JPH08256739A - Sterilization of daily household foods - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To sterilizing daily household foods in a shortened time without deterioration of their quality. CONSTITUTION: Daily household foods 1 such as vegetables and meats suitably cut in pieces for biting are separately put in a bottomed tubular vessel 2. These vessels 2 are placed in a pressure chamber 3 and the pressure in the chamber is reduced. Hot steam is introduced into the chamber 3 to heat up the household, foods 1 at elevated temperature under a high pressure. The chamber 3 is vaccuumized to cool the foods 1 under vacuum. Then, the pressure in the chamber 3 is restored to the atmospheric pressure, the vessels 2 are taken out of the chamber 3, the foods 1 are transferred in packaging materials 4 and tightly sealed.

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 prepared foods by using steam at high temperature and high pressure in a short time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various preserved foods have been realized by a method of sterilizing prepared foods with a packaging material such as an aluminum laminate sheet or a resin sheet and sterilizing them under high temperature and high pressure (retort sterilization). Since the retort sterilization involves heating through the packaging material, it is difficult to efficiently transfer the heat to the prepared foods, and the heating time inevitably prolongs. When heated for such a long time, so-called retort odors are attached to the prepared foods, and especially in the case of shrimp, water separation occurs and the quality is deteriorated.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of sterilizing and cooking prepared foods in a short time without degrading the quality of the prepared foods.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, a method for sterilizing prepared foods according to the present invention is to prepare prepared foods such as vegetables and meat cut into a size suitable for food in a cylindrical shape with a bottom. A step of storing in a container, and storing the container in a pressure chamber,
A step of depressurizing the pressure chamber, a step of introducing heating steam into the pressure chamber to heat the prepared food at high temperature and high pressure, and a step of depressurizing the pressure chamber and vacuum cooling the prepared food. After returning the inside of the pressure chamber to atmospheric pressure and taking out the container, the prepared food is transferred into the packaging material and hermetically sealed. When the seasoning liquid is also sealed in the packaging material, the sealed packaging material is held at 120 ° C. for 4 minutes in a retort sterilizer and sterilized so that the F value of the seasoning liquid becomes 4.

[0005]

[Function] Since the pressure chamber is temporarily depressurized and the heated steam is introduced, the steam is spread to every corner of the prepared food, and efficient heating is performed. In addition, since the prepared foods are quickly cooled by vacuum cooling after the heating step, the prepared foods do not remain preheated and the problem of excessive cooking due to preheating does not occur. If the seasoning liquid is also sealed, since the retort sterilization may be performed only for the purpose of sterilizing the seasoning liquid, it is possible to relax the conditions in terms of heating temperature and heating time as compared with the case of sterilizing side dishes as well, It is possible to prevent quality deterioration due to heat.

[0006]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a method for sterilizing and preparing prepared foods 1 step by step. Side dishes such as vegetables and meat 1
First, it is cut into a predetermined size suitable for eating, and then stored in small containers 2 having a cylindrical shape with a bottom. Then, these containers 2 are housed in the pressure chamber 3, and after the pressure chamber 3 is sealed, the internal pressure is degassed and depressurized to at least 30 mmHg ((A) depressurizing step).

Next, heating steam is introduced into the pressure chamber 3 to heat the prepared food 1 at high temperature and high pressure ((B) heating step). The heating conditions at this time are such that the central temperature of the side dish 1 is about 135 ° C. and the heating state is maintained until the F value is about 4.

Next, the inside of the pressure chamber 3 is degassed and decompressed, and the side dish 1 is vacuum cooled ((C) vacuum cooling step). At this time, the degree of pressure reduction is such that the initial pressure is quite high, so even if the pressure is reduced to atmospheric pressure, a considerable pressure reduction cooling effect can be obtained. Therefore, sufficient cooling is possible by reducing the pressure to any pressure within the range of 760 mmHg to 30 mmHg, for example.

Next, clean air is introduced into the pressure chamber 3 to return to atmospheric pressure, the pressure chamber 3 is opened, the container 2 inside is taken out, and the side dish 1 is transferred to the packaging material 4 and sealed ((( D) Transfer sealing step). At this time, the seasoning liquid may be sealed in the packaging material 4 together with the side dish 1. The seasoning liquid is cooked separately for each type of side dish 1.

When the seasoning liquid is added to the side dish 1, the sealed packaging material 4 is sterilized by a retort sterilizer for the purpose of sterilizing the seasoning liquid. The heating condition at this time is, for example, heating at 120 ° C. for 4 minutes, and it is desirable that the F value of the seasoning liquid becomes 4. The higher the heating temperature and the longer the heating time, the more the F value increases. However, it is advisable to set the optimum heating condition according to the type of the prepared food 1 in consideration of the deterioration of quality due to heat. If the seasoning liquid is preliminarily heat-sterilized by a plate heat exchanger or the like and then added to the side dish 1, the heating conditions when the packaging material 4 is sterilized by the retort sterilizer can be relaxed.

The above treatment can be carried out by various sterilizing devices, and a particularly suitable device is the sterilizing device of Japanese Patent Application No. 6-208553. This device accommodates a plurality of cylindrical containers with a bottom in a sealed cylindrical processing tank that can swing like a seesaw, and tilts the processing tanks to the left and right so that the internal containers are self-weighted. Rolling in the longitudinal direction of the processing tank,
The food stored in the container is sterilized by heating and pressurizing with steam while stirring by rolling.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the heating steam is introduced into the chamber in the reduced pressure state, the steam spreads to every corner of the prepared food and is efficiently heated, and the heating time can be shortened. Moreover, since the prepared foods can be quickly cooled by vacuum cooling after the heating step, the prepared foods do not remain preheated and the problem of excessive cooking due to preheating does not occur. If the seasoning liquid is also sealed, since the retort sterilization may be performed only for the purpose of sterilizing the seasoning liquid, it is possible to relax the conditions in terms of heating temperature and heating time as compared with the case of sterilizing side dishes as well, It is possible to prevent quality deterioration due to heat.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of steps showing the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 side dish 2 container 3 pressure chamber 4 packaging material

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display area A23L 3/16 A23L 3/16 B65B 55/14 B65B 55/14

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A step of accommodating prepared foods such as vegetables and meat cut into a size suitable for food in a bottomed cylindrical container, accommodating the container in a pressure chamber, and Depressurizing step, introducing heating steam into the pressure chamber to heat the prepared food at high temperature and high pressure, depressurizing the pressure chamber to vacuum-cool the prepared food, atmospheric pressure inside the pressure chamber A method for short-time sterilization of prepared foods, which comprises a step of transferring the prepared foods to a packaging material, and then sealing after transferring the prepared foods to the packaging material. 2. When the said prepared foods are transferred into the packaging material and sealed, the seasoning liquid cooked for each kind of prepared foods is sealed together with the prepared foods, and the sealed packaging material is treated with a retort sterilizer 120.
The method for short-time sterilization and production of prepared foods according to claim 1, wherein the seasoning liquid is kept at 4 ° C for 4 minutes and sterilized so that the F value of the seasoning liquid becomes 4.