JP2007068444A - Food-treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a food-treating apparatus capable of readily carrying out food treatment in a short time by a step for carrying out a pressurizing and heating treatment of a food to be treated, and a step for subjecting the treated food to solid-liquid separation at the nearly same time. <P>SOLUTION: The food-treating apparatus 1 treats the food at least a part of which is solid by pressurizing and heating the food while suppressing the proliferation of microorganisms. The food-treating apparatus 1 comprises a food container 2 receiving the food to be treated, separating the liquid drained off from the food to be treated according to the treatment of the food to be treated from the solid, and storing the liquid, a treating vessel 10 for receiving water and carrying out the pressurizing and heating treatment of the food to be treated in the food container 2, a pressurizing means 40 for pressurizing the water in the treating vessel 10, and a heating means 50 for heating the treating vessel 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a food processing apparatus that pressurizes and processes food, and particularly relates to a food processing apparatus that processes food while pressing and heating the food to suppress the growth of microorganisms.

  Natural seasonings using foods include soy sauce and miso, which are manufactured using fermentation technology. In addition, there is also a method for producing a seasoning by directly adding an enzyme or the like to a food material and decomposing protein in the food with the enzyme. In both the production method using fermentation technology and the production method in which an enzyme or the like is directly added to a food material, salt is added at the time of producing a natural seasoning. This is to suppress or prevent the growth of harmful microorganisms, but the salt added during the production process often remains in the seasoning. For this reason, the problem that the versatility of the obtained natural seasoning becomes narrow was pointed out.

As a method for solving this problem, a raw food material as a protein raw material containing or added with a proteolytic enzyme is loaded and maintained at a temperature of 40 ° C. to 60 ° C. and a pressure of 50 MPa to 100 MPa. A method for treating food has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). According to this method, the action of the enzyme is promoted while suppressing the growth of microorganisms by loading and holding the pressure in the temperature range of 40 ° C. to 60 ° C. and in the range of 50 MPa to 100 MPa, and the ripening period Can be shortened.
JP 2001-120219 A

  The method described in Patent Document 1 is performed as follows. First, a raw material such as raw rice cake is placed in a flexible container, and the container is sealed. This is put in a pressure vessel and the inside of the pressure vessel is filled with fresh water. The fresh water is pressurized with a pressure pump connected to the pressure vessel, and the pressure vessel is brought to a pressure of 50 to 100 MPa. After pressurization, it is heated to 40 ° C. to 60 ° C. with a heater for heating provided on the outer surface of the pressure vessel. After a predetermined time has elapsed, the pressure in the pressure vessel is released and the vessel is taken out. Thereafter, the contents in the container are filtered and separated into solid and liquid. The recovered liquid becomes a natural seasoning.

  As described above, the method described in Patent Document 1 requires a step of subjecting the food to be treated to pressure heat treatment, and a step of solid-liquid separation (filtration) of the food to be treated after that step. If the separation operation is not performed carefully in the solid-liquid separation step, various germs may be mixed. Moreover, when the viscosity of a liquid is high, it takes time for filtration. Considering these things, it is desirable from the viewpoint of shortening the time or preventing contamination of germs to perform the process of pressurizing and heating the food to be processed and the process of solid-liquid separation of the processed food almost simultaneously. .

  An object of the present invention is to provide a food processing apparatus capable of performing food processing in a short time by performing a process of pressurizing and heating a food to be processed and a process of solid-liquid separation of the processed food almost simultaneously. There is.

The present invention is a food processing apparatus for processing food while pressurizing and heating food that is at least partly solid and suppressing the growth of microorganisms,
A food container for receiving the food to be treated and storing the liquid discharged from the food to be treated separately from the solid as a result of processing the food;
A treatment tank that receives the food container and water, and heats and pressurizes the food to be treated in the food container;
Pressurizing means for pressurizing water in the treatment tank;
Heating means for heating the treatment tank;
A food processing apparatus comprising:

In the present invention, the food container is a double-structured container including an outer container and an inner container,
The inner container is made of a porous material in which an upper part of the inner container is fixed to an upper inner wall of the outer container and has an opening through which the processed food can be taken in and out.
2. The food according to claim 1, wherein the outer container has a liquid storage section that has the inner container on the inner side and stores the liquid discharged from the processed food without leaking to the outside. It is a processing device.

Further, in the present invention, the food container further has a latching portion that can be suspended,
The treatment tank includes a latching portion capable of hanging the food container inside,
The food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the food container containing the food to be processed is suspended in the processing tank via a hanging tool, and the food to be processed is pressurized and heat-treated. It is a processing device.

