JPH07291236A - Method of sterilizing food container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To completely sterilize all microbes proliferated in the food charged in a container without use of much germicide, by combining a hot water- sterilizing process in which hot water higher than a specified temperature is forced to contact the inside face of food containers with a germicide-sterilizing process in which a specified germicide is forced to contact the inside face of food containers. CONSTITUTION:The temperature of hot water shall be higher than 63 deg.C in the respect of sterilization effect when sterilizing. Germicides to be applied are selected from hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, mixture of hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid, sodium hypochlorite. The sterilization process of bottles is constituted of a bottle transfer device 1 composed of belt conveyors or the like, a hot water sterilizing zone 2 of bottles, a chemicals-sterilizing zone 3 of bottles provided with an enclosed space and nozzles for supplying a germicide, a rinsing zone 4 provided with nozzles spraying germless water, and a charging and sealing zone 5. In this way, bacteria which are sterilized by hot water on the inside face of bottles and bacteria which are not sterilized by hot water are sterilized together.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for sterilizing a container (hereinafter, simply referred to as "container") filled with various foods and drinks such as drinking water, juice, oolong tea and milk coffee. More specifically, it relates to a method for sterilizing a food container capable of sufficiently sterilizing all microorganisms that can grow in the food without using a large amount of a sterilizing agent.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of washing and sterilizing a plastic container filled with a food container, for example, soft drink, hot water or hot water (hereinafter, simply referred to as "hot water") on at least the inner surface of the plastic bottle. There is known a method of spraying sterilization or a method of sterilizing by contacting a chemical such as hydrogen peroxide solution.

However, not all fungal species can be sterilized by only warm water, and spore-forming bacteria that form spores of the genus Bacillus and fungi such as fungi having ascospores of the genus Neosartorya are washed with warm water. There is a problem that it cannot be sterilized by itself. Moreover, in order to perform sufficient washing and sterilization with warm water, some bacteria inevitably require a long washing time, so that the heat resistance of the container material is required accordingly. However, it cannot be said that it is necessarily a sufficient method for cleaning and sterilizing all bacterial species.

Among the same molds, Penicillium
Even though there are molds that can be sterilized with warm water and sterilized with chemicals like the genus, among the same molds, Chatom
There are bacterial species such as ium that can be sterilized with warm water but cannot be sterilized with the above-mentioned drugs. Further, even if a certain drug can exert an effective bactericidal activity against a specific type of microorganism, in order to sterilize the specific type of microorganism sufficiently, the concentration of the drug or the action of the drug is increased. You need to lengthen the time. Therefore, in such a case, after sterilizing the container, post-treatment such as washing the container with a large amount of aseptic water is required, resulting in high cost and a long treatment time of the container including sterilization and post-treatment. Problems such as occur.
From the above circumstances, it is not efficient to sterilize all the microorganisms that can grow in the food filled in the container, whether by hot water sterilization or chemical sterilization.

[0005]

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to sterilize fungi which can be sterilized only with warm water without using a large amount of sterilizing chemicals in advance, by sterilizing with warm water and then sterilizing the chemicals. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for sterilizing a food container, which is capable of completely sterilizing all microorganisms that can grow in the food filled in the container. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for sterilizing a food container, which can efficiently treat the food container including sterilization of the food container and subsequent washing of the container.

[0006]

The present invention has been proposed to achieve the above object, and is characterized by having the following constitution. That is, according to the present invention, a warm water sterilization step of bringing hot water at 63 ° C. or higher into contact with at least the inner surface of a food container, hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, a mixture of the peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, and sodium hypochlorite. There is provided a method for sterilizing a food container, which is characterized by combining a sterilizing drug selected from the group consisting of a sterilizing process of bringing the sterilizing drug into contact with at least the inner surface of the food container. Further, according to the present invention, after performing a warm water sterilization step, the chemical sterilization step is performed, and a sterilization method of a food container characterized by rinsing at least an inner surface of the food container after the chemical sterilization with sterile water. Provided. Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for sterilizing a food container, which comprises pre-cleaning at least the inner surface of the food container with warm water, performing the chemical sterilization step, and then performing a hot water sterilization step. .

