JP4194534B2 - Method for producing containerized food - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a container-packed food that is aseptically sealed after subjecting a solid food filled in a container to a heat and pressure sterilization treatment.

Conventionally, in order to preserve cooked foods, pressure heat sterilization has been widely performed. For example, a processing method is known in which a food material is filled in a container, sterilized under pressure and heat, and then sealed aseptically (see Patent Document 1).
The pressure and heat sterilization treatment is generally a method of sterilization under high temperature and high pressure using water vapor of 100 ° C. or higher. In the invention described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to return the inside of the chamber to normal pressure after the food filled in the container is subjected to the pressure and heat sterilization treatment in the chamber of the pressure heating apparatus and then sealed.
Conventionally, as a method for returning the inside of the chamber of the pressure heating sterilization apparatus to the normal pressure after the pressure heating sterilization treatment, there is a problem in the structure of the apparatus and the method of returning to the normal pressure all at once has been adopted.
However, when such pressure reducing means is taken, there are drawbacks such that food filled in the container is ejected from the container, the amount becomes insufficient, and the sealing surface of the container is contaminated and cannot be completely sealed. These foods are found in solid foods that have been boiled, boiled, steamed, fried in oil, or oiled, especially in solid foods cooked by boiling, boiled or steamed It was seen in.
JP-A-4-370081

  Therefore, the present inventors prevent solid food from being ejected from the container when the solid food filled in the container is sterilized under pressure and steam with steam and then the pressure in the chamber is returned to normal pressure. As a result of various studies on the method, the present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention fills an open container with the solid food, puts the container into a chamber of a pressurized heat sterilizer, pressurizes and heatsaturates with saturated steam exceeding 115 ° C., and then presses the pressure control valve. By gradually reducing and lowering the temperature in the chamber until it reaches the range of 105 to 115 ° C. by opening and closing operation, the chamber is returned to normal pressure, and then the opening of the container is aseptically sealed. It is a manufacturing method.

  According to the method of the present invention, the solid food filled in the opened container is pressurized and heated and sterilized, and the solid food of the contents is not ejected from the container even if it is returned to normal pressure. A complete sealing process can be performed.

  Examples of the solid foods of the present invention include, for example, cooked rice such as white rice, cooked rice, pilaf, fried rice, chirashi sushi, noodles such as udon, soba, ramen, cold wheat, somen, spaghetti, macaroni, vegetables, meat In addition, solid foods using fishery products, and the like, and foods in which these solid foods and liquids such as soup are mixed, for example, miscellaneous foods, rice cakes, risottos, and the like, are included.

  The container for filling the solid food is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include pouches such as transparent pouches and aluminum pouches, trays such as transparent trays and aluminum foil trays, and canned foods.

  The container filled with the solid food is placed in the chamber of the pressure and heat sterilization apparatus, and pressure and heat sterilization is performed with saturated steam exceeding 115 ° C. After pressurization and heat sterilization, the pressure is gradually reduced and lowered by opening and closing the pressure control valve until the temperature in the chamber reaches the region of 105 to 115 ° C. If this pressure reduction and temperature lowering operation is stopped at a pressure in a temperature range higher than 115 ° C., the food of the contents is ejected when the next operation to return to normal pressure is performed, which is not preferable. In this manner, once the pressure is reduced to a pressure in the region of 105 to 115 ° C. and the temperature is lowered, no jetting phenomenon is observed even if an operation for returning the pressure to normal pressure at once is performed.

  As a means for gradually reducing and lowering the temperature in the chamber to the range of 105 to 115 ° C. after the pressure and heat sterilization treatment, a method of gradually reducing and decreasing the temperature or a method of continuously reducing and decreasing the temperature can be employed. When the pressure is reduced and lowered step by step, when the water vapor temperature used for the heat treatment is relatively low and the pressure in the chamber is low, the pressure is reduced and lowered to the region of 105 to 115 ° C. by a single pressure reduction and temperature reduction operation. However, when the water vapor temperature used for the heat treatment is high and the pressure in the chamber is high, the pressure is reduced and the temperature is lowered intermittently several times. In this case, it is preferable to adjust the temperature change in the chamber when the pressure is reduced and lowered by one pressure reduction and temperature reduction operation to be within 15 ° C.