  The food processing apparatus according to the present invention is a food processing apparatus that pressurizes and heats food that is at least partially solid, and processes food while suppressing the growth of microorganisms. A food container that separates and stores liquid discharged from the food to be treated in accordance with the treatment of the food, a food container, and a water receiving tank, and a treatment tank that pressurizes and heats the food to be treated in the food container; A pressurizing means for pressurizing the water in the treatment tank; and a heating means for heating the treatment tank. Therefore, the step of pressurizing and heating the food to be treated and the liquid discharged from the treated food as a solid The solid-liquid separation step of separating can be performed almost simultaneously, and food can be processed easily and in a short time.

  In the present invention, the food container is a double-structured container including an outer container and an inner container, and the inner container has the upper part of the inner container fixed to the upper inner wall of the outer container so that processed food can be taken in and out. It is made of a porous material having an opening, and the outer container has an inner container on the inner side, and includes a liquid reservoir that stores liquid discharged from the food to be processed without leaking to the outside. The liquid discharged from the food to be treated can be easily separated from the solid.

  Further, according to the present invention, the food container further has a latching portion that can be hung, and the treatment tank includes a latching portion that can hang the food container inside, and the object to be processed is provided via the hanger. A food container containing food is suspended in the processing tank, and the food to be processed is heated and pressurized, so the liquid discharged from the food to be processed can be easily separated from the solid using gravity and collected. it can.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a food processing apparatus 1 as an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the food container 2 for containing food processed by the food processing apparatus 1, and the right half is a view of a part of the outer container 70 cut out. The food processing apparatus 1 receives a food container 2 that receives a food to be processed, a food container 2, a processing tank 10 that pressurizes and heats the food to be processed in the food container 2, and pressurizes the inside of the processing tank 10. Pressure device 40, heating device 50 that heats treatment tank 10, and pressure control device 60 that keeps the pressure in treatment tank 10 constant.

  The processing tank 10 includes a metal pressure vessel 11 and a pressure-resistant lid 12 that is attached to the pressure vessel 11 in a detachable manner. The pressure resistance referred to here means that it can withstand a pressure of 100 MPa. The pressure vessel 11 has a space 13 from the center to the top, and a metal mesh 14 is detachably attached to the vicinity of the bottom of the space 13. Further, a heater 51 for heating and a temperature detector 52 for detecting the temperature of the space 13 are attached to the space 13 below the wire mesh 14.

  It is well known that when heating a container having a large heat capacity, it takes time to raise the temperature. Although the pressure vessel 11 has a large wall thickness and a large heat capacity, it has a heater 51 that can raise the temperature of the space 13 in addition to the heater 53 mounted on the outer side wall of the pressure vessel 11. be able to. Since the wire mesh 14 is attached on the heater 51, the food container 2 does not directly contact the heater 51 even if the food container 2 is placed in the space 13 of the pressure resistant container 11. Can be prevented from being deformed or damaged.

  In addition, the side surface of the pressure vessel 11 has a hole 15 penetrating a wall surface connected to a pressure line 21 for pressurizing the water filled in the space 13, and water filled in the space 13 for pressure adjustment. It has a hole 16 penetrating through the wall surface connected to the pressure adjusting pipe line 22 for discharging. Furthermore, at the bottom of the pressure vessel 11, a through hole 17 connected to a water discharge pipe 23 for discharging water filled in the space 13, a water supply pipe 24 for filling the space 13 with water, A connecting through hole 18 is formed. A screw is applied to the inner wall of the upper space portion of the pressure vessel 11, and the screw is engaged with the screw applied to the lid 12.

  The lid 12 is attached to the upper part of the pressure vessel 11 and used. By attaching the lid 12 to the pressure vessel 11, a sealed space is formed in the pressure vessel 11. The lid 12 has a gasket groove 31 for accommodating a gasket 30 for securing a sealing property with the pressure vessel 11 on the lower wall surface, and the lid 12 is attached to the pressure vessel 11 after the gasket 30 is fitted into the gasket groove 31. By doing so, the sealing property of the connection part of the lid | cover 12 and the pressure vessel 11 is ensured. The lid 12 is provided with an air vent hole 19 communicating with the space 13 in the pressure vessel 11, and the air vent hole 19 is connected to an air vent line 26 having an air vent valve 25. When pressurizing the inside of the processing tank 10, it is necessary to completely replace the air in the space portion 13 with water. Therefore, an air vent hole 19 is provided at a position where no air can be stored in the space portion 13.

