ES2785309B2 - Industrial method of food processing in a unique multi-functional container - Google Patents

Description

DESCRIPTION

Unique multi-functional container industrial food processing method

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is part of the food industry in the field of methods of preparation, heat treatment, preservation, transport and dispensing of prepared foods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years the food industry and in particular, the prepared dishes sector has experienced a growing demand from consumers due to changes in the societies of the developed world such as the incorporation of women into the world of work, little time for housework, among others.

Prepared dishes cover a wide variety, so their production processes, although they have common stages, are very particular depending on the dish in question and the way it is marketed.

As a general rule, in the production of long-term preservation cooked food dishes for direct consumption, a double requirement must be met:

- The non-toxicity and long-term preservation of the product must be ensured, while, on the other hand,

- The physical-chemical and organoleptic properties of the cooked food product are as close as possible to those of a similar dish, recently prepared [Bastetti, G. and Veronesi, S. 1992].

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States has estimated that 48 million cases of foodborne illness occur in that country each year and approximately 128,000 cases require hospitalization and 3,000 cases end with the death of the sick person [Scallan et al., 2011]. For all this, the strict monitoring of Good Manufacturing Practices and the hygienic conditions of factories of ready-to-eat foods should not be neglected at any time.

In order to allow a long-term preservation of food products, various processes are currently well known, such as sterilization, pasteurization, freezing, ionization by irradiation or lyophilization.

Traditional sterilization is an intensive preservation procedure that deteriorates the organoleptic characteristics of treated food products, and affects in particular their taste and appearance. A time-temperature treatment is carried out in order to destroy any microorganism that may exist in the food.

Generally, conservation procedures have the common drawback of not simultaneously ensuring total microbiological quality and optimal organoleptic qualities and characteristics, and finally that they can be put into practice through competitive investments [Pinon, 1992].

The agri-food industry, and more especially the prepared dishes sector, follow the same pattern in terms of production, distribution, marketing and consumption processes. The common process for any type of them consists of the mixture of ingredients, cooking of said mixture, packaging, sterilization or pasteurization, conservation, distribution and marketing. These conventional processes have disadvantages such as the need for high manufacturing energy costs, the need to use plastic, metal or glass containers and organoleptic attributes deteriorated by the process (i.e. excess heat treatment).

On the other hand, these prepared dishes, once acquired in commercial premises, are kept in refrigeration or at room temperature as appropriate and prior to their consumption, they may or may not need to be finished cooking, heated or consumed directly.

The production of prepared dishes is not known on an industrial scale where the container is the same reusable device where the food or prepared dish contained within is cooked, sterilized, homogenized, transferred and dispensed, which can be liquid, viscous or particulate.

There are numerous protected inventions of different types of machines such as autoclaves, pressure cookers, equipment for vacuum cooking, among others whose function is the thermal processing of food such as document ES2147590, just to mention an autoclave for continuous cooking and the sterilization of food products in general; document ES1057342U for vacuum cooking of food, among others. These equipments allow the cooking and / or sterilization of food, but they do not perform the function of aseptic container, transport and dispenser for the cooked / sterilized food. In addition to requiring the use of plastic, metal or glass containers with the consequent decrease in the sustainability of this food marketing system from an environmental point of view.

There are other systems for heat exchange in food such as those protected in documents EP0010911, FR2113723, JP61036688 and WO9718023. They feature rotary heat exchangers with many technical elements such as the rotary tank, hollow exchange elements, scrapers, among others, however, none of them has the capacity to contain, transport and aseptically dispense cooked / sterilized food. inside.

Also known are aseptic steel tanks for transporting particulate fruits and aseptic foods, as well as flexible aseptic bags, or aluminized cardboard containers, such as Tetrapark or Combiblock, among others. These containers are used to transport products that have been previously cooked, sterilized, and cooled in other independent or physically separated equipment such as deaerators, tubular or plate exchangers, scraped surface, or aseptic process tanks, but never in the same device. capable of performing all these functions as described by the current invention.

As can be seen in the state of the art, no system has been found to Food processing where the process container is used to cook or sterilize, cool, homogenize the content and its transport to the place of consumption of the product, also performing the function analogous to a traditional container. This invention uses electrical energy as a heating medium, both in the sterilization phase of the container and in the cooking phase.

The present invention brings together in the same system and device the cooking, sterilization, conservation, transfer and dispensing of food in a single pressure container, multifunctional, transportable and reusable, where the food cooked and stored inside the equipment is kept in aseptic conditions. during the use of the equipment and in refrigeration during the dispensing of the food.

Once the total content of the equipment has been emptied, it is washed, disinfected and sterilized by steam to be used again in the same process. This invention allows the elimination of packaging from the production system allowing the marketing of prepared dishes at a much lower energy cost and through a much more environmentally sustainable production system.

1- Bastetti, G. and Veronesi, S. 1992. A method for manufacturing ready-to-eat long-term, cooked pasta products. Spanish Patent and Trademark Office ES2024693.

2- Scallan, E., Hoekstra, R. M., Angulo, F. J., Tauxe, R. V., Widdowson, M. A., Roy, S. L., et al.

[2011). Foodborne illness acquired in the United States d Major pathogens. Emerging Infectious Diseases 17, 7-15.

3- Pinon, D. 1992. Procedure for the preparation of food products for long-term preservation. Spanish Patent and Trademark Office ES2026137

4- Catelli, C. and Notari, R. 2000. Autoclave for continuous cooking and sterilization of food products in general. Spanish Patent and Trademark Office ES2147590T3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention describes a method of thermal food processing, which allows cooking / sterilizing, heating and cooling food products, both low and high acidity, as well as liquid, particulate and viscous products.

