preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of an example , with reference to the accompanying schematic drawing illustrating a treatment plant in accordance with the invention , and by way of tests with reference to the tables . with reference to the drawing , drinking quality water is provided as shown at 11 in a water reservoir 12 . if the process and the plant is to be operated with water inferior to , drinking quality water , a pre - treatment step may be executed in the water reservoir 12 , or in a container upstream of the water reservoir 12 to raise the quality of the water to that of drinking quality water . a mother line 14 conducts water from the water reservoir 12 to wherever drinking quality water is required in the process as will become apparent hereinafter . reference numeral 18 indicates an electrochemical reactor or so - called electrolysis device . water from the motherline 14 is exposed to sodium chloride as indicated at 16 to produce a sodium chloride solution . the sodium chloride solution is fed into the electrolysis device 18 , as well as water from the water reservoir as indicated by reference numeral 20 . by electrolysis , an anion - containing solution or anolyte solution is produced as indicated by reference numeral 22 . also a cation - containing solution or catholyte solution is produced as indicated by reference numeral 24 . the anolyte solution at 22 is admixed with water from the motherline in a manifold valve 26 to produce an anolyte solution of predetermined strength which can selectively be directed into an anion mixing tank 28 . animal product to be treated in accordance with the invention , for example an offal in an abattoir , is introduced into a washing container 36 as indicated by reference numeral 44 . in the washing container 36 , water is drawn from the motherline 14 as indicated at 38 to wash the animal product . after washing , the animal product is transported as indicated by reference numeral 40 into a treatment container 30 . effluent water is collected from the washing container 36 as indicated by reference numeral 42 . the pre - washed animal product is exposed in the treatment container 30 to an appropriate quantity of the anolyte solution from the mixing tank 28 to disinfect the animal product . the disinfected animal product is transported to a product processing and packaging station 32 where it is further processed . used solution after disinfection is collected from the treatment container 30 as indicated by reference numeral 34 . the effluent water at 42 and the used solution at 34 are added and are conducted as indicated by reference numeral 46 to a clarification container 48 where it is exposed to an appropriate quantity of the catholyte solution 24 to clarify it by means of flocculation , clarification or the like . the clarified water is conducted as indicated by reference numeral 50 to a disinfecting container 52 where an appropriate quantity of the anolyte solution of predetermined strength is obtained via the manifold valve 26 to produce disinfected water which is re - circulated to the water reservoir 12 as indicated by reference numeral 54 . an electro chemical reactor , including a through flow electro chemical cell having coaxial cylindrical electrodes with a coaxial diaphragm between them so as to separate an annular inter electrode space into a catalytic and an analytic chamber , was used to produce anolyte and catholyte for the tests . in a series of 9 tests , the bactericidal and shelf - life prolonging effect of the anolyte solution was tested on animal products such as offal , meat , fish , hides , etc . the experimental protocol and the subsequent results are summarised in table 1 below in which the experiments are numbered from 1 to 9 . in test 4 , 3 bovine livers were submerged consecutively for 2 minutes . redox depletion was measured after each submersion as well as microbiological counts . a further test was conducted to determine the microbiological quality of beef carcasses after having been fogged with anolyte . during the test 24 beef carcasses were used , 12 for a control group and 12 for a test group . the 12 carcasses from the control group and the 12 carcasses from the test group were all microbiologically sampled directly after slaughter . after the carcasses had been placed in the respective chillers , the 12 beef carcasses from the test group were fogged with anolyte . all the beef carcasses ( treated and controls ) were microbiologically monitored after the fogging process was completed . all the carcasses were microbiologically monitored using rodac plates . samples were taken at 4 positions on both the left and right sides of each carcass i . e . the carcass surface at the breast area of the 7th and 8th rib ; after sampling , the rodac plates were incubated at 25 ° c . for 3 days . a total count per 24 cm 2 was then determined . an anova procedure was used to determine differences statistically between treatments . a statistical analysis of the total count of the 12 control and 12 test carcasses is shown in table 2 . a total count of the beef carcasses of both the control and the test group is shown in table 3 . according to the statistical analysis the microbial contamination of the 12 anolyte treated carcasses was significantly lower after fogging than the contamination level of the control carcasses ( table 2 : p = 0 , 0001 ). table 3 clearly indicates that the total count of the control group of carcasses vs the test group of carcasses were at a similar levels just after slaughter ( log 1 , 6 / 24 cm 2 ). however , the total count of the test group was significantly reduced after fogging from