JPH078237A - Equipment for disinfection and cooling of food in food production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a rapid disinfection and cooling of foods by spraying ozone containing water on and by drying with sterile air of the foods moving through a semi-open treatment vessel which has a feeding port and an outlet port of the foods. CONSTITUTION:Foods are moved on a conveyer 4 in a semi-open treatment vessel 1 which has a feeding port 2 and an outlet port 3 of the foods 5. Ozone containing water is sprayed on the foods from a spray nozzle 6 and sterile air is blown to the foods from an air blowing port 8 for drying. The ozone containing water retained in the vessel is discharged from a draining hole 7, and gas in the vessel is sucked by a sucking blower 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sterilizing and cooling device for food products such as processed fish meat products such as kamaboko and chikuwa, and food products such as ham and sausage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Processed fish meat products such as kamaboko and chikuwa and food products such as ham and sausage are usually manufactured through the following product steps and shipped as products. That is,
After processing and shaping the raw meat by adding seasonings etc., heat it to a temperature of about 60 ° C to sterilize various bacteria adhering to the inside and surface of the food by heating, and then cool to about 20 ° C , Package foods in specified form in fixed quantity.

Conventionally, this cooling step is performed by natural cooling or water cooling in a controlled clean room. However, in this cooling system, bacteria that are floating in the air in the working chamber often adhere to the surface of the food during the process of draining after cooling or after water cooling and drying. For this reason, the number of days to guarantee the quality of the packaged product is at most about 20 days, and if more than that, the quality will deteriorate, and it is strongly desired to solve this problem. By the way.

As a measure against the above problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 183434/1993 discloses a method of aseptic cleaning in which ozone water is sprayed onto a food carried in a hermetically sealed processing container to cool and sterilize it, and then ozone is sterilized in the processing container. It describes a method and apparatus for feeding air to drain and dry food. However, according to this method, since foods must be put in a closed type processing container, a large-sized closed type processing container is required to continuously process a large amount of products. Also, if the drying takes a long time, it is possible to reduce the concentration of ozone gas released from the ozone water and avoid the ozonized air from flowing out to the surroundings as it is, but in the case of performing the drying in a short time to improve the efficiency. There is a risk that a worker may draw in residual ozone gas when taking out the product.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to continuously sterilize, cool and dry food, and at the same time, the worker comes into contact with ozone gas when inserting or removing the product. An object of the present invention is to provide a highly productive food sterilization / cooling device capable of simultaneously performing efficient food cooling / sterilization without risk and in a short time.

[0006]

That is, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention continuously or semi-continuously stores food in a semi-open type processing container having a food inlet and a food outlet. Means for moving, ozone water spraying means for spraying ozone water toward the food, means for spraying aseptic air to the food sprayed with ozone water, drainage means for discharging the ozone water staying in the container to the outside of the system, processing container A sterilization / cooling device for food in food production, which is provided with a suction means for sucking the gas inside.

The present invention will be further described below. According to the present invention, in a food sterilization / cooling device, a moving device for continuously or semi-continuously moving a food to be processed is installed in a semi-open type processing container 1 having an inlet and an outlet for the food. Has been done.

Here, the semi-open type processing container is not completely sealed in order to insert or take out the food to be processed, but the ozone water is sprayed or the water is sprayed thereafter. Any structure may be used as long as it can prevent scattering and effectively suck and collect gas in the processing container to prevent ozone from diffusing into the working environment.

The continuous or semi-continuous moving device is not limited to a device that moves at a constant speed, and is intended to include a device that moves intermittently.
The moving means is preferably one that rotates in an endless track type, but the material may be metal, rubber, plastic, or the like, as long as it is clean and can withstand continuous use and is resistant to ozone and water. Further, a method of placing the food to be treated on it or a method of hanging it can be arbitrarily selected. Further, the rotation direction of the moving device may be not only the vertical direction but also a plane parallel to the ground.

Foods such as kamaboko, chikuwa, ham, sausage, etc. are inserted in a predetermined quantity from the insertion opening of the processing container,
While being placed on the moving device and automatically carried to the outlet, it is cooled by uniformly showering with the shower of ozone water made by the ozone water manufacturing device, and at the same time, it is sterilized by ozone. The bacteria adhered to the surface of food are sterilized. Ozone water having an ozone concentration of 4 mg / l or more is preferably used, but in order to inactivate spores of Bacillus subtilis,
A concentration of ~ 30 mg / l is preferred. The temperature of ozone water is preferably 5 to 40 ° C, more preferably 5 to 20 ° C.
Is. The spraying means is not particularly limited as long as it is a system in which ozone water is uniformly sprayed on the food and a cooling / sterilizing effect can be obtained. It is also advantageous to spray not only from one direction but also from above and below or from left and right.

Here, the ozone water sprayed on the food is discharged to the bottom of the processing container and then discharged and temporarily stored in the waste ozone water reservoir. When it falls, it is sent to wastewater treatment equipment outside the system for wastewater treatment. Ozone water can be produced by dissolving ozone generated by a discharge type ozonizer or an electrolytic type ozonizer in water.

After spraying ozone water on the food, clean air that has been sterilized in advance is sprayed on the food to drain and dry the food. The sterilization and cleaning of air can be performed by any method as long as it does not adversely affect food, but from the convenience of the entire device, it is preferable to use air filtered with a high-performance filter after sterilizing with ozone water. Good. As a high-performance filter, for example, a filter for disinfection or the like is known. The food that has been cooled and sterilized by spraying ozone water and spraying sterile air is taken out from the food outlet and appropriately packaged.

