JPS59142928A - Germless filling method of acidic food - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for aseptically filling acidic foods such as juices.

Conventionally, acidic foods with a low pH content (usually pH 4.0)
(lower than 50%), a hot-filling method has been used in which the contents heated at high temperatures are directly filled into containers, and the containers are sterilized at the same time at the temperature of the contents. However, in the method of filling the container into a container, it is necessary to cool the container after filling, but since the container is cooled from the outside, the cooling efficiency is generally poor, and it takes time to cool down, which is affected by the shape and capacity of the container. For this reason, there are disadvantages in that the quality deteriorates and the cooling cost increases to 1.

Aseptic filling methods have recently been attracting attention in order to improve these drawbacks. This aseptic filling method involves sterilizing the contents at high temperatures for a short period of time, immediately quenching them, and then filling the contents into pre-sterilized containers in an aseptic environment. In this method, the contents are sterilized at high temperature for a short time, so there is no over-sterilization, and high quality products are obtained.Also, since the contents are filled with cooled contents, there is no need to cool them after filling. be.

However, the inventor discovered that in this aseptic filling method, since the filling is carried out at a low temperature, the dissolved oxygen concentration in the contents is high, and the oxygen in the space (head space) remaining at the top of the filled container has a negative impact on the food. In particular, acidic foods such as juices that are easily affected by oxygen,
Even if high-quality products can be obtained through high-temperature, short-time sterilization, a new drawback has been discovered: they quickly oxidize after being filled and sealed.

The present invention provides a filling method that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and provides a filling method that has less residual oxygen in the contents, less oxygen in the head space, and has no adverse effect on the contents, even in an aseptic filling method. be.

Figure 1 shows the relationship between the amount of saturated dissolved oxygen in water and the temperature.As is clear from Figure 1, when the filling temperature is less than 40℃, the curve becomes steeper, and it depends on the temperature. The influence is strong. Usually, at a temperature below 20° C., which is the conventional aseptic filling temperature, the dissolved oxygen concentration is as high as about 10 pnl, which greatly affects the contents after filling.

In the range of 40°C or higher and lower than 65°C according to the present invention, the curve becomes gentle and is not affected by temperature much. For example, when filling at around 50°C, filling is performed at a low dissolved oxygen concentration of about 5 ppn+. It becomes possible.

On the other hand, the deterioration of nutrients in the contents due to reheating to around 50'C is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Note) D value Time required for 90% deterioration From this, it can be seen that deterioration due to temperature is extremely small at around 50°C.

In the case of conventional hot filling, for example, when the filling temperature is 80°C, if it is left to cool without cooling after filling, it will take about 10 hours to cool down to 30°C. The present invention provides 50% cooling equipment.
If the aseptic filling method is used at around °C, up to 30 °C
It only takes 3 hours, and no cooling equipment is required.

On the other hand, Figure 2 shows the relationship between the amount of air in the space remaining at the top of the container (spatula I space) during filling and the filling temperature, and as a result, the amount of remaining air decreases rapidly when the temperature exceeds 50'C. This shows the effectiveness of the present invention.

Next, an actual example of the method according to the present invention will be shown below.

The table above shows the storage test results for 100% concentrated orange juice. After storing 1 can of 250 m for 3 months, the residual vitamin C amount and sensory test were conducted. The initial vitamin C amount was 35. mg%.

As explained above, the method of the present invention is capable of aseptic filling of Ml-containing foods with improved quality by reducing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the contents and the amount of oxygen in the head space through simple work steps. can.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the relationship between the amount of saturated dissolved oxygen in water and temperature, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the amount of air in the space remaining at the top of the container (Heno 1 space) and filling temperature during filling, It is. Agent Patent Attorney Makoto Kon

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) When filling sterilized and cooled acidic liquid foods into sterilized containers in a sterile environment, by reheating them before filling, the dissolved oxygen in the acidic liquid foods and the top of the container can be removed. Aseptic filling method for acidic foods characterized by reducing the amount of residual air (headspace). (2) The aseptic filling method for acidic food according to claim 1, wherein the content is not cooled to less than 40° C. during sterilization and cooling, thereby omitting reheating during filling. (3) The method for aseptically filling acidic foods according to claim 1, wherein the temperature of the contents at the time of filling is 40°C or higher and lower than 65°C, preferably around 50°C.