  The lid 12 is attached with a tubular temperature detector support 28 that is closed at one end and supports a temperature detector 27 for detecting the temperature of the space 13 in the pressure vessel 11. Further, a handle 29 is attached to the outer wall of the lid 12 so that the lid 12 can be easily rotated when the lid 12 is attached to the pressure vessel 11. Furthermore, a latching portion 33 capable of latching the food container 2 is provided at the bottom center of the outer wall of the lid 12. The food container 2 can be suspended from the space 13 of the processing tank 10 by connecting the hook 33 and the hook 74 provided on the food container 2 with the hanger 34. A latching portion 35 capable of lifting the lid 12 is also provided at the upper center of the outer wall of the lid 12.

  The pressurizing device 40 is a device that pressurizes the water filled in the space 13 of the pressure vessel 11, and includes a manual pressurizing pump 41 and a pressurizing pipeline 21 connected to the processing tank 10. The discharge port of the pressure pump 41 communicates with the hole 15 provided on the side surface of the pressure vessel 11 through the pressure line 21. By sending water to the space 13 of the pressure vessel 11 through the pressurizing pump 41, the water filled in the space 13 can be pressurized. Since there is a gate valve 42 in the middle of the pressurizing pipe line 21, the pressure of the water filled in the space 13 can be maintained by closing the gate valve 42.

  The heating device 50 heats the treatment tank 10. The heating device 50 includes a heater 51 attached to the bottom of the space 13 of the pressure vessel 11 shown above, and a heater 53 attached to the side wall of the pressure vessel 11. The heater 51 attached to the bottom of the space portion 13 of the pressure vessel 11 is a rod-shaped heater, and a part thereof is disposed in the space portion 13 of the pressure vessel 11 and thus has pressure resistance. Examples of the heater corresponding to this include a sheath heater and a cartridge heater. Moreover, since the pressure resistance is not requested | required as the heater which can be mounted | worn and used for the side wall of the pressure vessel 11, a band heater, a rebin heater, etc. are illustrated.

  The heater 51 attached to the bottom of the space 13 of the pressure vessel 11 is connected to the temperature controller 54. The temperature controller 54 controls the output of the heater 51 based on the output of the temperature detector 52 that detects the temperature of the space 13 and the set temperature. Similarly, the heater 53 mounted on the outer side wall of the pressure vessel 11 is also connected to the temperature controller 55. The temperature controller 55 is based on the output of the temperature detector 56 that detects the temperature of the outer wall surface and the set temperature. The output of the heater 53 is controlled. Instead of the heater mounted on the outer side wall of the pressure vessel 11, a jacket may be provided around the pressure vessel 11 and hot water may be supplied and heated. Alternatively, the pressure vessel 11 may be immersed in a water bath and heated.

  The pressure control device 60 is a device for keeping the pressure in the processing tank 10 constant, and includes a pressure detector 61 that detects the pressure in the processing tank 10, a pressure controller 62, and a pressure control valve 63. The pressure adjusting pipe line 22 connected to the hole 16 penetrating the wall surface of the pressure vessel 11 is connected to the flow rate adjusting valve 64 and the pressure adjusting valve 63. Further, in the middle of the pressure adjustment pipe 22, when the pressure in the treatment tank 10 rises abnormally, the pressure of the safety valve 65 and the pressure adjustment pipe 22 for reducing the pressure by discharging the water in the space 13 at a stroke is set. A pressure gauge 66 to detect and a pressure detector 61 are provided. The pressure detector 61 is connected to a pressure regulator 62, and the pressure regulator 62 is connected to a pressure regulator 63 and a temperature regulator 54 that controls the output of the heater 51 attached to the space 13 of the pressure vessel 11. The pressure in the processing tank 10 is adjusted through these. At this time, the temperature controller 54 performs control so that the heater 51 is not turned on when the pressure in the processing tank 10 does not reach a predetermined pressure. Thereby, it can prevent that the pressure in the processing tank 10 raises abnormally.

  The food container 2 for storing food to be processed has a double structure of an outer container 70 and an inner container 71. The inner container 71 has an upper portion 72 fixed to the inner upper portion of the outer container 70. Yes. The inner container 71 is a mesh-like container, and an upper end has an opening through which food can be taken in and out. As the inner container 71, a synthetic resin bag with a chuck having a mesh like a tea pack can be used. The outer container 70 can be stored in a hermetically sealed container without leaking liquid. Further, like the inner container 71, the upper portion has an opening through which food can be taken in and out, and an opening / closing means 73 that can be opened and closed is provided in the opening. As the outer container 70, a synthetic resin bag with a chuck can be used.

