JPH09272516A - Manufacture of hot-filled drink to be packed in container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sufficiently deaerate drink to be processed in high-temperature short-time sterilization for manufacturing without losing color and flavor at the time of mixing the drink by preheating the drink to the vicinity of its boiling point, then deaerating under a normal pressure, and further sufficiently sterilizing it at a high temperature with pressure applied thereafter. SOLUTION: When drink to be processed is rapidly heated to the vicinity of its boiling point by a preheating means 32 under an approximately normal pressure, dissolved oxygen appears as bubbles. When it reaches a temporary reservoir 34 of a deaerating means, oxygen in the drink is discharged into a head space for removing head space gas, thereby discharging the oxygen in the drink from the temporary reservoir 34. The deoxidized drink is supplied by a pressure-feeding means 36 with pressure applied and sterilized in a short time at a high temperature of 100 deg.C or higher with pressure applied by a sterilizing means 38. The sterilizing means 38 for sterilizing at a high temperature with pressure applied heats the deaerated drink, thereby improving heating efficiency.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for producing a hot-filled beverage packed in a container, and more particularly to improvement of a deaeration mechanism in a high temperature short time sterilization process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Beverages such as canned and bottled products must be sterilized in order to avoid spoilage during storage.
For this sterilization treatment, non-heat sterilization using a filter may be adopted in a very special case, but usually heat sterilization is performed. As the heat sterilization method for beverages, a retort sterilization method in which beverages are filled into cans, bottles, etc., sealed and then heated, a hot filling method in which beverages are filled into cans in a high temperature state and immediately sealed in a high temperature state, and filling Before that, there is a high-temperature short-time sterilization method in which a beverage is maintained at, for example, one hundred and several tens of degrees Celsius for a short time (about several tens of seconds) and sterilized.

Since the retort sterilization method is sterilized in a canned state, even if some bacterial contamination occurs during filling, it is killed during retort sterilization, so that there is an advantage that process control before and after filling is easy. . However, it is extremely difficult to rapidly cool a hot beverage in a container having a relatively large capacity such as canned and bottled after sterilization is completed, and the beverage is maintained at a high temperature for a relatively long time (tens of minutes), There are drawbacks such as changes in taste and aroma.

On the other hand, in the high-temperature short-time sterilization method and the hot filling method, the beverage is passed through a thin tube heat exchanger, a plate heat exchanger, etc., heated to a high temperature in a short time, filled / sealed in a container, and filled / filled. By eliminating the retort sterilization after sealing, it has the advantage that a canned beverage with a good taste and aroma can be obtained, and it has attracted attention as a recent sterilization method for beverage canning. In particular, tea beverages such as oolong tea, black tea, and green tea contain catechins that are antibacterial substances, so in recent years, hot refilling at 90-95 ° C. is performed without sterilization by retort after hot sterilization. The method is taken. Further, as for the fruit drink, which has been conventionally sterilized under relatively mild conditions due to its high acidity, bacteria having high temperature resistance have been discovered as a result of importing raw materials from abroad. Also in this case, hot filling at 90 to 95 ° C. is performed after high temperature short time sterilization.

[0005]

On the other hand, the deterioration of the beverage is largely dependent not only on the heating time but also on the dissolved oxygen concentration. For example, a packaged tea beverage changes its color with time due to dissolved oxygen. There is a strong demand for reduction of dissolved oxygen with sterilization time. In general, the amount of dissolved oxygen decreases as the temperature of the solution rises, so in the hot filling method, it can be degassed by staying in a high temperature tank before filling the beverage, but the high temperature short time sterilization method In this case, since high-temperature treatment is performed under pressure, deaeration is not performed during sterilization, and oxidative modification of pigments, aroma components, etc. due to dissolved oxygen is a serious problem.

Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-317586
Although the raw water is degassed as shown in No. 6, the oxygen may melt again when the beverage is prepared. However, a prepared beverage has not been deaerated, and particularly in a beverage such as a tea beverage, which is susceptible to discoloration due to oxidation, a dissolved oxygen content of about 2 ppm or less is required to maintain quality. However, it has been impossible to achieve this demand by the conventional general vacuum degassing method. Further, even in fruit drinks, the inherent flavors and pigments thereof are easily deteriorated by oxidation, so sterilization in a short time under low oxygen concentration is desired. The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a method and an apparatus for producing a packaged hot-filled beverage in a container having high degassing efficiency in a high-temperature short-time sterilization method.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a method for producing a packaged hot-filled beverage according to the present invention comprises:
A feeding means for feeding the beverage to be treated under substantially normal pressure, a preheating step for rapidly heating the beverage to be fed by the feeding means to a temperature near its boiling point by heat exchange in a narrow path, and an upper portion In the temporary storage tank having a head space, the beverage to be treated preheated in the preheating step is held under normal pressure for a short time, and a deaeration step of removing the headspace gas, and a deaeration step deaerated in the deaeration step The pressure-feeding step of pressure-feeding the treated beverage, and the beverage to be treated pressure-fed by the pressure-feeding step are performed by heat exchange in a narrow path.
A sterilization step of sterilizing at a high temperature of 0 ° C or higher and under pressure for a short time, and the treated beverage after sterilization is immediately heated to 95 ° C to 90 ° C.
A cooling step of rapidly cooling to a hot filling temperature of ℃, the beverage to be treated cooled to the hot filling temperature, at least the inner surface side is filled in a washed container, while substantially interrupting the contact with oxygen And a filling step of sealing.

Further, the apparatus according to the present invention rapidly feeds the beverage to be treated under a substantially normal pressure and the beverage to be treated fed by the feeder to a temperature near its boiling point. A heat exchanger, a temporary storage tank capable of storing a heated beverage to be treated for a short time while holding the head space portion,
A deaeration means comprising a means for exhausting air from the head space of the storage tank, a pressure feeding means for pressure-fed the beverage to be treated deaerated by the deaeration means, and a beverage to be pressure-fed by the pressure feeding means. A heat exchanger that sterilizes at a high temperature for a short time at a temperature of 100 ° C or more under pressure and a sterilized beverage to be treated at 95 ° C to 9 ° C.
A heat exchanger that rapidly cools to a hot filling temperature of 0 ° C. and a beverage to be treated at the hot filling temperature are filled in a container that has been cleaned at least on the inner surface side and sealed while substantially cutting off contact with oxygen. And a filling device including a filling device and a sealing device.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION As described above, the method and apparatus for producing a hot-packed beverage packed in a container according to the present invention rapidly heats the beverage to be treated to a temperature near its boiling point under substantially normal pressure by the preheating means. In this state, the solubility of dissolved oxygen in the beverage to be treated drops sharply and appears as supersaturation or in some cases bubbles. Then, when reaching the temporary storage tank of the degassing means, the oxygen in the beverage is released to the headspace portion, and the oxygen in the beverage is released from the temporary storage tank by removing the headspace gas. Then, the deoxidized beverage to be processed is fed in a pressurized state by the pressure feeding means, and sterilized in a short time at a high temperature of 100 ° C. or higher under pressure by the sterilizing means.

The time of storage in the temporary storage tank is short, that is, several seconds to ten and several seconds. Therefore, the preheating means, the deaerating means, and the sterilizing means maintain the beverage to be treated at a high temperature for a short period of time, and the denaturation of the liquid to be treated during this period is minimized. Moreover, in the sterilizing means for performing sterilization treatment under high temperature and pressure, the degassed beverage to be treated is an object to be heated, so that the heating efficiency is good. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an apparatus for producing a container-filled hot-filled beverage according to an embodiment of the present invention. The hot-filled beverage production apparatus 10 for container filling shown in FIG.
It comprises a sterilization / filling / sealing device 14.

