WO2016117994A1

WO2016117994A1 - Device for the controlled application of ultraviolet light and chitosan for the disinfection of meat products

Info

Publication number: WO2016117994A1
Application number: PCT/MX2015/000009
Authority: WO
Inventors: Luis Fausto TERAN BALAGUER; Dino Alejandro Pardo Guzman; Gaston Ramon TORRESCANO URRUTIA
Original assignee: FONTES UNG, Cristian Tadeo
Priority date: 2015-01-23
Filing date: 2015-01-23
Publication date: 2016-07-28

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for the sterilisation of meat carcasses, formed by two sterilisation systems, the first comprising the calculated exposure of the meat carcass to ultraviolet radiation in order to eliminate 99% of the bacteria of the meat, and a second step comprising the application of a chitosan biofilm in order to eliminate bacteria remaining on the surface of the meat, and to produce an antibacterial seal on same.

Description

DEVICE FOR CONTROLLED APPLICATION OF ULTRAVIOLET AND CHITOSAN LIGHT FOR DISINFECTION OF MEAT PRODUCTS.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention belongs to the field of mechatronics as it is based on the creation of an automated chemical device for the disinfection of meat products.

BACKGROUND

Currently, food hygiene has become a growing concern in the world. The causative agents of diseases are increasingly aggressive so that an increasing number of people get sick every year from the consumption of contaminated food. In addition, the number of foods linked to foodborne illnesses continues to increase. This is why the desire for safer foods is greater than ever. In fact, more and more state and federal jurisdictions require companies to use more effective food safety and sanitation practices.

The efficient use of modern sanitation techniques reduces the cost of its application. These savings, when transferred to the consumer, mean that consumers spend less on processed foods. In addition to this, effective disinfection techniques can allow more food to be processed in a smaller amount of space. Therefore, smaller facilities can compete with larger ones, which increases competition between processors and lowers prices to consumers. Therefore, facilities that use less safe processing techniques can easily be reconditioned and an efficient device installed; The modularity in the disinfection system or devices makes them easy to manufacture and easy to replace parts.

The application of radiation disinfection allows greater control when killing the organism in food products and additives. The use of radiation disinfection in the food industry, in general, is well known and has been used in a large variety of forms, including gamma radiation, ultraviolet (UV) and infrared radiation.

For example, it is well known that gamma radiation and UV radiation have been used in some countries for the sterilization of spices and animal feed. However, excessive use of ultraviolet radiation can cause unwanted chemical reactions with a food or additive, which can cause the food or additive to obtain undesirable flavors or textures. In addition, several vitamins and proteins can be altered or destroyed through being subjected to too much radiation, which reduces the food value of the treated product.

Traditional methods of irradiation of food in assembly line form use an unnecessary amount of radiation, as well as space, in a food processing facility. Also, they fail to take full advantage of the combined use of the ozone layer, UV light, hydroperoxides, superoxides and hydroxyl radicals in the disinfection process. For example, US Pat. No. 6,150,663 to Rosenthal teaches a system that incorporates an irradiation system using radiation, and only radiation, to disinfect food. Rosenthal also shows product vibration to optimize radiation exposure to all surfaces. The entire system is inefficient and ineffective, since irradiation alone may not properly disinfect food, and there is no disinfection of more than one side at the same time. If there was a slight crease in the surface of the food, the surface of the shaded food will never be disinfected. However, the use of chitosan in this case would be able to reach below a fold and disinfect a folded surface on the products. Similarly, the chitosan biofilm, when used together, reduces the amount of radiation needed, thereby reducing damage from radiation to the food. Also by omitting the vibration, energy savings are obtained and noise pollution is greatly reduced.

Therefore, there is a need for a system that uses the combination of radiation disinfection, added to other agents such as chitosan, since when creating a biofilm it creates a barrier in the product layers preventing subsequent contamination. There is also a lack of a disinfection system in such a way that it can be adapted into an existing mounting system. There is no system designed with modularity in mind, to adapt to different processes correctly, or to provide easy manufacturing or replacement of the parts that compose it. There is no system in which radiation, and a chitosan biofilm are optimized for food treatment. There is no system that efficiently uses radiation disinfection and the use of chitosan to disinfect carcasses. There are many patents referring to the double process of disinfection of food products but there is no one that uses ultraviolet radiation and chitosan biofilm applied to meat carcasses and that can be easily adapted to the production lines of any plant.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The characteristic details of the present invention are clearly shown in the following description. The accompanying figures and examples are used to explain the operation of the device, so they should not be considered as limiting, for the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FL GUARAS Figure 1 shows the dose of ultraviolet radiation required for the destruction of the

99% of microorganisms.

Figure 2 represents a graph of the behavior of the emitted UV irradiance with respect to the distance of the lamp selected for the present invention. Figure 3 is a perspective of the device in question.

Figure 4 shows a top view of the device.

