Dairy and Food Engineering

Lecture No. 21
Principles of operation and equipment for thermal processing -
principles - process of canning and aseptic processing
 Methods of Food Preservation

Food preservation methods can be broadly divided

into two categories:
Bacteriostatic method in which microorganisms
are unable to grow in the food, e.g., in dehydration,
pickling, salting, smoking, freezing etc.
Bactericidal methods in which most of the
microorganisms present in the food are killed, e.g.,
in canning, cooking, irradiation etc.
 Preservation by Control of Temperature

The relationship between the temperature of food and its shelf

life is evident in several food operations.
For example, spoilage in foods held at 0°C and below is quite
slow compared with spoilage of the same product stored at
room temperature.
At temperatures experienced in a household freezer (about
-10°C), microbial growth is minimal, and chemical reactions
proceed slowly, thereby enabling the food product to remain
wholesome for an extended period.
In commercial freezers, where temperatures of -40°C and
below are maintained, freezing of the product takes place
quickly, and the shelf-life is even longer
It should be noted that once the food thaws, deterioration may
proceed, as microbes are able to multiply and thrive once more.
Damage to tissue may also result from ice crystals, particularly in the
case where slow freezing occurred, for example, in a domestic freezer.
Sometimes bacterial cells are damaged but they do not die during
freezing.
These bacteria are able to recover and repair themselves during
thawing.

Some bacteria may produce poisonous substances (toxins) at normal

temperature.
At refrigeration temperatures (about 4°C), most microorganisms do
not multiply as rapidly as they do at room temperature.
In addition, chemical reactions proceed slowly.
At ambient temperatures, microbial and enzymatic reactions
proceed rapidly, accounting for the rapid degradation of food.
Once the food product is exposed to temperatures of 60-
70°C, microbial growth stops, and enzyme inactivation starts.
Typical slow pasteurization may occur in this range.
As the temperature is increased (80- 90°C), the vegetative
forms of microorganisms are destroyed and the rate of enzyme
inactivation increases.
Heat processing of acid products, such as fruits and fruit juices,
is usually done at higher temperatures (100°C), for short times
(10-15 seconds).
In this way the microbes are destroyed, the enzymes
are inactivated, and the physical characteristics of
the food which are often adversely affected by
elevated temperatures, are retained.
Typically, canning of low acid foods take place at
121°C, and 15 psi, resulting in the destruction of all
pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms.
The industrial application of food preservation by heat
began with the work of the French inventor Nicolas
Appert (1749–1841) who first demonstrated that long-
term preservation of different kinds of foods can be
achieved by heating the foods for a long time (many
hours) in hermetically closed containers.

The microbial origin of food spoilage and the relationship

between thermal destruction of microorganism and food
preservation were demonstrated only later by Louis
Pasteur (French chemist and biologist, 1822–1895).
The quantitative study of the kinetic aspects of
thermal processing (thermo-microbiology) began in
the early 20th century and soon became an active
area of research.
Today, knowledge of the laws of heat transfer,
combined with thermomicrobiology constitutes the
base for the rational design of thermal processes
Depending on their intensity, thermal preservation processes are classified into
two categories:
1. Pasteurization : heat processing at relatively mild temperature (say 70–
100°C). Pasteurization destroys vegetative cells of microorganisms but has
almost no effect on spores.

2. Sterilization : heat processing at high temperature (above 100°C) with the
objective of destroying all forms of microorganisms, including spores.

Sterilization alone provides long-term preservation of foods, on the condition

that recontamination is prevented by proper packaging.

Pasteurization, on the other hand, provides only short-term stability or requires

additional preserving factors (hurdles) such as refrigeration or low pH for long-
term effectiveness.
In addition to pasteurization and sterilization,
blanching may be considered a mild thermal
treatment, the main purpose of which is to inactivate
enzymes.
It is mainly applied as a step in the preparation of
vegetables prior to canning, freezing or dehydration.
Blanching is carried out by immersing the vegetables
in hot water or exposing them to open steam.
The rational design of a thermal process requires
data from two areas:
 the kinetics of thermal inactivation (thermal destruction,
thermal death) and
 the distribution of the time–temperature function within the
mass of the material (heat transfer, heat penetration)
Heat Transfer Considerations in Thermal Processing

Typical processing time for the sterilization of solid

food in a 0.5 kg can in a retort at 120°C may be in
excess of one hour, while the net heating time
necessary to achieve the desired thermal death of the
target microorganism at that temperature may be
just a few minutes.
The long duration of the process is due to the
slowness of heat transfer (heat penetration) to the
coldest point of the can.
In-package thermal processing
Heat transfer into the food in hermetically closed
packages occurs in three consecutive steps:
1. Heat transfer from the heating medium to the
package surface
2. Heat transfer through the package
3. Internal heat transfer from the inner surface of the
package to the coldest point of the product
The heating medium
Saturated steam : in practice, the most efficient heating
medium is saturated steam.
The heat transfer coefficient of a film of condensing vapor is
very high
The temperature of saturated steam is easily controlled through
its pressure
Hot water : heat transfer from hot water to the package is less
efficient.
Hot water (heated by direct contact with steam, in most cases)
is the preferred medium for thermal processing of food in glass
or heat sensitive products
Steam–air mixture: this is a fairly common heating
medium.
Hot gas (combustion gases) : in the ‘flame
sterilization ’ process, the packages are heated by
combustion gases and radiation