The beverage preparation device 12 has a closed degassing tank 16 in which ion-exchanged water is stored and a closed degassing tank 16
A vacuum pump 18 for placing the air under reduced pressure and the closed deaeration tank 16
Of the degassed ion-exchanged water sent to the sanitary pump 20 and the degassed ion-exchanged water sent from the sanitary pump 20 through the switching valve 21 to 50 to 80 ° C. A heat exchanger 22 for heating, a tea leaf extractor 23 to which warm ion-exchanged water sent from the heat exchanger 22 was sent, and a concentrated tea leaf extract solution extracted by the tea extractor 23 was stored. It includes a stock solution tank 26 and a preparation tank 24 for storing the degassed ion exchanged water to which the other degassed ion exchanged water is fed via the switching valve 21. Then, the degassed ion-exchanged water and the concentrated tea leaf extract are sequentially supplied to the mixing tank 24 to adjust a tea beverage having a desired concentration.

On the other hand, the deaeration / sterilization / filling / sealing device 14 of the container-packed beverage, which is a characteristic of the present invention, has a feed pump 30 constituting a feed means and a first plate type heat exchange constituting a preheating means. 32, a temporary storage tank 34 that constitutes deaeration means, a pressure feed pump 36 that constitutes pressure feed means, a second plate heat exchanger 38 that constitutes sterilization means, and a third plate type that constitutes cooling means. It includes a heat exchanger 40, a pressure control valve 42, and a filling / sealing device 44 including a filling device and a sealing device that form a filling means. Then, the feed pump 30 feeds the prepared tea beverage stored in the preparation tank 24 to the first plate heat exchanger 32 under substantially normal pressure.

The first plate heat exchanger 32 rapidly heats the tea beverage fed from the feed pump 30 to a temperature near its boiling point by heat exchange in a narrow path. Here, in the case of a tea beverage, for example, it is preferable to heat it up to about 95 ° C., and since the heating in the heat exchanger 32 is below the boiling point, it is not necessary to pressurize and the temperature can be raised at normal pressure. Good.

The temporary storage tank 34 is composed of a tank having a head space, and the tea beverage preheated by the heat exchanger 32 is held in the storage tank 34 under normal pressure for a short time. Then, the head space gas in the storage tank 34 is removed by a suction pump or the like (not shown) so that the pressure inside the storage tank 34 does not become higher than normal pressure. In addition, it is preferable that the retention time of the tea beverage in the storage tank 34 is several seconds to several tens of seconds, and not only the required capacity of the storage tank 34 becomes large when configured to store several tens of seconds to several minutes, The tea beverage is maintained at a high temperature for a longer period of time, which causes deterioration of the tea beverage. On the other hand, when the capacity of the storage tank 34 is too small, the feed amount of the pressure feed pump 36 and the heat exchanger 32 are reduced.
When the balance of the supply amount from the air is lost, there is a possibility that an overflow may occur or air may enter the heat exchanger 38.

The pressure feed pump 36 feeds the preheated tea beverage stored in the storage tank 34 to the second plate heat exchanger 38 under pressure. The exchanger 38 is configured to maintain the temperature necessary for sterilizing the tea beverage, for example, 140 ° C. for several seconds to several tens seconds. The sterilized tea beverage that has passed through the exchanger 38 is immediately heated to 95 ° C to 9 ° C by the third plate heat exchanger 40.
It is rapidly cooled to 0 ° C. Therefore, the tea beverage is exposed to a high temperature of hundreds of tens of degrees for several tens of seconds at the longest, and it is only exposed to a high temperature for a short time in a state of being sufficiently deoxidized. Alternatively, the effect on the pigment component is extremely small.

