. A UV-C Light-Emitting Diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that is intended to input a small wavelength of UV-C to reduce the presence of pathogens in an enclosed area. There are many benefits to UV-C LED water treatment technology that could potentially be used as a sustainable water treatment for commercial and residential applications.

Is there a technology that can mitigate the world’s reliance on unsustainable chemicals to clean indoor environments and even our drinking water supplies? The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic resulted in increased attention to air and surface hygiene in indoor environments, two of the factors with the greatest impact on human health. EPA studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times — and often more than 100 times — higher than outdoor levels. These levels of indoor air pollutants are of particular concern as the average person spends 90 percent of their time indoors. As reported by the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution, such as that represented by dampness and molds, chemicals, and other biological agents, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide [8]. These chemicals and biological agents increase the risk of developing respiratory and neurologic symptoms, allergies, asthma, and lung cancer. To preserve high levels of IAQ, air, and surface sanitization methods that use sanitizing chemicals, such as ozone, peroxygen compounds, or bleach are currently used [8]. Such products and compounds, besides being appreciated above all for their high effectiveness in eliminating microbial contaminants, are feared for their ability to generate by-products today mostly classified as toxic [8] and/or carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Foundation. Another significant disadvantage of the use of chemical products is their reduced eco-sustainability and their high environmental impact, a risk factor as significant for human health as for the balance of ecosystems. Just ask yourself, how many plastic bleach bottles are in our oceans? Even HEPA filters have limits of use regarding the need for frequent replacement by trained personnel and their ability to become a survival or growth substrate for bacteria and molds [8]. Sustainable disinfection is found in 222nm Far UV-C light. It is necessary for the biological safety of humans living indoors to consider that 222nm UV-C light offers a safe and sustainable alternative.

The blog posts published below were entirely authored by ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an open-source AI chatbot framework that uses GPT-3 language model to generate responses that are all based on user input. We took blog topics that Covspect has previously published blog posts on and had ChatGPT create comparative blog posts and the results were somewhat simple, but overall, accurate and truly impressive! All images used in the below posts were all exclusively generated by AI using DALL-E.

The blog posts published below were entirely written by ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an open-source AI chatbot framework that uses GPT-3 language model to generate responses that are all based on user input. We took UV-C-focused blog topics that Covspect has previously published blog posts on and had ChatGPT create comparative blog posts and the results were somewhat simple, but overall, accurate and truly impressive! All images used in the posts were all exclusively generated by AI using DALL-E.

This remarkable AI tool can be used to create unique and engaging written content. One of the key features of ChatGPT is its ability to generate content that is both accurate and coherent. This is made possible by the underlying GPT-3 language model, which has been trained on a massive amount of text data and has the ability to generate human-like responses to a wide range of inputs. This makes it well-suited for creating content that is useful for technology and biotech content creators. We found that all of the data referenced in the articles were accurate, however, the information was very high-level and lacked granularity. There were no lab reports or references to scientific journals. Please check out ChatGPT’s UV-C-focused blog posts below, and maybe these ChatGPT bots can teach you a thing or two!

UV-C light that we use as a germicide disinfection technology due to its specific wavelength’s (200 – 280 nm) effectiveness at inactivating microorganisms – making it ideal for decontamination applications in the food and beverage industry.