log 1 , 6 / 24 cm 2 to log 0 , 54 / 24 cm 2 . the test group beef carcasses therefore had significantly lower total counts than the control group beef carcasses . a further series of tests were conducted with anolyte aimed at preventing the oxidation of meat . during the trials the following meat cuts were used : beef loin steaks , beef topside mince and chicken drumsticks . all the rump and loin steaks , as well as the chicken drumsticks were submerged into the respective treatment liquids for a period of 3 minutes . the topside mince was treated with a hand held sprayer . after each treatment , all the cuts were singly placed on polystyrene trays and overwrapped with pvc . all the cuts were then placed in retail display cabinets and displayed for a period of 24 , 48 , 72 and 96 hours at 4 ° c . after each subsequent display period , cuts from each treatment were analysed for colour . sceptrophotometic reflectance analyses were used by taking readings from the overwrapped steaks to calculate the percentage of metmyoglobin ( mmb ), following the procedures of krywicki ( 1979 ). a statistical analysis of the metmyoglobin accumulation of loin steaks , topside mince and rump steaks , stored at 4 ° c . for 96 hours , is shown in table 4 . metmyoglobin accumulation ( brown discoloration ) for main effects is shown in table 5 . metmyoglobin accumulation of loin stakes during a shelf life study of 0 - 96 h at 4 ° c . is shown in table 6 . metmyoglobin accumulation of topside mince during a shelf life study of 0 - 96 h at 4 ° c . is shown in table 7 . metmyoglobin accumulation of rump steaks during a shelf life study of 0 - 96 h at 4 ° c . is shown in table 8 . according to statistical analysis , all the main effects ( treatment , meat cut , shelf life period ) were significantly influenced ( p valves & lt ; 0 . 05 ) by the accumulation of metmyoglobin ( mmb ) ( table 4 ). metmyoglobin gives an indication of the brown discoloration , which has taken places on each meat cut . as shown in table 5 , the samples receiving the anolyte treatment discoloured significantly ( p = 0 , 0147 ) less during the shelf life study than the control samples , the samples receiving the catolyte or combined anolyte - catolyte treatment . furthermore , the loin cuts discoloured less during the shelf life period than the other two cuts included in the study . according to a study done by hood , 1980 , a discoloration level of 20 % indicates a reduction of 50 % in the amount of sales . if a cut off point of ca . 20 - 25 % metmyoglobin is taken as the end of retail acceptability , the topside mince treated with anolyte in this trial achieved a 48 hour shelf life . in contract , all the other mince samples treated ( control , catolyte , anolyte - catolyte combination ) only achieved a 24 hour retail shelf life according to this criteria . if this cut off point of ca 20 - 25 % metmyoglobin is again applied to the rump steaks assessed during this trial , the rump steaks treated with anolyte and catolyte in this trial achieved a 48 hour shelf life , while the rump steaks treated with the anolyte - catolyte combinations achieved a 24 hour retail shelf life . in contrast , the control samples were only acceptable on time 0 of study , i . e . a 0 hour retail shelf life , according to this criterion . a final test was conducted with anolyte aimed at determining the reduction in weight loss in pig carcasses during chilling . the carcasses were stored at about − 3 ° c . in a cold room . an anolyte atmosphere was produced by means of fogging . the anolyte , generated at a total flowrate of about 750 ml / min , had the following characteristics : the reduction in weight loss during chilling due to anolyte fogging is shown in table 9 . a reduction of 1 . 32 % in weight loss was measured and calculated the treatment of an animal product as described above has been found to extend the shelf life and quality of the product as a result of the anti - microbial action of the anolyte solution . treatment of sausage casings for example resulted in a substantial bacterial count reduction . the applicant believes that the oxidising free radicals present in the anolyte solution act synergistically at a bacterial cellular level . it has been found that the effectiveness of the anolyte solution depends upon the flow rate through the reactor which determines the concentration of the anolyte , as measured by the oxidation - reduction potential ( orp ), or redox potential of the anolyte solutions , the flow rate through the reactor the exposure time , i . e . the contact time between the contaminated product surface and the anolyte solution and the temperature during application . a flow rate of 750 ml / min through a pair of electro chemical cells have been found to be most effective . by measuring the redox potential of the anolyte solution during the treatment , for example , of an animal product , the available free radical concentration can be determined and monitored . anolyte has been found to be more effective at lower than at higher temperatures and at neutral ph ranges . it will be appreciated that many variations in detail are possible without departing from the scope and / or spirit of the invention as claimed in the claims hereinafter .
a composition for disinfecting an animal product comprising an electro - chemically activated , anion - containing aqueous solution . a plant for treating an animal product including a water reservoir , a salt feed device for creating an aqueous salt solution , an electrolysis device to produce anolyte and catolyte solutions , an anion mixing tank , and a treatment container to apply the solution to an animal product .