This method uses a single container where all food processing takes place. This container also allows preserving, transporting and dispensing the pressurized food with inert gas, to guarantee aseptic conditions and prevent the entry of contamination to the food contained inside the container.

This container is designed for multiple use as a returnable container, and has the ability to be connected to an automated cleaning facility for reuse.

Once the product is processed, it remains inside the container, ready to be transported to the point of consumption of the food.

At the point of consumption, the container itself performs the function of dispensing in discrete units for sale to the final consumer, with the particularity that the product inside the container remains in aseptic conditions throughout the process.

More in detail, the container required by this invention has the following characteristics:

- A cylindrical body closed at both ends, which is designed to work under pressure and which contains the food to be processed.

- A product inlet mouth enabled at one end of the container, which has an orifice with a lid through which the different components of the recipe are loaded: solid, liquid, particulate, viscous, dehydrated, among others. To facilitate loading, a conical accessory can be attached to the inlet.

- Closing system by means of a beam that presses the lid through two screws, leaning on the tank itself. The forces exerted between the lid and the tank through the beam generate a hermetic seal through a gasket that rests on the surface of the tank, the gasket is located on the inside of the cover.

- A system for heating the product contained in the container by means of an internal heating element installed in the lid that has the product inlet hole and that provides the necessary energy to heat the product, using electrical resistances placed inside the heating element or any other means of heating.

- A non-drip valve activated for the dosage / dispensing of the product contained in the container for controlled dispensing. The valve has an actuator that maintains the valve, which only opens for dispensing when the actuator is activated.

The device used as a container or container for cooked food, for transportation and for dispensing food, has the particularity of being returnable with a useful life of more than 30 years due to its robust design and manufacturing materials.

For dispensing the product, the outlet valve is activated by systems that are not individual specific protection objectives of this patent, such as load cells coupled to the opening and closing of this valve.

In the same way, the device can also be coupled with an electronic purse system, neither individual specific objective of protection of this patent to collect the product associated with the amount dispensed and determined by the load cell and that returns the exact amount of money if necessary, allowing retail by weight.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description that is being made and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a preferred example of a practical embodiment thereof, a set of drawings is attached as an integral part of said description. where, with an illustrative and non-limiting nature, the following has been represented:

Figure 1.- Shows a three-dimensional perspective view of the container used by the processing method object of the present invention. The lid that produces the hermetic closure of the tank and its closure system by means of a beam that presses the lid to Through two screws and the two supports in contact with the tank, these forces that are exerted between the lid and the tank through the beam generate a hermetic seal through a gasket that rests on the surface of the tank, the gasket is located on the inside of the lid.

Figure 2.- Shows an interior view of a longitudinal section of the food container container, where the electrical resistance heating system can be seen.

Figure 3.- Shows a detailed view of the container's watertight closure system.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Next, with reference to the figures, a preferred embodiment of the integral food processing method that constitutes the object of this invention is described.

Once the product to be treated has been selected, it is introduced into the container (1), through the loading hole at its upper end.

Once the charging is complete, the charging hole of a closing lid (5) that has a heating system (8) coupled is closed by means of electrical resistances that are introduced inside the container (1).

Next, the passage of electric current through the internal resistances of the heating element is activated, it is generated by a heat that is transmitted to the product that is in contact with the heating element.

The temperature control is carried out through the measurement of the temperature on the wall through infrared or by electronic sensor. This temperature is programmed depending on the acidity of the product to be treated and its cooking needs (type of food, particle size, among others), with the purpose of cooking and at the same time sterilizing the product. Once the temperature is controlled, it is maintained during the time of maintaining the heat treatment sufficient to allow the cooking and sterilization of the food contained in inside the container (1), depending on the product in question.

After sterilization, there is the option of injecting sterile inert gas into the container (1) to prevent the entry of air into the container (1) by condensing the steam.

Once the cooking and sterilization of the product is finished, the container (1) and its contents are cooled through showers of water or a stream of cold air on the outer surface of the container (1).

Once the device and its contents have cooled, they are stored either at room temperature or refrigerated as required by the dish prepared inside.

After storage, the container (1) with the food prepared inside is sent to the service stores by serving. At the point of consumption itself, the internal heating element can be connected to the electrical current to heat the internal product to the desired temperature for consumption.

1. Container can.

2. Groove to support the closure.

3. Sealing gasket.

4. Crossbeam.

5. Drum lid.

6. Screws to tighten the cover.

7. Tube for cable access to the power core.

8. Power core to house heating resistance.

9. Electrical connector for resistance.

10. Safety valve, deaeration, decompression.

Claims (5)

1. Food processing method that allows the functions of cooking, sterilization, preservation, transfer and dispensing of food to be carried out in a single transportable and reusable pressure container, characterized by the following stages: - Introduction of the food ingredients through an existing hole in the pressure vessel; - Heating of the product inside the container to the desired cooking and / or sterilization temperature by means of thermal transmission from a heating element coupled to the lid itself that closes the filling hole of the pressure container; - Subsequent cooling of the product by means of the contact of the outer surface of the container with a cooling medium; Y - Preservation of the food inside the pressure vessel, which is its own container until the moment of consumption. 2. Food processing method according to claim 1, characterized in that the food is preserved at room temperature by keeping the container in aseptic conditions. 3. Food processing method according to claim 1, wherein the pressure vessel containing the food is a standard drum available on the market to contain beer. 4. Food processing method according to claim 1 characterized by dispensing the food in a controlled and dosed manner through a shut-off valve located on the closing lid of the container itself. 5. Food processing method according to claim 1, characterized in that it is coupled with a system for charging the doses dispensed to a load cell that activates the opening or closing of the dispensing valve depending on the weight of the dispensed product and the amount of money entered into the collection system.