October 5, 2012

Zap buys Diamond Shoals Light Tower, a free-standing lighthouse located 13 miles off shore from North Carolina in the Atlantic. President and CEO of Zap, Dave Schneider, is planning in restoring the light station to be used as a "quasi-environmental/technology center" for researching and developing new green technologies, for marine biology and ocean sciences, product testing for fishing and diving equipment, for for eco-tourism.

Read more about Diamond Shoals and an interview with Dave Schneider here from the Outer Banks Voice.

An additional story from the Charlotte Observer.

For more information on the Diamond Shoals Light Station, or if you're interested in being involved in the restoration project, please contact Zap.

In their Spring 2010 "Izzy Scoop" newsletter, Izzy's Ice Cream Cafe, a homemade artisan ice cream shop in St. Paul, profiled the placement of Zap Technology at their site.  

 "We are excited about Zap Water because it’s useful for our business, but we also hope that by
adopting this technology we can help other businesses understand its benefits and encourage
them to move to a system that is easier on the environment and more effective in their workplaces."

To read more, click here. 

August/September 2009

"The Oneota Co-op is proud to be the first business in Iowa to adopt a completely non-toxic cleaning system known as Zap Water.  The Co-op is now using electrolyzed salt water - or ECA, Electrochemically Activated Water - for all its cleaning and sanitizing operations."

To view cover page photo of Oneota's August/September 2009 edition of Scoop that profiles Zap, click here: Scoop.

To download the the August/September 2009 edition of Scoop, visit http://www.oneotacoop.com/thescooppage.html. 

April 1, 2009

Natural Foods Merchandiser, the official magazine of the Natural Products Expo, highlighted the green-worthy and booming Minneapolis business, Seward Cooperative Grocery and Deli/Seward Community Cooperative. The article highlights Seward's partnership with Zap as one of its "green-centric improvements."

Read more.

April 21, 2009

Zap Water Technology will have an exhibit at this year's Greening Your Business Expo, an opportunity for businesses to learn about a variety of sustainable and eco-friendly products and services that can be implemented in the workplace, on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at Mill City Museum in Minneapolis, MN. 

Date:        Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Time:         5:00 - 7:30 p.m
Location:   Mill City Museum
                  704 South Second Street

                   Minneapolis, MN

For more information, please visit www.GreenMinneapolisBusiness.com.

We hope to see you there!

April/May 2009

Sprout, Seward Co-op's bimonthly newsletter, highlights the co-op's two-year partnership with Zap Water Technology, Inc.

"Seward Co-op’s partnership with Schneider [Zap] expands innovative technology that is consis-
tent with our green consciousness."

Read more.

February 23, 2009

Simple elixir called a 'miracle liquid'

Electrolyzed water cleans, degreases -- and treats athlete's foot. The solution is replacing toxic chemicals.

By Marla Dickerson 

"It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it. 

Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. It has been approved by U.S. regulators. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job."

Read more.

January 2009

Zap's equipment contributes towards Seward Co-Ops New Building's "Gold" certification application in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating in the category of Innovation & Design Process.

For more information, please visit Seward's website at
http://www.seward.coop/

December 26, 2006

Sun Newspapers, Richfield, MN

"Dave Schneider says that the future of fighting bacteria is at our doorstep.

In the wake of recent E. coli scares in Minnesota, and the potential for a global flu pandemic, Schneider said that his product may have the answer to the problem of bacterial contamination."

December 2007

In a segment about non-toxic cleaners on KS95 95.5 FM Radio, Susan Draves from Hope's Harvest Natural Organic Food Store in Lake City, MN profiles Zap Water Technology.

Listen now.