The tea beverage having the hot filling temperature, which has passed through the heat exchanger 40, is supplied to the filling / sealing device 44 via a pressure control valve 42 which maintains the pressure in the heat exchangers 38, 40 at a high pressure. The filling device 44 fills the container with the tea beverage cooled to the hot filling temperature supplied via the pressure control valve 42, and then seals the container in a substantially oxygen-free atmosphere. In the case of canned food, the can lid is closed after filling the can with tea beverage. Of course, at least the inner surface side of the can body is cleaned before being filled with the tea beverage. Here, in order to form an oxygen-free atmosphere at the time of sealing the can, it is preferable to use an inert gas such as nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide alone or in combination, and a mixed gas of these gases and steam is also used. Can be used.

As a means for forming a substantially oxygen-free atmosphere, undercover gassing with nitrogen gas is performed when the can lid is wound around the can to replace the air in the headspace of the can with nitrogen gas. , A cover (or tunnel) that covers the top of the beverage-filled can conveyor between the filling device and the can lid wrapping device and covers the passage of the can so that its side wall hangs at least below the opening of the can. After introducing the nitrogen gas into the area surrounded by the cover (or tunnel) and blowing the nitrogen gas from above toward the opening of the can to replace the air in the head space of the can with the nitrogen gas, A method of performing singing, a method of enclosing a can lid winding device with a cover in addition to these means, and introducing nitrogen gas into the device to perform winding in a nitrogen gas atmosphere,
Also, there is a method in which the can lid wrapping device is surrounded by a cover, the inside of which is made a nitrogen gas atmosphere, and undercover gassing is performed.

Even under-cover gassing,
The amount of oxygen in the headspace of the can can be reduced to 0.2 ml / can or less, and a cover for covering the upper and side of the can transporting conveyor to the can lid wrapping device is provided to allow nitrogen gas to enter into the can. After introducing and blowing nitrogen gas from above toward the opening of the can, undercover gassing when tightening the can lid can reduce the oxygen amount in the headspace of the can to 0.1 ml / can or less. In addition to these, by surrounding the can lid wrapping device with a cover and creating a nitrogen gas atmosphere therein, the amount of oxygen in the head space of the can can be reduced to almost zero. Also, surround the can lid winding device with a cover,
Oxygen amount of 0.1 ml in the head space of the can was obtained by introducing nitrogen gas into the can and tightening the part to be tightened with nitrogen gas and performing undercover gassing.
/ Can be less than or equal to a can.

In any of the methods, only hot filling is performed (oxygen amount in head space is about 2.0 ml / can)
The amount of oxygen in the headspace can be made much smaller than that. The choice of method depends on the equipment of the canning plant and how much the beverage is susceptible to deterioration by oxygen. As described above, carbon gas, a mixed gas of nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide, a mixed gas of carbon dioxide and steam, a mixed gas of nitrogen gas and steam, and the like can be used instead of nitrogen gas. .

Next, the plate type exchanger used in this embodiment will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 shows a conceptual diagram of the plate type exchanger 32. As is clear from the figure, the tea beverage flows through the flow path 50, while the heat medium such as steam flows through the flow path 52. Further, a heat transfer plate 54 having high thermal conductivity is interposed between the flow paths 50 and 52.

Then, the high temperature heat medium flowing through the heat medium flow passage 52 is passed through the heat transfer plate 54 to the tea beverage flow passage route 50.
The heat exchange is performed on the tea beverage flowing through, and the heat medium whose temperature has dropped from the outlet of the heat medium flow passage 52 is regenerated.
The heated tea beverages respectively flow out from the outlets of. FIG. 3 shows a more detailed structure of the heat exchanger used in this embodiment. As is clear from the figure, the tea beverage flows into the heat exchanger 32 through the flow path inlet 50a and flows out through the flow path outlet 50b.

On the other hand, the high temperature steam is the heat medium flow path inlet 52.
It enters into the heat exchanger 32 from a and is discharged from the flow path outlet 52b. Further, the heat exchanger 32 is provided with a large number of heat transfer plates 54 which are hermetically arranged at a fine interval, and for example, a narrow passage formed by a gap between the heat transfer plates 54a and 54b has a lower inlet side tea. A tea beverage is supplied from the beverage flow channel, the tea beverage flows upward in the drawing in the narrow path, and flows into the outlet-side tea beverage flow channel in the upper portion. On the other hand, the heat transfer plate 54b
And a narrow gap is also formed between the heat transfer plates 54c adjacent to the opposite side, and the high temperature heat medium is supplied from the upper inlet side heat medium flow passage 52 to the narrow path, and the high temperature heat medium is supplied. Flows through the narrow path downward in the figure and flows into the outlet-side heat medium flow path 52b.