[0007]

According to the food container sterilizing method of the present invention, the food container is sterilized by combining the warm water sterilization step and the specific chemical agent sterilization step. Therefore, sterilization with warm water (63 ° C. or higher) and sterilization with chemicals act to supplement the sterilizing power of the other, and all microorganisms that can grow in the food filled in the food container are extremely efficient. To be sterilized. Further, in the method for sterilizing a food container according to the present invention, first, hot water at 63 ° C. or higher contacts at least the inner surface of the food container, and although it cannot be sterilized by a drug, a bacterium that can be sterilized by hot water, for example, Fungi, such as genus Chatomium, yeast, and bacteria such as adherent bacteria in containers are sterilized to a sufficient level.

Next, the bactericidal agent contacts at least the inner surface of the container and is not sterilized by the hot water sterilization,
For example, spore-forming bacteria such as Bacillus and fungi with ascospores such as Neosartorya are killed to a sufficient level. After this chemical sterilization, aseptic water comes into contact with at least the inner surface of the food container, whereby the chemical adhering to the container after the chemical sterilization step is removed from the container. In the invention according to claim 2, prior to the chemical sterilization, warm water preliminarily sterilizes bacteria that cannot be efficiently sterilized depending on the chemical, and the amount of the chemical used can be suppressed. Therefore, the drug can be easily and sufficiently removed from the container efficiently.

That is, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the apparatus is simple and the method is simple, economically inexpensive bacterial species that can be sterilized by warm water are sterilized, and bacteria that cannot be sterilized by hot water are treated as a medicine. Sterilization to a sufficient level, and the sterilization power of one sterilization method is supplemented by the sterilization power of the other sterilization method. Compared with the conventional method, which has to be applied, it is extremely efficient in terms of time and cost and an excellent bactericidal effect can be obtained.

That is, in the method for sterilizing a food container according to the second aspect of the present invention, after sterilizing and washing with warm water, only the species of bacteria that are not sterilized are sterilized by the drug. It is only necessary to consider the sterilization of bacteria that can be sterilized, and the concentration of the drug and the time it takes for the drug to act on the microorganism can be kept as low as possible, which allows the drug to remain in the container immediately after sterilization. The amount is also kept low so that after sterilizing the drug the product can be reliably removed from the container by rinsing the container with sterile water. Further, as described above, since the amount of chemicals used can be kept low, the safety of the worker during sterilization is also improved.

Further, in the method for sterilizing a food container according to the third aspect of the present invention, at least the inner surface of the food container is pre-washed with warm water prior to the chemical sterilization. Next, a chemical sterilization step is performed, and after the chemical sterilization step, a hot water sterilization step with hot water of 63 ° C. or higher is performed. In this method, since the warm water sterilization step is performed after the chemical sterilization, the hot water sterilization step serves as both sterilization and rinse of the chemicals used in the chemical sterilization step and remaining in the food container. Therefore, the processing time including sterilization and subsequent rinsing can be shortened. Since the hot water sterilization step is performed after the chemical sterilization step in the invention of claim 3, the hot water used for the preliminary cleaning does not need to exhibit a sterilization function, and the hot water 20 to 5
The temperature may be 0 ° C., and it is not always necessary to use sterile hot water.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, bacterial species that can be sterilized by warm water are sterilized by warm water that can be sterilized by a simple method at a low equipment cost, and bacterial species that cannot be sterilized by only warm water are sterilized by a drug. It is characterized by a combination of sterilization methods. By this method, the weaknesses of the sterilization methods are complemented with each other, and excellent sterilization is achieved both economically and in terms of time.

