JP4668572B2 - Method for producing containerized beverage - Google Patents

Description

The present invention is packed beverage, a method for manufacturing a particular packaged tea beverage.

  Conventionally, a method called an aseptic filling method is known as a method for producing a container-packed beverage such as a PET bottled tea beverage or an acidic beverage. In this method, beverages that have been sterilized at high temperature for a short time by means such as heat exchange and then rapidly cooled to room temperature are sterilized with chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid and washed with sterile water in a non-heat resistant container. Fill and seal at room temperature while maintaining

  This method requires a chemical treatment device for sterilizing the container and a sterilizing chemical, and also requires a large amount of sterile water for the cleaning device for cleaning the container, and after the heat sterilization of the beverage, A cooling device for cooling is necessary, and there is a problem that a device for realizing these steps and its control become large.

  In addition, a method called hot pack is known as a method for producing these container-packed beverages. As an example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 are given. In this method, a water-washed heat-resistant container is filled with a pre-heated and sterilized beverage in an environment controlled to a low contamination environment in a clean room at a filling temperature of 85 ° C. and then sterilized for about 30 seconds. In addition, the pasteurizer is sterilized by heating at 75 ° C. for 3 minutes and then cooled to room temperature.

  This method requires the container to have a vacuum deformation resistance (strength) sufficient to prevent the depression of the container due to the decompression of the head space of the beverage container after filling and sealing by cooling the beverage, and after filling and sealing. There are problems that the heat sterilization process by the pastorizer becomes large, and there are many high-temperature facilities and the working environment is bad.

Further, as one type of aseptic filling method, there is a PET bottle filling method for acidic beverages disclosed in Patent Document 3. In this method, hot water at 65 ° C. to 85 ° C. is intermittently sprayed from the mouth of a PET bottle held in an inverted state to wash at least the entire inner wall of the bottle, and then the heat-sterilized acidic beverage is placed in a sterile environment. The bottle is filled at room temperature and sealed. This method is advantageous in that it can replace the sterilization process of the container with the chemical and the cleaning process with sterile water by a simpler heat sterilization process with hot water. The problem that the apparatus for cooling and its control become a major issue has not been solved.
JP 2001-278225 A JP-A-8-309841 Japanese Patent No. 2844983

  The present invention has been considered in view of the above-mentioned problems in the conventional method for producing a container-packed beverage, and does not require the use of chemicals or sterile water for the aseptic filling method, and after the beverage is heat-sterilized to room temperature. The equipment for rapid cooling and its control are simplified to simplify the equipment, and the hot pack method relaxes the conditions related to the resistance to vacuum deformation of the container and the heat sterilization process after filling and sealing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel method for producing a container-packed beverage that can simplify equipment and improve the working environment.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present inventors have conducted intensive research and experiments, and as a result, the beverage as a container content is a green tea, oolong tea or the like having a catechin content of 30 mg% or more in a low-acid beverage having a pH of 4.6 or more. If limited to tea beverages and acidic beverages with a pH of less than 4.6, it is not necessary to sterilize the container with chemicals, do not require rapid cooling to room temperature after heat sterilization of the beverage, and It has been found that the heat sterilization step after filling and sealing can be eliminated, and the present invention has been achieved.

  That is, the first configuration of the method for producing a container-packed beverage that achieves the object of the present invention is to sterilize a tea beverage having a pH of 4.6 or more and a catechin content of 30 mg% or more at 135 ° C. for 7.58 seconds. After heat sterilization with the same or better sterilization value, the temperature is maintained at 60 ° C to 70 ° C, while at least the inner surface of the container is heat sterilized with hot water at 65 ° C to 100 ° C and washed beforehand. The beverage is filled into the sterilized container at a filling temperature of 60 ° C. to 70 ° C. in an environmental management space separated from the outside where the environment is sterilized by heating with hot water of 65 ° C. to 100 ° C. It is characterized by cooling to room temperature.

  In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the beverage is maintained at 65-67 ° C. after heat sterilization and filled into a container.

  In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the environmental management space is a space accommodated in a box.

  According to the present invention, the container is sterilized and washed with hot water, and the beverage is filled into the container at a filling temperature of 60 ° C to 70 ° C, preferably 65 ° C to 67 ° C. The facility can be greatly simplified by eliminating the need to use a device for controlling the rapid cooling to room temperature after heat sterilization of beverages and the control thereof. In addition, for the hot pack method, since the beverage is filled at a significantly lower filling temperature than the conventional hot pack method, the conditions regarding the resistance to vacuum deformation of the container can be relaxed, and the thickness of the container is reduced accordingly. By doing so, the material cost can be reduced. Moreover, since the heat sterilization process after filling and sealing is unnecessary, the equipment can be simplified and the working environment can be improved as compared with the hot pack method.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Beverages to which the present invention is applied include tea beverages such as green tea and oolong tea having a catechin content of 30 mg% or more at pH 4.6 or more, and acidic beverages having a pH of less than 4.6. Examples of the acidic beverage include natural fruit juice, fruit juice beverage, fruit beverage, soft drink with fruit juice, fruit drink with fruit granules, lemon tea, sports drink and the like.