Therefore, the tea beverage and the heat medium are only separated by the thin heat transfer plate 54b, and the tea beverage and the heat medium travel in opposite directions while exchanging heat via the heat transfer plate 54b. . The heat exchanger used in the present embodiment has a structure in which a large number of narrow passages through which the tea beverage flows and narrow passages through which the heat medium flows are alternately arranged as described above, and a large amount of tea beverage can be uniformly distributed in a short time. In addition, the temperature can be raised efficiently. The manufacturing apparatus of the hot-packed beverage packed in a container according to the present embodiment is roughly configured as described above, and these are operated as follows to manufacture a hot-packed beverage packed in a container.

As described above, in the method for producing a packaged hot-filled beverage according to the present embodiment, the beverage to be treated is rapidly heated to a temperature near its boiling point by the first plate heat exchanger 32. At this time, since the solubility of the gas in the aqueous solution decreases as the temperature rises, most of the dissolved oxygen becomes supersaturated or in the form of fine bubbles due to the heating by the heat exchanger 32. When the tea beverage in this state is released to the temporary storage tank 34, the oxygen in the liquid is released to the head space portion above the storage tank 34. Therefore, most of the dissolved oxygen in the tea beverage will be removed by removing the headspace gas. For example, FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the dissolved oxygen and the temperature of ion-exchanged water.

As is clear from the figure, 9 ppm at 20 ° C.
Although there was a degree of dissolved oxygen, the dissolved oxygen concentration was about 5 ppm at a temperature of 60 ° C and about 1 ppm at a temperature of 95 ° C. Therefore, the temperature of the tea beverage in the mixing tank 24 is 60 ° C.
Therefore, the dissolved oxygen was 5 ppm, which means that the heat exchanger 32
When the temperature of the tea drink is raised to 95 ℃, the amount of oxygen that can be dissolved becomes 1
Since it becomes ppm, the excess dissolved oxygen with a difference of 4 ppm becomes supersaturated or in the form of fine bubbles. Dissolved oxygen of 2ppm or less has great significance in the quality of canned tea, especially 1ppm.
The following is an oxygen concentration that is extremely effective for improving shelf life, for example, even in a tea beverage or the like, deterioration is extremely unlikely to occur. When injected into the temporary storage tank 34 in this state, the excess dissolved oxygen is released to the head space portion of the storage tank 34.

On the other hand, the nitrogen tank 6 is placed in the temporary storage tank 34.
Aseptic nitrogen gas, which has been sterilized by a filter, is supplied from 0, and the air (oxygen) released from the tea beverage to the headspace portion is discharged from the system through the opening 34a together with the nitrogen gas. Then, the mixed solution whose dissolved oxygen is reduced to, for example, 2 ppm or less is second
It is fed to the plate heat exchanger 38. The heat exchanger 38 is composed of the same heat exchanger as the first plate type heat exchanger 32, but the pump 36 is heated so as not to boil the preparation liquid in order to raise the preparation liquid to a high temperature above the atmospheric pressure boiling point. I'm doing pressure.

Dissolved oxygen concentration 2 obtained as described above
For tea beverages below ppm, immediately use the third plate heat exchanger 4
After being cooled to the hot filling temperature by 0, the pressure control valve 4
2 to the filling / sealing device 44. The filling / sealing device 44 includes a filling device and a sealing device, and fills and seals the tea beverage in the container. Nitrogen gas is also supplied to the filling / sealing device 44, and after the tea beverage is filled in the can, the tea beverage is sealed by the can lid in a state where the contact with oxygen is substantially cut off. As described above, according to the method for manufacturing a container-packed hot-filled beverage according to the present embodiment, the beverage to be treated is allowed to stay near its boiling point under normal pressure, and deaeration is performed during this, further pressurization and high pressure. In order to perform sufficient sterilization below, the preparation liquid filled by the filling / sealing device 44 is sufficiently sterilized,
It will be degassed.

