For Wayne Lieberman, witnessing the Salmonella outbreak that ravaged his extended family during an Easter event was a powerful moment. So impactful was the incident that it inspired Lieberman to create his own company based on sustainable, environmentally friendly cleaning technology.
“I didn’t realize how bad food borne illnesses could be, and bacteria related illnesses could be until it affected my children,” said Lieberman, who serves as the CEO for Enozo Technologies, the company that makes the technology inside every o3waterworks Sanitizing Spray Bottle. “It affects their organs. It is a terrible thing. It is very contagious. So, whenever you’re talking about bacterial diseases like Salmonella, it’s not a question of cooking things to the right temperature because once you’re contaminated, you can spread it.”
It wasn’t just those people that ate the contaminated chicken that became ill, according to Lieberman. The servers that touched the chicken then touched the plates, resulting in almost everyone in attendance getting sick.
Lieberman, whose wife is asthmatic and can’t use typical under the counter chemical cleaners in enclosed spaces without getting sick, began researching cleaning methods and technologies that didn’t involve putting toxic chemicals into the air we breathe. He found some research on Aqueous Ozone and began working with a company that had done some preliminary research on producing ozone at a very safe level and in a cost effective way.
"I thought, well this is great because this is a very clean and safe way to kill bacteria and some viruses as well." Lieberman said. “Essentially this was a technology that, if developed correctly, could be commercialized for consumers.”
Lieberman started Enozo Technologies, recruited engineers and scientists from MIT and challenged them to make a device small enough to fit inside a bottle that could convert water into Aqueous Ozone. The result was the electrolytic cell – the patented technology working inside every Sanitizing Spray Bottle to convert ordinary tap water into Aqueous Ozone powerful enough to disinfect any surface contaminated with bacteria or viruses.