Figure 5 illustrates a top view of the internal system for chitosan dew. Figure 6 illustrates a top view of the internal ultraviolet light radiation system. Figure 7 represents a sectional section that allows to see the product inside the device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention describes a device used for the disinfection of meat products for human consumption which consists of two stages described below. The disinfection device (1) is permanently placed at the end of the processing line of meat products or meat carcasses which we will hereinafter refer to as products. Products that reach the disinfection device (1) traditionally travel through a rail and carriage system and are attached to it by means of a hook so that the disinfection device (1) is adapted to this system by installing it in a way such that it allows the products that travel along the rail to cross through it. The products enter one at a time through an entrance door (2) and leave after the disinfection process through an exit door (3), which are operated by a pneumatic actuator (4) respectively in a manner Automatic and simultaneous at the end of each disinfection cycle. A mechanical system of chains (5), pulleys (6), two electromagnetic locks SE1 (7) and SE2 (8), an inductive sensor (27), two upper limit switches SFCS (28), two end sensors SFCI (29), and two magnetic sensors SM1 (32) and SM2 (33) controlled by a programmable central processing unit. UCPP (14) will then manage the movement of the products from which they arrive at the beginning of the disinfection cycle. The SE1 (7), when activated, blocks the passage of the products that come from the production line to the disinfection area and, when deactivated, allows the products to travel to it one at a time; the product that is released from SE1 (7) is immediately secured by SE2 (8) which in turn is fixed to the chain (5) which is moved by an electric motor (10) controlled by the UCPP (9); an infrared light sensor (23) is the one that detects and sends a signal to the UCPP (9) to deactivate the SE1 (7) and to let a product through and once it detects its passage it sends it a signal so that it is reactivated again. The product is secured by SE2 (8) and transported by chain (5) into the disinfection device (1) through the entrance door (2) and placed in the center of it; then the inductive sensor (27) indicates the proper position of the product inside the disinfection device (1) after verifying by means of the signals of the sensors SM1 (32) and SM2 (33) that the entrance door (2) and the exit door (3), respectively, is open; then the entrance door (2) and the exit door (3) are closed by actuating the pneumatic actuators (4), by means of a two-way 4-way solenoid valve (11) controlled by the UCPP (9) that will not allow the opening them until the end of the cycle to ensure that there is no ultraviolet light leakage outside the disinfection device (1), otherwise while the SM1 (32) and / or SM2 (33) are detecting that some door is not in closed position will not start the disinfection cycle. The SM1 (32) and SM2 (33) sensors are used as redundancy for the security protocol.

The first stage called disinfection and preparation of the surface of the canal through UVC germicidal exposure. It consists of a system of four UVC lamps (12) germicidal grade placed in each of the corners of the disinfection device (1) within their respective perfectly sealed housings and screens, thereby achieving to emit UV light beams (13) over the entire product surface achieving uniform radiation; said UVC lamps (12) which will only be activated as previously mentioned once the entrance door lock (2) and exit door (3) have been secured to avoid radiation to people who might be close to the device of disinfection (1) while it is operating. The exposure time of the product to ultraviolet radiation is preprogrammed in the UCPP (9), and is defined based on several factors expressed and calculated mathematically. The first of these is the radiation from the UV light body, the distance at which the surface of the meat is located and the radiation necessary for the elimination of the main microorganisms to be eliminated.

The microbicidal action depends on the intensity of the radiation and the dose applied. The intensity or irradiance is the amount of UV energy per unit area measured in microwatts per square centimeter. The UV dose corresponds to the product of the intensity for the time it is applied and is expressed in joules / m2 or its equivalent in microwatts second per square centimeter.

Irradiance:

To achieve the elimination or inactivation of 99% of bacteria, radiation in the order of 10000 W. sec / cm2 at 254 nm is generally required for inactivation according to the table in Figure 1. UV light beams (13 ) emitted by the UVC lamp (12) are predominantly perpendicular to the surface of the lamp. To determine the intensity of the radiation on the surface of the product (14) at different distances, the intensity factor indicated by the table in Figure 1 (microwatts.sec / cm2) must be divided by the intensity of the lamp at 1 meter ( microwatts / cm2). Taking into account that according to the data offered by the manufacturer and illustrated in the graph of figure 2 the irradiance for the UVC lamps (12) used is 1 0 μνν / cm ² at a distance of 1 meters, which is It is possible to calculate the time necessary for the elimination of 99% of the bacteria without generating a contamination by radiation or decomposition of the surface of the product (14) thus achieving the molecular activation of the meat which will be useful for the interaction with the biofilm of Chitosan to be applied in the following process. We obtain then that a time of: time = 90.90 s