  Next, as a means for reducing the pressure in the chamber to normal pressure after the pressure is adjusted to a pressure in the range of 105 to 115 ° C. by a pressure reducing operation, a method of continuously reducing the pressure to the normal pressure is intermittent. There are a method of reducing the pressure to normal pressure, a method of making the pressure normal pressure all at once, etc., but considering the efficiency of work, a method of returning the pressure to normal pressure at once is preferable.

  Thus, the solid food sterilized by pressure and heat can be prepared as a packaged food by aseptically sealing the opening of the container by a conventional method.

  Next, examples are given to describe the present invention more specifically, but the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

Example 1
Boiled spaghetti with a yield of 230% was boiled at a yield of 230%, and 200 g of spaghetti was filled into a nylon / polypropylene laminated plastic tray-type container (inner diameter 120 mm × depth 45 mm). Next, the spaghetti was put into the chamber of the pressure heat sterilization apparatus with this container stuffing vessel, sprayed with saturated water vapor at a temperature of 120 ° C. for 30 seconds, and subjected to pressure heat treatment to sterilize the spaghetti. Next, the pressure control valve attached to the chamber was opened once and then closed. The temperature in the chamber after the operation was 110 ° C. Next, the pressure control valve was fully opened and completely opened until the internal pressure of the chamber reached atmospheric pressure. Next, the opening of the container was aseptically sealed by a conventional method, and spaghetti was obtained with a container jar. In addition, before entering the sealing operation, the spaghetti was kept in the container without being blown out and kept in a state of being filled without any abnormalities.

Example 2
The spaghetti boiled in the container in the same manner as in Example 1 was subjected to pressure heat treatment with saturated steam at 130 ° C. Subsequently, the pressure control valve attached to the chamber of the pressure heating sterilizer was opened and closed once. The temperature in the chamber after the operation was 120 ° C. Next, the pressure control valve was once again opened and closed. The temperature in the chamber after the operation was 110 ° C. After this, the pressure control valve was fully opened and completely opened until the internal pressure of the chamber reached atmospheric pressure. Next, the opening of the container was aseptically sealed by a conventional method to obtain a spaghetti filled with the container. In addition, before entering the sealing operation, the spaghetti was kept in the container without being blown out and kept in a state of being filled without any abnormalities.

Comparative Example 1
In the same manner as in Example 1, the pressure control valve attached to the chamber was fully opened for the spaghetti that was filled in the container and pressurized and heated with saturated steam at 120 ° C. in the chamber of the pressure and heat sterilizer. The chamber was completely opened until the internal pressure of the chamber reached atmospheric pressure. Before entering the sealing operation, the spaghetti was in a state where the noodles were scattered and ejected from the container in the container-filled bowl in the chamber.

Comparative Example 2
In the same manner as in Example 2, for the spaghetti that was filled in a container and pressurized and heated with saturated steam at 130 ° C. in the chamber of the pressure and heat sterilizer as in Example 2, the pressure control valve was turned on once as in Example 2. An opening / closing treatment was performed (the temperature in the chamber was 120 ° C.), and then the pressure control valve was fully opened and completely opened until the internal pressure of the chamber reached atmospheric pressure. Before entering the sealing operation, the spaghetti in the container-filled bowl in the chamber was in a state where a small amount of spaghetti was scattered and ejected from the container.

Claims (1)

The solid food, was charged into the opened container, after pressing and heating treatment in saturated steam of greater than 115 ° C. and placed in a chamber of the vessel pressure and heat sterilizing apparatus, 105 to 115 ° C. the temperature in the switch Yanba until reaching the area, decompression is performed once or intermittently a plurality of times the opening and closing operation of the pressure control valve in which the temperature change in the chamber is within 15 ° C., after being cooled and returned to once normal pressure in the chamber, Next, aseptically sealing the opening of the container, a method for producing a packaged food.