December 8, 2007

Post-Bulletin, Rochester, MN     

'U' says solution is safe sanitizer
By Jeff Hansel

The University of Minnesota Extension Service says restaurants and food-production plants should be using a water-based solution as a safe sanitizer.
The university has a public-relations problem, though, because the product seems too good to be true, even though university researchers say it works.
This simple, colorless, odorless brine solution made by "electrical chemical activation" or ECA, has the potential to prevent foodborne illness. Yet few food handlers use the Russian invention, which was developed in 1972 to slow the growth of oil well micro-organisms.
"In a near-perfect world, scientists could develop a method to kill harmful bacteria without changing the taste of food or harming the environment," says the Extension Service on its Web site. "This near-perfect world exists on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. That's where Joellen Feirtag, Extension food scientist, has been experimenting with a water-based electrochemical activation system that disinfects and cleans food."

Results are 'phenomenal'

A start-up company call Zap Water Technology formed after Feirtag, an associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, studied the technology and went from a doubter to a believer.
"The results we're seeing are phenomenal," Feirtag says on the Extension Service Web site. "It's killing all bacteria and viruses. It even kills avian flu and anthrax spores."
According to Zap, the technology melds hydrogen, oxygen, sodium and chlorine. Together, they produce a powerful cleanser and disinfectant.
A solution of 99.8 percent water and 0.2 percent salt is produced when water molecules are physically and "electrochemically" altered.

Start with tap water

The process uses tap water and electrolyzes it with a machine. What comes out the other end is two separate solutions called analyte and catholyte.
Analyte works as a disinfectant.
Catholyte, the waste product, acts as a non-sudsy cleanser.
The Extension Service says food handlers can spray the solution "directly onto foods such as lettuce, destroying bacteria like the E. coli strain responsible for (last year's) spinach outbreak."
"This system could be used from the farm to the retail market -- for irrigation in fields, washing in processing plants and misting in grocery stores," Feirtag says.
Locally, the products are available at Lake City's Hope's Harvest Community Foods.
"We use it continually in our store to sanitize everything," said owner Susan Draves. But she said customers don't look for the product until she tells them about it.
"Especially the sanitizer is amazing on so many things. The fresh smell of it, and the way that it sanitizes is just amazing," she said.

SuperMom's uses it
The product has also been tested at a food packager.
"We've always very concerned about food safety," said Tom Haertl, commissary production manager for SuperMom's, which packages breakfast sandwiches for Speedway and SuperAmerica stores.
SuperMom's uses the solution to sanitize the St. Paul Park plant where it packages sandwiches with ingredients like ham, turkey, eggs and cheese.
"You're basically using plain water, so anything that goes down the drain is just water," Haertl said. The Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture both sent letters to Zap saying the sanitizer can be used as a food-production sanitizer.
"We have no objections to the use of your technology in federally inspected meat, poultry, or egg products establishments," the Agriculture Department says.
The FDA writes "we conclude that the chlorine solutions generated by ECA technology is suitable for food processing applications."

Cost effective

The solution kills micro-organisms completely, so the organisms can't build up an immunity to the brine solutions, Haertl said. Using water instead of chemicals can also be cost effective.
"I've got to be saving at least $1,500 per month," Haertl said this summer.
Almost all food packagers deal with dangerous listeria contamination brought to their plans on deliveries, he said. "Your job basically is to make sure it never enters the food-service area," Haertl said.
In the past, about 25 percent to 50 percent of tests in the SuperMom's plant would show "presumptive positives" for the presence of listeria.
Now they don't have any. The solution, when sprayed on pallets, "will kill listeria on contact."

Getting it used

So why isn't every restaurant, food packing plant, produce grower and homeowner using the water solution?
"It's just going to take a while to get this information out to everybody," Haertl said.
Zap president Dave Schneider said some food processors can't be convinced the technology works, and others like the status quo too much to change.
Can humans drink the stuff? The answer is "emerald water," a different formulation that, as yet, is not approved for labeling as a beverage. Separately, the cleanser can be used for such things as boat scrubbing.
But food-production operations, including restaurants, can already use the approved version of the brine solution.
Inside a nondescript furnace room-like area, Haertl points to a small contraption along the wall.
"This is the system. That's all there is to it," he says. The water is turned to a salt brine using electricity. Regardless of the relatively small monthly cost, he said, "I'm saving that or more."
"That peace of mind is priceless."

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