Method and device for treating food and/or containers for holding food

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12011019-B2
Application number	US-201515538315-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2015
Priority date	Dec 22, 2014
Publication date	Jun 18, 2024
Grant date	Jun 18, 2024

Abstract

A method and a device for treating food and/or containers for holding food treats the food and/or containers in at least one treatment zone by a process liquid, wherein the process liquid is at least partially recirculated into the treatment zone or the treatment zones after completed treatment of the food and/or the containers. During continuous treatment at least some or all of the process liquid is used per time unit to form at least one stream of the process liquid, the formed stream is filtered by at least one membrane filtration system, and a filtered stream is at least partially fed back into an element holding and/or conducting the process liquid and/or into a treatment zone.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for treating food in a plurality of treatment zones of a device for treating food, the method comprising
filling the food to be treated into containers and then closing the containers; and
transporting the closed containers through the plurality of treatment zones of the device for treating food;
feeding a process liquid into each treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones to act on the closed containers, wherein the process liquid flows around an outside of the closed containers;
treating the food in each treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones by heat transfer via the process liquid;
pasteurizing the food in at least one treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones by heat transfer into the food by the process liquid;
draining the process liquid out of each treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones after the treating of the food has been completed and then recirculating the process liquid back into each of the treatment zones of the plurality of treatment zones;
wherein during the recirculating, conducting the process liquid into piping and using at least one adjustable splitter or multiple splitters working together to form at least one stream of the process liquid by removing a partial quantity of the process liquid already present within the piping out of the piping;
wherein the at least one stream of the process liquid is filtered by at least one membrane filtration system in order to clean the at least one stream of the process liquid;
wherein after the filtration process a filtered stream is at least partially fed back into an element containing and/or conducting the process liquid and/or into a treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones; and
wherein the treating is continuous and during the continuous treating a total volume of the process liquid contained in the device for treating food is conducted through the at least one membrane filtration system and filtered between 2 times and 10 times per day.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the process liquid comprises a plurality of liquid streams, and wherein each of the liquid streams of the plurality of liquid streams has a temperature set separately for each treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones in a controlled way before each of the liquid streams of the plurality of liquid streams are fed into each of the treatment zones of the plurality of treatment zones.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the treating of the food comprises successively heating the food in a first treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones, wherein the pasteurizing of the food is in a second treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones, and the food is cooled in a third treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein a liquid stream of the process liquid is fed into the first treatment zone for heating the closed containers at a temperature between 40° C. and 50° C.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the partial quantity is chosen in such a way that the filtration of the at least one stream allows for a removal rate of micro-organisms within a time interval to be achieved that is larger than a growth rate of the micro-organisms in the process liquid during the time interval.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the partial quantity is selected in such a way that, based on the total volume of process liquid conducted through all treatment zones of the plurality of treatment zones per time unit, at least 1% and less than 25% is used to form the at least one stream of the process liquid.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the partial quantity of the process liquid has a temperature of less than 80° C.

8. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the process liquid used to form the at least one stream of the process liquid to be filtered has a temperature between 40° C. and 50° C.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the filtered stream is at least partially fed back under at least approximately ambient pressure in free fall.

10. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of treatment zones are arranged in a treatment zone line; and
wherein the filtered stream of the process liquid is at least partially fed into a treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones for rinsing the outside of the closed containers filled with food, placed at an end of the treatment zone line.

11. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of treatment zones are arranged in a treatment zone line; and
wherein the filtered stream of the process liquid is at least partially fed into a treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones placed at a start of the treatment zone line, for cleaning the inside and the outside of the containers before the filling.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the process liquid is conducted into a receiving container after the filtering by the at least one membrane filtration system and recirculated into at least one element holding and/or conducting the process liquid and/or into at least one treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones via an overflow arranged on the receiving container.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one membrane filtration system is operatively separated from the device for treating food at specifiable time intervals in order to clean filter membranes during ongoing operation and filtrate of the process liquid collected in the receiving container is conducted through the at least one membrane filtration system by reversing the flow direction through the filter membranes in comparison to filtration mode.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein liquid waste accrued during cleaning by reversal of the flow direction through the filter membranes of the at least one membrane filtration system is drained and replaced by an equivalent quantity of fresh process liquid.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein chemicals from one or more chemical sources are admixed into the at least one stream of the process liquid to be filtered and/or the filtered stream of the process liquid by a dispensing device as needed both during the treating and the filtering and additionally for cleaning the at least one membrane filtration system.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a degree of contamination is continuously monitored using sensors in conduction elements of a treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one membrane filtration system comprises more than one membrane filtration system and the more than one membrane filtration system is assigned to a treatment zone of the plurality of treatment zones.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the process liquid is heated via a heater.

Assignees

• Red Bull Gmbh

Inventors

• Concin Roland
• Eder Harald
• Rinderer Christian
• Rinderer Matthias
• Viechtbauer Volker

Classifications

• A61L2103/23

  Containers other than laboratory or medical, e.g. bottles or mail · CPC title

• A23B70/30 Primary

  by heating · CPC title

• A23B2/53

  with ultraviolet light · CPC title

• A23B2/42

  while they are progressively transported through the apparatus · CPC title

• A23B2/20 Primary

  by heating materials in packages which are progressively transported, continuously or stepwise, through the apparatus · CPC title