Abstract: A gaseous blend of Ox and a method for significantly reducing the biological load on consumer products such as food products, botanicals and cosmetic ingredients is disclosed. The gaseous blend of Ox consists at least in part of O3. The method involves applying a continuous stream of oxygen-containing, i. e., Ox, gas to a material at a predetermined temperature, pressure and relative humidity. The continuous stream of Ox gas is prepared in an Ox generation cell, which contains a means for generating the Ox gas at a pressure less than 20 lbs/in2 using, for example, one or more of the following: corona discharge, high frequency electrical discharge, ultraviolet light, x-ray, radioactive isotope and electric beam.