In the present embodiment, the nitrogen gas was supplied to the head space portion of the temporary storage tank 34, but it is also preferable to bubble in the temporary storage tank 34, for example. Further, in order to achieve more complete degassing, nitrogen gas is also supplied into the mixing tank 24 in this embodiment. Further, in the present embodiment, the oxygen concentration meter 64 is provided in the temporary storage tank 34 and the filling / sealing device 44, and the nitrogen gas supply amount is controlled so that the oxygen concentration in each step does not exceed a certain level, thereby further stabilizing. It has a degassing effect. In this embodiment, as the temporary storage tank 34, it is preferable to use one having a structure as shown in FIG. 5, for example.

That is, the temporary storage tank 34 shown in FIG.
An inflow passage 70 is provided in the lower portion of the storage tank 34, and an outflow passage 72 is provided in the lower portion on the opposite side thereof, and a partition wall 7 is provided between the flow passages 70, 72.
4 are provided. Therefore, the beverage flowing from the inflow passage 70 is blocked by the partition wall 74 and once reaches the liquid surface (contact surface with the head space), and after sufficient deaeration is performed, the second plate heat exchange is performed from the outflow passage 72. It is delivered to the container 38.
Therefore, liquid is not accumulated inside the temporary storage tank 34, and the degassing efficiency is increased.

[0030]

EXAMPLE A canned green tea can manufacturing process will be described below as an example of the present invention with reference to FIG. In the example shown in the figure, 1.25% of green tea was added to ion-exchanged water having a dissolved oxygen concentration of 0.9 ppm, and the mixture was subjected to extraction treatment at 70 ° C. for 5 minutes, followed by filtration, cooling, baking soda and L-ascorbin. A tea beverage is prepared by adding acid. This prepared tea beverage has a dissolved oxygen concentration of 6.0 ppm, despite using deaerated ion-exchanged water.

On the other hand, in the case where sterilization is performed using the retort sterilization method after hot packing, which is a conventionally commonly used method for canning beverages (prior art 1), a hot pack (filling temperature 90 ° C.) is used. ) Hour, the dissolved oxygen concentration is 1.6
ppm, and the dissolved oxygen concentration after retort sterilization (121 ° C. × 10 minutes) was 0.4 ppm. When the prepared tea beverage is sterilized at high temperature for a short time and is filled at room temperature (prior art 2), the dissolved oxygen concentration after filling is 5.1 pp.
m, and the dissolved oxygen concentration is extremely high, and oxidation during storage is expected.

On the other hand, the prepared tea beverage is filled into a can by the method according to the present invention, and is directed toward the opening of the can in the cover covering the can conveying path from the filling device to the can lid winding device. When nitrogen gas is blown and further covered with a cover, and the inside of the can is closed by a can lid wrapping device that is in a nitrogen gas atmosphere to seal air while replacing the air in the head space of the can with nitrogen gas, The dissolved oxygen concentration in the temporary storage tank 34 was 1.9 ppm, and the dissolved oxygen concentration was 0.9 ppm after hot sterilization and hot filling and cooling.

Regarding the tea beverage produced as described above,
The a value and the amount of change in L-ascorbic acid were measured at the time of preparation (before sterilization), at the time of production (after sterilization), at room temperature for 1 month, and
It was investigated when stored at room temperature for 3 months. The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below.

[0034]

[Table 1] The a value is a Lab colorimetric system and represents hue (red-green),
It shows that the degree of browning increased as the value a increased.