  Under such a configuration, the inner container 71 is filled with a food, for example, rice cake. Thereafter, the opening of the outer container 70 is sealed, and when the food container 2 is pressurized and heat-treated in the treatment tank 10, the food to be treated in the inner container 71 is pressure-heated and discharged from the food. Is stored in the outer container 70. Since the inner container 71 functions as a filter medium that separates the solid and the liquid, only the liquid can be easily recovered. As described above, the inner container 71 is not particularly limited in form as long as it can hold the processed food without leaking into the outer container 70 and exhibits the function of separating the solid and the liquid. When it is expected that the solid content of the food to be treated leaks from the inner container 71 to the outer container 70, the food to be treated may be wrapped with paper having water permeability and placed in the inner container 71.

  The outer container 70 can store the liquid discharged from the food to be processed without leaking to the outside, and at the same time, the water in the processing tank 10 enters during the processing in the processing tank 10. It is necessary not to. Therefore, the opening / closing means 73 provided in the opening portion is required to have airtightness to such an extent that water does not leak. However, the opening / closing means 73 provided in the opening is not always necessary, and the opening can be used with a string tied.

  Moreover, the food container 2 has the latching part 74 which can suspend the food container 2 in the upper part. When the latching portion 74 and the latching portion 33 provided on the lid 12 of the treatment tank 10 are connected by the lifting tool 34 and the lid 12 is closed, the food container 2 is suspended in the treatment tank 10. Become. When pressure and heat treatment are performed in this state, the liquid discharged from the processed food in the food container 2 is stored in the storage unit 75 of the outer container 70. When the food container 2 is used in a suspended state in this way, solid-liquid separation can be performed more easily. The food container 2 may be on the wire mesh 14 attached to the bottom of the processing tank 10 without being suspended. When the food container 2 is not suspended and used as described above, the inner container 71 and the outer container 70 do not need to be fixed, and the inner container 71 may be used in the outer container 70.

  Next, the point which obtains a seasoning by enzymatically decomposing a raw food material as a protein raw material using the food processing apparatus 1 of the present invention will be described. In addition, the following description shows only an example of a food processing and it cannot be overemphasized that it is not limited to this processing point. First, food is put into the food container 2. Foods that can be used here only need to contain protein and proteolytic yeast, such as seafood, animal husbandry, poultry animal materials such as poultry, vegetable materials such as soybeans, and protein materials extracted therefrom. Illustrated. Proteolytic yeast may be added separately as necessary.

  The food is put into the inner container 71, the air in the outer container 70 is evacuated, and the opening of the outer container 70 is sealed. The air in the outer container 70 does not need to be completely removed. If the outer container 70 is a synthetic resin bag, the air in the container 70 may be removed by pressing the bag. The food may be wrapped in paper and placed in the inner container 71 as necessary. Next, the lid 12 of the treatment tank 10 is removed, and the latching portion 33 provided on the lid 12 and the latching portion 74 of the food container 2 charged with food are connected by a lifting tool 34, and the container 2 is suspended. And In this state, the lid 12 is set in the pressure vessel 11.

  Next, the space 13 in the treatment tank 10 is filled with water. A case where tap water is used for filling water will be described as an example. After opening the air vent valve 25 provided on the lid 12 of the pressure vessel 11, the treatment tank 10 is filled with water (tap water) through the water supply conduit 24 connected to the through hole 18 at the bottom of the pressure vessel 11. To do. Since the water filling operation is performed to replace the air in the space 13 in the treatment tank 10 with water, it is desirable to slowly fill the water. When it is confirmed that water is stably discharged from the air vent valve 25, the air vent valve 25 is closed, and after confirming that the pressure in the treatment tank 10 has increased to the tap water pressure, the valve 81 is closed to supply water. Stop.

When the filling of the water into the processing tank 10 is completed, the inside of the processing tank 10 is pressurized. The inside of the processing tank 10 is pressurized to a predetermined pressure using the pressurizing pump 41, and after the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the pressurizing operation is terminated. When performing the pressurizing operation, the pressure control device 60 keeps the pressure in the processing tank 10 controllable to a predetermined pressure. Almost simultaneously with the pressurization operation or after the pressurization operation
It moves to the heating operation of the processing tank 10. The heating operation is performed using the heating device 50. If the pressure in the processing tank 10 is lower than the predetermined pressure while the temperature in the processing tank 10 reaches the predetermined temperature or when the predetermined temperature is reached, the pressure is supplied through the pressurizing pump 41 as necessary. Pressurize.