  Containers used in the method of the present invention include polyester bottles such as PET bottles, polyester cups, plastic containers including polyester containers such as trays, glass bottles, metal bottles, food cans, and the like. Especially this invention is suitable for manufacture of the said drink of PET bottle filling at the point which eases the conditions regarding the decompression tolerance of PET bottle, and can achieve the thinning.

  In the production method of the present invention, the beverage to be the contents is sterilized by heating and maintained at a temperature of 60 ° C to 70 ° C, preferably 65 ° C to 67 ° C, while at least the inner surface of the container is heated to 65 ° C to 100 ° C. Water sterilized and washed with water. Filling and sealing device and its surrounding environment were pre-heated and sterilized with hot water at 65 ° C to less than 100 ° C. Fill the sterilized container at ˜70 ° C., preferably 65 ° C. to 67 ° C., and after sealing, cool to room temperature of 40 ° C. or lower.

  If the content is a tea beverage, the tea beverage is sterilized by heating at a sterilization value equivalent to or higher than that at 135 ° C for 7.58 seconds by a known high-temperature, short-time sterilization method (HTST sterilization) using a heat exchanger. It is maintained at a temperature of 60 ° C to 70 ° C, preferably 65 ° C to 67 ° C in the tank unit. When the content is an acidic beverage, the acidic beverage is sterilized by heating at 93 ° C. to 95 ° C. by a high temperature short time sterilization method or the like, and then the temperature in the head tank unit is 60 ° C. to 70 ° C., preferably 65 ° C. to 67 ° C. maintain.

  Hereinafter, the case where these beverages are filled in a PET bottle will be described as a typical example with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In the present specification, the “environmental management space” means a space isolated from the outside where the filling / sealing device and the surrounding environment are preliminarily heat-sterilized and washed with hot water of 65 ° C. to 100 ° C.

  In this embodiment, the sterilization of the bottle transferred from the bottle supply device outside the environment management space to the bottle sterilization / cleaning device inside the environment management space is performed at a temperature of 65 ° C. to 100 ° C. at least on the inner surface of the bottle, preferably the inner and outer surfaces. Perform by heat sterilization with water. The sterilization time is 3 to 10 seconds. According to this method, since the bottle is sterilized with hot water and cleaned after sterilization at the same time, a step of separately cleaning the sterilized bottle is unnecessary.

  Sterilization of the inner and outer surfaces of the bottle with hot water can be performed, for example, by placing the bottle in an inverted state and injecting hot water from a hot water spray nozzle as shown in FIG.

  After the sterilization of the inner and outer surfaces of the bottle is completed, the bottle is transferred to a filler provided in the environmental management space, and the beverage held in the head tank unit is filled into the bottle. In the head tank unit, since the beverage is held at a temperature of 60 ° C. to 70 ° C., preferably 65 ° C. to 67 ° C. as described above, the beverage is filled into the bottle at a selected temperature within this range. Filling temperatures above 70 ° C. are not necessary for the selected type of beverage of the present invention, which is disadvantageous because it is a waste of energy and the requirements for bottle deformation resistance are also severe. Further, if the filling temperature is less than 60 ° C., it is difficult to achieve sufficient sterilization.

  The bottle filled with the beverage is transferred from the filler to a capper provided in the environmental management space, and supplied from a cap supply device arranged outside the environmental management space to a cap sterilization / washing device arranged in the environmental management space. The cap sterilization / cleaning device is completely sealed with a cap sterilized and cleaned under the same conditions as the bottle. Thereafter, the sealed bottle is cooled to a room temperature of 40 ° C. or less by a cooling device such as a simple cooling water shower arranged outside the environmental management space, and is shipped as a product through an inspection / boxing process.

  A specific example of an apparatus for performing bottle inner and outer surface sterilization, beverage filling, and capping (sealing) steps is shown in the schematic diagram of FIG.

  In FIG. 3, a beverage filling device 10 is a filling device for filling a PET bottle with a beverage, and a bottle rinser 11, a filler 12, a capper 13, and a bottle for sterilizing the inner and outer surfaces of the bottle in the order of the PET bottle conveyance direction. A sorting device 14 for sorting in two rows is arranged. The beverage filling device 10 is covered with a cover 15 made of a steel plate, and a box 16 constituting an environment management space is formed by the cover 15.

  The cover 15 has a bottle inlet 15a and a bottle outlet 15b, but the box 16 is substantially sealed.