[0035]

[Table 2]

[0036]

[Table 3] ***: There is a significant difference with a risk rate of 0.1%. **: There is a significant difference with a risk rate of 1.0%. *: There is a significant difference at a risk rate of 5.0%.

The sensory test was carried out by repeating the test three times by 20 researchers who were routinely trained at the institute to which the inventor belongs. As is clear from Tables 1 and 2, the prior art 1 using the retort sterilization method has a value and L
-The amount of change in ascorbic acid was also extremely large, and as shown in Table 3 above, it was revealed from the results of the flavor test that the beverage was significantly deteriorated.
In addition, referring to FIG. 6, the dissolved oxygen concentration after sterilization and cooling in the prior art 1 is 0.4 ppm, which is considerably low. This suggests that most of the dissolved oxygen was reacted and consumed during the retort sterilization. Furthermore, it was revealed that the deterioration during storage proceeded rapidly even though the amount of dissolved oxygen immediately after filling was small.

On the other hand, in the prior art 2, looking at the change in the a value, although the amount of change is not as large as that in the prior art 1, the dissolved oxygen concentration immediately after filling is extremely high as shown in FIG. Therefore, it is understood that the consumption of L-ascorbic acid during storage is remarkable, and the a value is gradually increased.
In contrast to these prior arts 1 and 2, the present invention is filled and sealed, the dissolved oxygen concentration immediately after cooling is low, and further, the a value and the change amount of L-ascorbic acid are significantly smaller than those of the prior art, and the quality is improved. It is clear that significant improvements and maintenance of

Next, an orange straight 100% fruit juice production process will be described as another embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. In the embodiment shown in the figure, 100% orange straight fruit juice having a dissolved oxygen concentration of 8.3 ppm is targeted. On the other hand, when sterilization filling is performed using the hot filling method that has been generally used in the past (conventional technique 3), the dissolved oxygen concentration during filling and tightening (filling temperature 90 ° C.) is 1 0.1 ppm, and the dissolved oxygen concentration after cooling at 30 ° C. was 0.8 ppm.

On the other hand, in the case where the orange straight 100% fruit juice is filled in a can by the method according to the present invention (the means for forming a substantially oxygen-free atmosphere at the time of sealing is the same as in the above-mentioned canned sencha), The dissolved oxygen concentration in the temporary storage tank 34 was 0.9 ppm, and the dissolved oxygen concentration was 0.7 ppm after hot sterilization, hot filling, sealing, and cooling. Orange straight 10 produced as described above
Regarding 0% fruit juice, the a value and the change amount of L-ascorbic acid were measured at the time of preparation (before sterilization), at the time of production (after cooling), and
Investigations were conducted at room temperature for 1 month and at room temperature for 3 months. The results are shown in Tables 4 to 6 below.

[0041]

[Table 4] The a value represents a hue (red-green), and shows that the degree of browning increases as the a value increases.

[0042]

[Table 5]

[0043]

[Table 6] ***: There is a significant difference with a risk rate of 0.1%. **: There is a significant difference with a risk rate of 1.0%. *: Significant with a risk rate of 5.0%.

The sensory test was carried out by repeating the test three times by 20 daily trained researchers of the Institute. The sensory test was performed in the same manner as the canned green tea. As is clear from Tables 4 and 5, the conventional technique 3 using ordinary hot filling has extremely large a value and the amount of change in L-ascorbic acid, and as shown in Table 6, the results of the flavor test show that It became clear that the deterioration of the beverage was significantly advanced. Compared with the prior art 3, the present invention has a low dissolved oxygen concentration after filling, and the a value and the amount of change in L-ascorbic acid are significantly smaller than those of the prior art, and thus the quality can be greatly improved and maintained. It is clear that

In the above-mentioned embodiments and examples, tea beverages have been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and coffee (black), tea beverages (sencha, oolong tea, black tea), etc. Beverages that are currently subject to retort sterilization, as well as canned beverages and bottled beverages that are subject to high-temperature short-time sterilization and hot filling methods such as fruit beverages, sports beverages, sterilized lactic acid bacteria beverages, tomato and vegetable juices It goes without saying that it is also applicable to plastic packaged beverages and plastic packaged beverages made of paper, plastic, metal foil and the like. Furthermore, although the plate heat exchanger is used as the heat exchanger in the above-described embodiment, it is also possible to use, for example, a capillary heat exchanger.