  The inside of the processing tank 10 is maintained at a predetermined pressure and temperature, and food is processed for a predetermined time. Since pressure and temperature are applied to the food in the treatment tank 10, the seasoning can be obtained by causing the enzyme to efficiently act on the food material while suppressing the growth of microorganisms. At this time, since the food is put in a mesh-like container 71 inside the double-structured food container 2 and suspended, the seasoning (liquid) that is processed and discharged from the food is the outer container 70. It collects in. Thus, if this food processing apparatus 1 is used, the pressurization heat processing operation and solid-liquid separation operation of food can be performed substantially simultaneously. Especially when the viscosity of the liquid discharged from the food is high, solid-liquid separation takes time, but in the present invention, the food can be heated and heated and the solid-liquid separation process can be performed simultaneously. It can be obtained in a short time.

  After performing the pressure heating treatment for a predetermined time, the food container 2 is taken out. After the heater 51 and the heater 53 are turned off, the valve 80 disposed in the water discharge pipe 23 at the bottom of the pressure vessel 11 is opened, and the water in the processing tank 10 is discharged. After confirming that the pressure in the processing tank 10 has decreased, the air vent valve 25 is opened, and water is supplied from the water supply line 24 to cool the processing tank 10 as necessary to cool the processing tank 10. To do. Open the lid 12 and take out the food container 2. Since the liquid seasoning is stored in a state separated from the solid in the storage portion 75 of the food container 2 as described above, the seasoning can be easily recovered.

  In the present invention, since a solid-liquid separation operation for recovering the seasoning is not required separately, there is no contamination of germs that are a concern during solid-liquid separation. In addition, when the food to be treated is wrapped in paper and put in a food container, even if the food to be treated remains, the food to be treated is in a liquid-removed state and can be easily recovered. In the above example, the method for suspending the food container 2 on the lid 12 has been described. However, the food container 2 may be placed on the wire mesh 14 attached to the bottom of the processing tank 10 without suspending the food container 2. Needless to say. For example, in a food to be treated containing liquid and solid, when the food container 2 is in a suspended state, the liquid and solid may be separated, which may cause inconvenience during the pressure heating process. In that case, the food container 2 may be placed on the wire mesh 14 and processed. Although this method does not allow solid-liquid separation during processing, since the food container 2 has a double structure, there is no need to prepare a new solid-liquid separation device after processing, and solid-liquid separation can be easily performed. It can be done easily.

  Moreover, although the example of the food processing which uses pressurization and heating operation together was shown in the said embodiment, when processing a foodstuff, it cannot be overemphasized that it can also be only pressurization operation. What is necessary is just to select suitably according to the kind of foodstuff, and the processing method of foodstuff.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the food processing apparatus 1 as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the container 2 for putting the foodstuff processed with the food processing apparatus 1 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Food processing apparatus 2 Food container 10 Processing tank 33 Hanging part 34 Hanging tool 40 Pressurization apparatus 50 Heating apparatus 60 Pressure control apparatus 70 Outer container 71 Inner container 72 Inner container upper part 74 Hanging part 75 Liquid storage part

Claims (3)

A food processing apparatus for processing food while pressurizing and heating food that is at least partially solid and suppressing the growth of microorganisms,
A food container for receiving the food to be treated and storing the liquid discharged from the food to be treated separately from the solid as a result of processing the food;
A treatment tank for receiving the food container and water, pressurizing and heating the food to be treated in the food container; and
Pressurizing means for pressurizing water in the treatment tank;
Heating means for heating the treatment tank;
A food processing apparatus comprising: The food container is a double-structured container comprising an outer container and an inner container,
The inner container is made of a porous material in which an upper part of the inner container is fixed to an upper inner wall of the outer container and has an opening through which the processed food can be taken in and out.
2. The food according to claim 1, wherein the outer container has a liquid storage section that has the inner container on the inner side and stores the liquid discharged from the processed food without leaking to the outside. Processing equipment. Further, the food container has a hanging portion that can be suspended,
The treatment tank includes a latching portion capable of hanging the food container inside,
The food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the food container containing the food to be processed is suspended in the processing tank via a hanging tool, and the food to be processed is pressurized and heat-treated. Processing equipment.