The bactericidal agent used in the present invention is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, a mixture of the peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, and sodium hypochlorite.
Among them, a mixture of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide is preferable in terms of stability of sterilization, cost, simplicity and the like. The mixture of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, Henkel Hakusui Co. Okusonia (P ₃ -oxonia akfiv trade name) can be preferably used, the mixing ratio of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, by weight, peracetic acid 1 On the other hand, it is preferable to mix hydrogen peroxide to 1 to 4 from the viewpoint of stability of the drug, and it is preferable to use at a peracetic acid concentration of 0.13% or more from the viewpoint of sterilization stability. preferable. In addition, the temperature of the hot water for sterilization needs to be 63 ° C or higher in terms of the sterilizing effect, but if the temperature of the hot water is increased, a bottle material with excellent heat resistance must be used. However, the cost is disadvantageous. Therefore, in the present invention, it is more preferable to set the temperature range of 63 to 66 ° C. from the viewpoint of suppressing the cost of the bottle material.

As a food container to be sterilized and washed according to the present invention, a plastic bottle made of polyethylene terephthalate, which is abbreviated as a PET bottle, a polyolefin bottle, or the like, various plastic containers for filling food, or a glass container are used. A container etc. are mentioned.

The container sterilization method according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. As a germicide,
An example using oxonia is shown. FIG. 1 is a conceptual view showing an example of steps for carrying out the method for sterilizing a bottle as a container according to the present invention, in which 1 is a bottle transporting device configured by a belt conveyor or the like, 2 is a bottle hot water sterilization area, Three
Is a closed space and a bottle medicine sterilization area in which an oxonia supply nozzle is arranged, 4 is a rinse area in which a nozzle for ejecting aseptic water is arranged, and 5 is a filling / sealing area.

In the bottle warm water sterilization area 2, a nozzle is provided so as to be able to advance and retract into the content filling port of the bottle, and hot water is jetted from this nozzle. The bottle before sterilization is transferred to the bottle hot water sterilization area 2 in an inverted state (the content filling port is located below) by the bottle transfer device 1 after the entire outer surface is sterilized by hot water of 63 ° C. or higher. It Bottle warm water sterilization area 2
Then, the nozzle moves to enter the content filling port of the bottle, and in this state, hot water of 63 ° C. or higher is jetted to the inner surface of the bottle. As a result, the bacterial species that are sterilized by the hot water on the inner surface of the bottle are sterilized, and only the bacterial species that are not sterilized by the hot water remain.

The bottle sterilized in the bottle warm water sterilization area 2 is inverted by the bottle inverting means (not shown) to be in an upright state, and is conveyed to the bottle medicine sterilization area 3 by the bottle conveying device 1. In the bottle chemical sterilization area 3, oxonia is injected from the oxonia supply nozzle until the inside of the bottle is full (full injection method), and the oxonia contacts the entire inner surface of the bottle. As a result, the warm water sterilizes bacteria that are not sterilized, and sterilizes all microorganisms that can grow in the food filled in the bottle. Before sterilization with Oxonia, bacteria that are difficult to sterilize with Oxonia are sterilized, so the concentration of Oxonia is kept low. In the above, sterilization by Oxonia is performed by a full injection method,
Oxonia may be stored in a tank and the bottle may be immersed in the oxonia, or oxonia may be sprayed on the inner surface of the bottle. Further, in the above method, sterilization with oxonia is performed only on the inner surface of the bottle, but it is needless to say that sterilization with oxonia may also be performed on the outer surface of the bottle in order to ensure the sterilization.

The bottle that has been sterilized by the medicine in the bottle medicine sterilization area 3 is inverted by a bottle inverting means (not shown) to be in an inverted state, and the oxonia inside the bottle is discharged to the outside of the bottle, and at the same time, by the carrier device 1. , Is transported to the rinse area 4. In this rinse area 4, from the nozzle,
Aseptic water at room temperature or aseptic hot water is sprayed onto at least the inner surface of the bottle, whereby the oxonia attached to the bottle is removed from the bottle surface. Since the concentration of oxonia to be used is low as described above, oxonia attached to the bottle sent to the rinse area 4 is naturally low in concentration and can be removed by a small amount of sterile water or a small amount of sterile warm water. Oxonia can be easily and surely removed.

The bottle after rinsing is inverted by a bottle inverting means (not shown) to be in an upright state, and while being blown with aseptic air, it is filled and sealed by a bottle conveying device 1 as a filling / sealing area 5. Sent to. The inside of the filling / sealing area 5 is kept aseptic below the level of class 100, and bottles are filled with food and drink such as milk coffee by a filling device known per se.