[0046]

As described above, according to the method for producing a packaged hot-filled beverage according to the present invention, it is preheated to near the boiling point of the beverage to be treated, degassed by being kept under normal pressure, and then at a high temperature. Since it was decided to perform sufficient sterilization under pressure,
It becomes possible to perform sufficient deaeration in high temperature short time sterilization. Therefore, according to the method of the present invention, the color tone during the preparation of the beverage,
The flavor can be produced with almost no damage, and the above components can be stably stored even during storage of the hot-filled beverage packed in a container because the dissolved oxygen is small. Also,
According to the manufacturing apparatus for a hot-packed beverage packed in a container according to the present invention, a hot-packed beverage packed in a container can be manufactured with almost no loss of color tone and flavor during preparation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a beverage canning production apparatus used in a method for producing a container-filled hot-filled beverage according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the concept of a heat exchanger used in the preheating means, sterilization means, and cooling means shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a plate heat exchanger used in the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a relationship between a temperature of ion-exchanged water and a dissolved oxygen concentration.

5 is an explanatory view of a temporary storage tank used in the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a comparison diagram of the manufacturing process of canned green tea and the dissolved oxygen concentration of the present invention and the prior art.

FIG. 7: Orange straight 100 of the present invention and prior art
FIG. 3 is a comparison diagram of a% juice canned manufacturing process and a dissolved oxygen concentration.

[Explanation of symbols]

 14 Beverage Deaeration / Sterilization / Filling / Sealing Device 30 Feed Pump (Feeding Means) 32 First Plate Heat Exchanger (Preheating Means) 34 Temporary Storage Tank (Deaerating Means) 36 Pressure Feeding Pump (Pressing Means) 38th 2 plate type heat exchanger (sterilizing means) 40 3rd plate type heat exchanger (cooling means) 44 filling / sealing device (filling means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A feeding step of feeding a beverage to be treated under substantially normal pressure, and preheating for rapidly heating the beverage to be treated fed in the feeding step to a temperature near its boiling point by heat exchange in a narrow path. And a degassing process for holding the beverage to be treated preheated in the preheating process under normal pressure for a short time in a temporary storage tank having a headspace at the upper part, and removing the headspace gas thereof, And a sterilization step of sterilizing the beverage to be processed that is pressure-fed in the pressure-feeding step by heat exchange in a narrow path at a high temperature of 100 ° C. or higher for a short time under pressure. A container in which at least the inner surface of the beverage to be treated which has been sterilized is rapidly cooled to a hot filling temperature of 95 ° C. to 90 ° C. Filled with and substantially contact with oxygen A method for producing a packaged hot-filled beverage, comprising: 2. A feeding means for feeding the beverage to be treated under substantially normal pressure, a heat exchanger for rapidly heating the beverage to be treated fed by the feeding means to a temperature near its boiling point, and a heat exchanger. And a degassing means comprising a storage tank capable of storing the beverage to be treated while holding the headspace portion for a short time, and a means for exhausting the headspace portion of the storage tank, and degassing by the degassing means. A pressure-feeding means for pressure-feeding the beverage to be treated and a beverage to be treated pressure-fed by the pressure-feeding means under pressure 100
A heat exchanger for sterilization at a high temperature for a short time at a temperature of ℃ or more; a heat exchanger for rapidly cooling a sterilized beverage to be hot-filled at 95 ° C to 90 ° C; At least an inner surface side is filled in a washed container, and a filling device configured to include a filling device and a sealing device that substantially seals the container while cutting off contact with oxygen; Filled beverage manufacturing equipment.