APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR HEAT-TREATMENT OF FOOD PRODUCTS IN PLASTIC BAGS

Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus and method for heat-treatment of foodstuffs in a plastic container, in a way that the plastic container is sealed after being filled with foodstuffs and poured on, but two pipes are lead inside the container in order to let the pouring liquid being circulated. These pipes are connected through a pump to the secondary circuit of a heat exchanger. Providing warm water or steam on the primary cicuit the pouring liquid warms up simultaneously in the container, pump, pipes and heat exchanger. Providing cold water on the primary circuit of the heat exchanger the food product in the container is cooled down. After the pasterization or sterilization the pipes are removed and the container is sealed again precluding the possibility of reserve infection.

Description: Apparatus and method for heat-treatment of food products in plastic bags. Description Mainly two packing materials are used in the canned food industry -jars and tins /glass and metal containers/. Efforts are made on using up-to-date plastic materials for packing preserved food, for example multilayer and heat-resisting foils. These materials have the advantage of easy tailoring - the ability of creating big size units. The traditional packing materials - glass and tin - are not suitable for these purposes because of mechanical and financial reason. From the market side the demand on big size - and low cost - canned food comes from the catering industry /hospitals, schools, canteens and so/. The problem is that the traditional technologies are not suitable for heating /and subsequent cooling/ of big size units providing the required temperature also in the centre of the can. We remark that asseptic technologies use multilayer foils /also for big industrial units/, but exclusively for liquiform foodstuffs such as fruit concentrate and tomato paste, for lumpy products /such as gerkhins/ these technologies are not suitable. The heat-treatment in the subject-matter patent is solved in the following way: the plastic container is sealed after being filled with foodstuffs and poured on, but two pipes are lead inside the container in order to let the pouring liquid being circulated /the holes for the pipes are located above the pouring liquid level and the end of the pipes are below the level/. The holes should be smaller than the diameter of the pipes for tightness. These pipes are connected through a pump to the secondary circuit of a heat exchanger. Providing warm water or steam on the primary circuit the pouring liquid warms up - simultaneously in the container, pump, pipes and heal exchanger. As the circuit of the pouring liquid hermetically closed the pouring liquid is pasteurized at the same time in the container; the pump, the pipes and heat exchanger. Providing cold water on the primary circuit of the heat exchanger the foodtsuffs is cooled down. After the pasterization the pipes are removed and the container is immediately sealed again below the holes precluding the possibility of reserve infection. Naturally, on the secondary side of the heat exchanger several containers can be pasteurized at the same time. The described technology can be used for preserving foodstuffs with low Ph value at a temperature below 1OO Celsius degree. Locating the container/s/ with foodstuffs in a pressure-tight vessel /autoclave/ the pressure during the warming up process can be increased so the pouring liquid will not boil up. In this way the treatment can be done at a temperature above 1 OO Celsius degree and foodstuffs with high Ph value /green pees, maize/ can be also preserved /sterilization/ Duπng the process the work of the pump is controlled by the temperature in the contaιneι/s/ providing the required amount of heat Before starting the process the pipes in the secondary circuit should be de-aerated, providing the stable level of pouring liquid in the container/s/ The finished container should be placed in a cardboard box against tearing /BAG-IN-BOX packing/

Claims: Claims 1 Apparatus for pasteurising of food products comprising a heat exchanger, a pump on the secondary circuit of the exchanger and metall or plastic pipes, connecting the exchanger, pump and container/s/ with foodstuffs characterized by hermetic separation of the pouring liquid in the container/s/, pump, pipes and heat exchangei 2 Apparatus according the claim 1 , but the container/s/ with foodstuffs are placed in a pressure-tight vessel /autoclave/ allowing to increase and decrease the pressure in the vessel 3 Method for pasteurizing foodtsuffs in plastic container in apparatus according to claim 1 characterised by circulating the pouring liquid in the container/s/ with foodstuffs and increasing and decreasing the temperature of the pouring liquid by providing high or low temperature on the primary circuit of the heat exchanger 4 Method for sterilizing foodtsuffs in plastic container in apparatus according to claim 2 characterised by circulating the pouring liquid in the container with foodstuffs and increasing and decreasing the temperature of the pouring liquid by providing high oi low temperature on the primary circuit of the heat exchanger and simultaneously increasing and decreasing the pressure in the pressure-tight vessel, providing temperature of the pouring liquid above loo Celsius degree 5 Preseived foodstuffs in plastic container characterised by application of apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 and by application of method according to claim 3 or 4

Inventors: BOLDIZSAR ISTVAN, BOLDIZSAR, ISTVAN
Applicants: BOLDIZSAR ISTVAN, BOLDIZSAR, ISTVAN
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B65B55
IPC codes: A23L3, B65B55