The bottle filled with the contents is capped by the capper in the filling / sealing area 5, and then the product inspection is performed in the product inspection area (not shown), and the whole process is completed. To do. In the bottle sterilizing method according to the present invention, as described above, from the beginning, also in terms of equipment, without performing sterilization only with a chemical such as oxonia that is expensive in terms of price,
A simple and economical fungal species that can be sterilized only with warm water is sterilized with warm water in advance, and in order to sterilize only the fungal species that is not sterilized with hot water with the above-mentioned drug, the amount of the drug used during sterilization with the drug or The concentration can be suppressed, the drug can be prevented from remaining in the container, and the cost can be reduced.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the bottle hot water sterilization area 2 is arranged before the bottle medicine sterilization area 3.
Prior to chemical sterilization, warm water sterilization is performed, but bottle warm water sterilization area 2 is arranged after bottle chemical sterilization area 3
Hot water sterilization may be performed after chemical sterilization. In this case as well, as in the case where the chemical sterilization is performed first, one of the hot water sterilization and the chemical sterilization has a relationship of complementing the sterilizing power of the other, so that the concentration of the chemical can be suppressed low. In addition to this, when performing hot water sterilization after chemical sterilization, warm water sterilization and rinsing of the chemicals remaining in the food container used in the chemical sterilization step are performed at the same time, so sterilization and subsequent rinsing are performed. The processing time of the included bottle can be shortened.

Further, in the above-mentioned constitution in which the bottle warm water sterilization area 2 is disposed after the bottle chemical sterilization area 3 and the hot water sterilization is performed after the chemical sterilization, a pre-washing area is provided in front of the bottle chemical sterilization area 3. In the preliminary cleaning area, warm water may be jetted onto at least the inner surface of the bottle to perform the preliminary cleaning. By performing the preliminary cleaning in this way, there is an advantage that the stain of the germicide can be reduced.

[0023]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for sterilizing a food container which can completely sterilize all microorganisms that can grow in the food filled in the container without using a large amount of a sterilizing agent. it can. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method for sterilizing a food container, which can efficiently perform the processing of the food container including the sterilization of the food container and the subsequent washing of the container.

[0024]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to examples. < Example 1 > Molds: Aspergillus genus, Penicillium genus, Byssocha
mys genus, Neosartorya genus, and Chatomium genus Yeasts: Saccharomyces genus, and Candida genus Bacteria: Bacillus genus All of each of the above-listed test strains are 10 ⁵ to 10 ⁶ cfu / bottle Thus, the test bottle was attached to the inner surface of the bottle. As the test bottle, a bottle made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) having an inner volume of 1500 ml was used. The inner surface of the test bottle was first sterilized with warm water, and then sterilized with a chemical agent, and the sterilizing effect is shown in Table 1. The conditions of warm water sterilization and chemical sterilization were as follows. (1) hot water sterilization conditions hot water sterilization method; flow rate of 63 ° C. hot water; temperature of the spray system hot blowing hot water on the inner surface of the test bottle 200ml / sec sterilizing time; 4 seconds hot water sterilization times; twice (2) drug Sterilization conditions Sterilization method: Full injection method of drug into test bottle Type of drug: Oxonia drug concentration: 3% Drug temperature: 40 ° C Sterilization time: 3 minutes

< Example 2 > 8 in place of warm water sterilization at 63 ° C
The test bottles were sterilized in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the sterilization effect was shown in Table 2 except that the sterilization was performed at 0 ° C.

< Embodiment 3 > The sterilization with warm water was changed to 63 ° C. and 9
The test bottles were sterilized in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the sterilization effect was shown in Table 3.

Example 4 A test bottle was sterilized in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the sterilization conditions were as follows, and the sterilization effect is shown in Table 3. Sterilization method; Full injection method Type of drug: Sodium hypochlorite Drug concentration: 100ppm Drug temperature; 50 ° C Sterilization time: 3 minutes

Comparative Example 1 Only the hot water sterilization was performed under the same conditions as in Example 1 without chemical sterilization, and the sterilization effect is shown in Table 1.