Furthermore, in this apparatus, it is necessary to suck the air in the apparatus with a suction blower so that the inside of the apparatus has a negative pressure in order to prevent the ozone vaporized from the ozone water from diffusing to the outside of the processing apparatus. The suction blower may be installed at any position, but it is preferably installed at a position where ozone can be effectively sucked in the processing container. The air sucked from the container is cleaned, then sterilized, the fog droplets are removed, and the ozone killer prevents ozone from remaining.If necessary, it is filtered with a high-performance filter and then reused as clean air. It is preferably sprayed onto the food in the device.

[0014]

In the apparatus for sterilizing and cooling foods in the production of foods according to the present invention, the processed foods, which have been heated to sterilize adhering bacteria, are inserted into the apparatus of the present invention immediately or while being cooled. It is cooled by spraying ozone water during continuous movement, then dried by spraying sterilized clean air, and packaged immediately after being taken out, so that aseptic state, efficient cooling and packaging are possible. . Further, since the device is a semi-open type and ozone in the device does not diffuse to the outside, a worker can safely proceed with work without inhaling ozone gas, and work efficiency is improved.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A sterilization / cooling device according to the present invention will be described below based on embodiments with reference to FIG. The main body of the cooling / sterilizing apparatus of the present embodiment is a food moving device (4) made of wire mesh metal and rotatable like a belt conveyor, and a rectangular box-shaped semi-open type processing container arranged so as to surround it. (1), which is provided with food inlets (2) and outlets (3) installed at the front and rear of the processing container, an ozone water spray nozzle (6), an ozone water drain (7), A sterile air blower port (8) and a suction blower (9) are attached.

The food (5) that has been heat-sterilized in the previous step of the food manufacturing process is inserted into the semi-open type processing container (1) through the insertion port (2) for inserting the food (5) into the processing device (4). ) Is placed on. The transfer device (4) is previously equipped with an ozone water spray nozzle (10) for sterilizing the transfer device.
It is sterilized by spraying ozone water from it. The food (5) placed on the moving device (4) is evenly contacted with the shower of ozone water sprayed from the cooling ozone water spray nozzle (6), and is cooled at the same time by the ozone sterilizing action. The bacteria adhered to the surface are sterilized. After that, the food (5) is processed by the high-performance filter (11).
After being exposed to the clean air blown from the air blowing port (8) through the glass, dried and taken out from the food taking-out port (3), it is introduced into the packaging process.

The food outlet (3) does not necessarily have to be located above the processing container (1), but may be located below. The used waste ozone water sprayed on the food (5) flows down to the bottom of the processing container (1), passes through the waste ozone water discharge port (7) and is discharged to the outside waste ozone water reservoir (13). It is temporarily stored, where it undergoes self-decomposition or aeration treatment, and when the concentration of ozone water decreases, it is guided to a waste ozone water treatment device for purification treatment.

On the other hand, the ozone gas discharged from the used ozone water sprayed on the food (5) from the cooling ozone water spray nozzle (6) is prevented from leaking from the food insertion port (2) to the outside by a suction blower. It is sucked by (9), passes through the conduit, is guided from the washing air introduction pipe (12) to the washing tower (13), and the ozone water producing device (1
It is sterilized by the spray water of ozone water produced in 4).
The sterilized ozone water passes through the eliminator and is dehumidified by the decycling cyclone (15), and then the ozone killer (1
6) to remove residual ozone gas, and then to the blower (18) through the conduit (17) to further remove fine particles by the high-performance filter (11), and then to the food (5) as clean air. It is sprayed, drained and dried.
The food is dried by the above-mentioned clean air, and then conveyed from the take-out port (3) to the packaging process. Therefore, the food is continuously cooled, sterilized, and dried, and the worker can safely proceed without inhaling ozone gas, and the work efficiency is improved.

[0019]

As described above, according to the food sterilization / cooling device of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Food can be continuously sterilized, cooled, and dried. (2) There is no need for a large processing container for continuously processing a large amount of products. (3) There is no danger of workers coming into contact with ozone gas when inserting or removing products. (4) To provide a sterilizer / cooler for foods that can be dried in a short time and has high productivity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a food sterilization / cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Processing Container 2 Food Insertion Port 3 Food Removal Port 4 Moving Device 5 Food 6 Ozone Water Spray Nozzle 7 Waste Ozone Water Discharge Port 8 Air Blowing Port 9 Suction Blower 11 High Performance Filter 14 Ozone Water Manufacturing Device 16 Ozone Killer 18 Blower

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takehito Otani 1-3, Takanodai, Yotsukaido, Chiba Prefecture Japan Steel Works (72) Inventor Akio Ono 1-3, Takanodai, Yotsukaido, Chiba Japan Steel In-house

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A means (4) for moving food continuously or semi-continuously into a semi-open type processing container (1) having an inlet (2) and an outlet (3) for the food (5). An ozone water spraying means (6) for spraying ozone water toward the food, a means (8) for spraying aseptic air to the food sprayed with the ozone water, and a drainage means for discharging the ozone water staying in the container to the outside of the system. (7) A sterilizing / cooling device for food in food production, comprising: a suction means (9) for sucking gas in the processing container.