Therefore the UCPP (9) will then be pre-programmed to activate the UVC lamps (12) for a period of 90.90 seconds to complete the first stage in this way. Once the exposure to UVC light beams (12) is finished, the UCPP (9) proceeds to the second stage called chitosan biofilm spray which consists in the application of a biolayer of a chitosan solution that is carried out by means of of a complex mechatronic system of irrigation and sprinkling controlled by the UCPP (9) and which is composed in the first instance by six sprinklers (16) with a V-shaped tip and flat cut, which results in a flat horizontal sprinkling with an angular opening of 110 °. In order to achieve a uniform sprinkling, the calculation of the distance and the number of sprinklers (16) necessary to be placed by the given opening angle was performed. In addition to considering a superposition of the spray pattern (17) to maintain the uniformity of the application. Said sprinklers (16) are fixed and connected to two square pipes (18) that make a vertical sweeping movement along the product to achieve in this way a uniform application of the chitosan biofilm throughout the length and width of the product. The movement of the square pipe (18) is directed by two pairs of cylindrical guides (19) located vertically along the walls opposite to those of the entrance door (2) and the exit door (3) of the device disinfection (1). The chitosan solution is supplied to the square pipe (18) by means of a flexible pipe (15); outside the disinfection device (1) the flexible pipe (15) is connected to a pumping system (22) controlled by the UCPP (9) with which the solution is supplied. In the electrical part, said vertical movement is produced by means of a set of pulleys connected to two stepper motors (20) independent of each other and controlled by means of the UCPP (9), which allows the vertical sweeping movement. So it is also possible to change the pattern of vertical movement, achieving repetitions in the most difficult areas to cover previously identified. The UCPP (9) recognizes when to stop the movement of the two stepper motors (20) at its upper level when the square pipes (18) make contact with the SFCS (28) and at its lower level with the SFCI (29) .

Once the chitosan biofilm is applied, the UCPP (9) turns off all internal systems and sends an electrical signal to the solenoid valve (11) to open the door entrance (2) and exit door (3), then the electric motor (10) that moves the system of chains (5) and pulleys (6) are actuated to take the product out of the disinfection device (1) by the exit door (3) while a new product is released by SE1 (7) and hooked by another SE2 (8). The Bottom (24) of the disinfection device (1) has a conical shape (funnel) and in the center is a drain (25) that collects the chitosan solution that drains from each application or that does not adhere to the product with in order to analyze it to check its possible reuse. The UCPP control system (9) is located on one of the outer walls of the disinfection device (1) and has a touch screen (26) that allows you to view the information in real time of the process, as well as allows manipulation of some functions related to the process. For system programming it is necessary to have access codes that only authorized personnel can have.

Claims

CLAIMS that are claimed are:

1. A sanitizing device for meat products that has two biocidal stages; In the first, it uses ultraviolet light radiation of germicidal grade to eliminate 99% of bacteria and that produces an ionization of the meat surface that will favor the adhesion of the chitosan biofilm that will act as a second stage of sterilization for disinfection and elimination of bacteria as well as the sealing of the surface of the meat against possible subsequent contamination, including:

to. A vertically arranged rectangular parallelepiped shaped chamber made of food grade stainless steel that has two doors located on opposite sides and that also has all its edges and rounded vertices to facilitate cleaning and avoid possible niches that favor the formation of microorganisms and that It has the funnel-shaped bottom to discard any runoff; in its upper part it has a groove where the hook from where the meat channel hangs will pass.

b. Electronic control hardware located on one of the outer walls of the device that allows programming and readjustment of the process to achieve perfect sanitation in each application, which in turn is constantly connected to an ethernet network for remote control and monitoring and that also controls the security of the physical integrity of the users of the device.

C. Electrical, mechanical, pneumatic and mechatronic systems for controlling and operating the device made of food grade materials, predominantly in food grade stainless steel. d. At least two uniform chitosan biofilm spray systems independent of each other with vertical freedom that allow continuous scanning from the top to the bottom of the chamber. and. At least 4 germicidal-grade ultraviolet lamps arranged in the vertical edges of the chamber that produce a uniform radiation throughout its length and width.

The device of claim 1 (a) having the bottom in a conical shape with a drain on the tip to eliminate any type of runoff stagnation.

The hardware of claim 1 (b) that has a touch screen for device control.

The systems mentioned in claim 1 (c) wherein the electrical systems correspond to two stepper motors that are used to move the chitosan biofilm spray systems plus another stepper motor that controls the movement of the meat carcasses, the devices mechanics that are means of transmission of dynamic movement between the motors and the final actuators, pneumatic pistons for the opening and closing of the access and exit doors of the channels.

Control and monitoring means for the correct functioning of the device, proximity sensors to ensure the closing of the doors, infrared detectors for the detection of meat channels, solenoid valves for fluid control.

The device of claim 1 (e) wherein the lamps used are but are not limited to the Philips TUVPL-L36W-4Puv-c2G11 model and that their distance at their closest point to the meat surface is 50 cm and at its furthest point of 1 m.

The device of claim 1 (d) wherein the sprinkler system is composed of at least 6 flat sprinklers with 110 ° aperture distributed in at least two semi-elliptical pipes with a distance calculated from each other based on the dew pattern that gave as a result 95 cm between the first 2 and 107.5 cm with the third and a separation distance with the surface of the meat of 35 cm.