  The environment management space sterilization apparatus 1 includes a plurality of rotating nozzles 2 and a plurality of fixed nozzles 3 that constitute a means for spraying hot water in the box 16. The rotary nozzle 2 is formed of a spray ball, and is arranged in the upper portion of the box 16 with the spray port facing downward. The fixed nozzle 3 is composed of a full cone nozzle, and is disposed near the floor surface in the lower part of the box 16 with the injection port directed obliquely upward. The rotary nozzle 2 and the fixed nozzle 3 are connected to a hot water supply source 5 through a valve 4 and a heating heater 6 via a pipe 4, respectively, and can be supplied with hot water from the supply source 5.

  When sterilization is performed using this apparatus, the valve 4 is operated to connect the pipe 4 to the hot water supply source 5. Water from the hot water supply source 5 is heated by a heating heater 6, supplied to the rotating nozzle 2 and the fixed nozzle 3 in the box 16 via the pipe 4, and dispersed in the box from these nozzles 2 and 3. Is done. The sprayed hot water is line piping (not shown) for supplying hot water to the outer surface of the equipment such as the bottle rinser 11, the filler 12, the capper 13, and the sorting device 14 in the box 16, the inner wall surface of the box 16 and the bottle rinser 11. Wet this part of the surface to be sterilized and wet it. The sprayed hot water sterilizes this part by wetting most of the surface to be sterilized, and the evaporated water vapor fills the box 16 and comes into contact with the entire surface to be sterilized including the part not wetted by the hot water. This further sterilizes. By continuing the spraying of the hot water for a predetermined time, complete sterilization of the entire surface to be sterilized is achieved. In this case, the entire inner wall surface of the box 16 which is the inner wall surface of the environmental management space is sufficiently sterilized in the same manner as the device surface.

  The sterilization temperature is adjusted so that the surface to be sterilized is 65 ° C. or higher and 100 ° C. or lower, preferably less than 96 ° C. in order to carry out under atmospheric pressure.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

Example 1
Using a 500 ml PET bottle, a green tea beverage (pH 5.9, catechin content 52 mg%) was produced using the production method and apparatus described above. That is, a green tea beverage cooled to 65 ° C. after HTST sterilization at 135 ° C. for 30 seconds is placed in an environmental management space where the box is preliminarily blocked from the outside by a box. Filled and sealed with a filler and capper sterilized and washed under the same conditions as the container. Then, the PET bottle-packed green tea beverage was cooled to room temperature with a simple cooling water shower, and the microbial degradation state of the contents was visually observed after storage at 30 ° C. for 2 weeks. As a result, the state of the green tea beverage was good and no turbidity due to microbial degradation was observed.

Comparative Example 1
A PET bottled beverage was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1 except that mixed tea having a catechin content of 12 mg% was used as the beverage. The beverage after storage at 30 ° C. for 2 weeks had turbidity, indicating that deterioration due to microorganisms had occurred.

Comparative Example 2
A PET bottled beverage was produced under the same conditions as in Example 1 except that barley tea (catechin content was not detectable) was used as the beverage. The beverage after storage at 30 ° C. for 2 weeks had turbidity, indicating that deterioration due to microorganisms had occurred.

Comparative Example 3
The bottles are not sterilized with hot water, only washed with water, the filling equipment is not blocked with a box, the equipment is not sterilized with hot water, and only washed with water. Made a beverage. The beverage after storage at 30 ° C. for 2 weeks had turbidity, indicating that deterioration due to microorganisms had occurred.

  As a result of the above experiments, all of the comparative examples showed deterioration of the product due to microorganisms, and it was revealed that the production methods of the examples were excellent.

2 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a method according to the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows one example of the sterilization method of the bottle by hot water. It is the schematic which shows an example of an environmental management space sterilizer.

Claims (3)

While maintaining a temperature of 60 ° C. to 70 ° C. after sterilizing a tea beverage having a catechin content of 52 mg% or more in a low acid beverage of pH 4.6 or more under heat sterilization conditions of 135 ° C. and 7.58 seconds or more , At least the inner surface of the container is heat sterilized and cleaned with hot water of 65 ° C to 100 ° C, and the environmental management is isolated from the outside where the filling and sealing device and its surrounding environment are preheated and cleaned with hot water of 65 ° C to 100 ° C. A method for producing a container-packed beverage, wherein the beverage is filled in the sterilized container at a filling temperature of 60 ° C to 70 ° C in a space, and cooled to a room temperature of 40 ° C or less after sealing. The method for producing a container-packed beverage according to claim 1, wherein the beverage is maintained at 65 ° C to 67 ° C after heat sterilization and filled into a container. The method for producing a container-packed beverage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the environmental management space is a space accommodated in a box.

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