Comparative Example 2 Only the chemical sterilization was performed under the same conditions as in Example 1 without sterilizing with warm water, and the sterilizing effect is shown in Table 1.

Comparative Example 3 Example 1 was repeated except that the hot water temperature was changed from 63 ° C. to 40 ° C. without chemical sterilization.
As in the above, only warm water sterilization was performed, and the sterilizing effect is shown in Table 1.

Comparative Example 4 Hot water sterilization and chemical sterilization were performed in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the temperature of hot water used for hot water sterilization was changed to 63 ° C. to 40 ° C., and the sterilization effect is shown in Table 1. Indicated.

Comparative Example 5 Only the hot water sterilization was performed under the same conditions as in Example 2 without performing chemical sterilization, and the sterilization effect is shown in Table 2.

< Comparative Example 6 > Only hot water sterilization was performed under the same conditions as in Example 3 without performing chemical sterilization, and the sterilization effect is shown in Table 3.

< Comparative Example 7 > Only hot water sterilization was performed under the same conditions as in Example 4 without performing chemical sterilization, and the sterilization effect is shown in Table 4.

< Comparative Example 8 > Without chemical sterilization with warm water, only chemical sterilization was performed under the same conditions as in Example 4, and the sterilizing effect is shown in Table 4.

[0036] In Table 1, ◎ be adhesion bacteria test bottle not detected at all, ○ is from 10 ⁰ per bottle test 1
0 ¹ cfu adhering bacteria were detected, △ indicates that 10 ¹ to 10 ³ cfu adhering bacteria were detected per test bottle, and × indicates that 10 ³ to 10 ⁵ cfu or more adhering bacteria were detected. ing.

[0037] In Table 2 above, as in Table 1, ⊚ indicates that no adherent bacteria were detected in the test bottles, and ∘ indicates 1 per test bottle.
0 ⁰ to 10 ¹ cfu be adhered bacteria is detected, △ be ¹ to 10 per bottle test is 10 ³ cfu adhered bacteria were detected, × 10 ³ to 10 ⁵ cfu or more attached bacteria were detected It is shown that.

[0038] In Table 3 above, as in Table 1, ⊚ indicates that no adherent bacteria were detected in the test bottles, and ∘ indicates 1 per test bottle.
0 ⁰ to 10 ¹ cfu be adhered bacteria is detected, △ be ¹ to 10 per bottle test is 10 ³ cfu adhered bacteria were detected, × 10 ³ to 10 ⁵ cfu or more attached bacteria were detected It is shown that.

[0039] In Table 4 above, as in Table 1, ⊚ indicates that no adherent bacteria were detected in the test bottles, and ∘ indicates 1 per test bottle.
0 ⁰ to 10 ¹ cfu be adhered bacteria is detected, △ be ¹ to 10 per bottle test is 10 ³ cfu adhered bacteria were detected, × 10 ³ to 10 ⁵ cfu or more attached bacteria were detected It is shown that. In Examples 1 to 4 shown in Tables 1 to 4, the chemical sterilization is performed after the hot water sterilization, but even if the hot water sterilization is performed after the chemical sterilization, the adherent bacteria are completely detected in the test bottle. There wasn't.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing steps of a container sterilization method according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Bottle warm water sterilization area 3 Bottle chemical sterilization area 4 Rinsing area 5 Filling / sealing area

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A group consisting of hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, a mixture of the peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide, and sodium hypochlorite; a warm water sterilization step of bringing hot water at 63 ° C. or higher into contact with at least the inner surface of a food container. A method for sterilizing a food container, which is characterized by combining a sterilizing process of bringing a sterilizing drug selected from the above into contact with at least the inner surface of the food container. 2. The method of sterilizing a food container according to claim 1, wherein the chemical sterilization step is performed after the hot water sterilization step, and at least the inner surface of the food container after the chemical sterilization is rinsed with sterile water. 3. The method for sterilizing a food container according to claim 1, wherein at least the inner surface of the food container is pre-washed with warm water, the chemical sterilization step is performed, and then the hot water sterilization step is performed.