Sterilization of concentrated food products using direct steam
In the food processing industry, ensuring the safety and quality of concentrated food products is essential before storage, packaging, or drying. This often involves overcoming challenges such as maintaining high viscosity and preventing long exposure to high temperatures, which can degrade the product quality.
Sterilizes with rapid heating and cooling
The direct steam sterilization system by GEA utilizes direct steam injection to rapidly heat and then quickly cool concentrated food products. The process involves injecting steam into the product through a direct steam injector (DSI), resulting in sudden heating followed by flashing against low pressure for rapid cooling. This method offers significant advantages over traditional indirect heat exchangers, such as shorter retention times at high temperatures and the ability to handle highly viscous products. By minimizing the time the product spends at elevated temperatures, this technique helps maintain product quality and taste.
Benefits
- Minimizes product degradation with shorter high-temperature retention time
- Effective for high-viscosity food products
- Rapid heating and cooling process
- Preserves product quality and taste
- Efficient sterilization using direct steam