The package
The thermal conductivity of aluminum and tinplate
is high, that of glass is relatively low
Internal heat transfer
Heat transfer through the product may be by
convection, by conduction or both.
In solid foods (meat loaf, solid-pack tuna etc.),
conduction is the principal mode.
In liquid food, convection heat transfer
predominates
 In-flow thermal processing

Heat exchangers are extensively used for the pasteurization

or sterilization of pumpable products.
In continuous in-flow heating, the temperature of the
product usually rises very rapidly and residence time at the
lethal temperature range is too short for complete
sterilization or pasteurization.
It is therefore necessary to hold the heated product at high
temperature for the required length of time, with no further
heat transfer.
This is usually done by installing a holding tube or a holding
vessel of appropriate dimensions after the heating section of
the heat exchanger.
Thermal processes may be applied either to food in
hermetic containers or to food in bulk before
packaging.
Thermal treatment before packaging is most
commonly applied to pumpable products. The main
types of thermal processes are summarized in Table:
 Canning

Thermal Processing in Hermetically Closed Containers

This category of thermal processes includes the technology commonly
known as ‘canning’.
In this method, the food is heated and cooled while contained in
hermetically closed packages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeSNLTwWTV0
 A hermetic seal is any type of sealing that makes a given object airtight (preventing
the passage of air, oxygen, or other gases)

The hermetic package protects the sterilized or pasteurized food from

recontamination.
The method is suitable for foods in all physical forms: solids, liquids or
liquids with solid particles.
The packages can be cans, jars, bottles, trays, tubes, pouches etc
 Filling into the cans

Products can be filled into containers by volume (volumetric filling) or by

weight (gravimetric filling).
Volumetric filling is simpler and less expensive.
Although package contents are usually specified by weight, volumetric
filling is often the method of choice. Cans are never filled completely.
Some free space ( head-space ) is left above the product in order to form
some vacuum in the sealed can at the end of the process.

Hand filling is practiced with fragile products such as grapefruit

segments, with products such as sardines or stuffed vegetables requiring
orderly arrangement or when production rate is too low to justify
mechanical filling.
In hand-pack filling, the product is filled manually into cylinders of
known volume, then transferred mechanically into the cans
Hand pack filler
Tumbler fillers: consist of a rotating drum fitted with baffles and
in it, a belt conveyor carrying the cans in the direction of the
drum axis.
The product is fed into the
drum.
As the drum rotates, portions
of the product are lifted by the
baffles then fall into the cans
when the baffle reaches a certain
angle.
The can conveyor is slightly tilted to prevent over-filling and leave
a void volume (head-space) in the can
 Piston fillers

These are suitable for filling pumpable products.

The ‘filling heads’are actually piston pumps,
transferring a fixed volume of product from a buffer
reservoir to individual cans.
Piston fillers are usually equipped with a ‘ no-
container-no-fill’ control device, to prevent
spillage when a container
is, accidentally, not
presented under the
filling head
 Expelling air from the head-space

Some of the air in the head-space must be expelled for several

reasons:
Air in the head-space expands and creates excessive internal
pressure when the sealed can is heated.
Damage to the seams and deformation of the can may result.
This is particularly important in flexible packages (e.g. pouches)
Expulsion of most of the air (reduction of
the partial pressure of oxygen) helps
reduce the risk of oxidative damage to the
product and internal corrosion of the
metal can during storage.
Several methods are available for expelling air from
packages before closure:
1. Hot filling : it is desirable to fill the product at the
highest possible temperature, so as to minimize the
quantity of dissolved oxygen and to create a head-
space rich in water vapor instead of air.
Continuous preheating is possible in the case of
pumpable products.
Of course, hot filling also shortens processing time
after closure.
2. Thermal exhausting : when filling at sufficiently high
temperature is not a feasible option, the product is heated in
the container, before closure.
The filled open containers are conveyed through a bath of
hot (near boiling) water, where the water level is kept about 1
cm below the container mouth.
During this treatment, known as exhausting, air pockets are
expelled, the quantity of dissolved oxygen is reduced and the
partial pressure of water vapor in the head-space is
increased.
A slight bumping movement or vibration imparted to the
conveying belt helps expel the air bubbles
3. Steam injection : some closing machines are equipped
with nozzles for injecting food quality superheated
steam into the head-space, just before the lid is applied.
To be effective, steam injection must be combined with
hot filling.
4. Mechanical vacuum : for vacuum closing, the
seaming machines are equipped with mechanical
vacuum pumps.
Vacuum closing is applied to products containing little
or no liquid and to flexible packages
 Sealing

In the beginning of the canning industry, metal cans were closed
by soldering.
At that time, one skilled worker would seal about 10 cans per
hour.
In addition to the extremely low rate of production, the use of
lead-containing solder was a matter of serious health concern.
The solderless ’double seam’method of sealing, which is the only
one used in industry today, was invented in the beginning of the
20th century.
Modern can seaming machines can close up to 3000 cans per
minute or more
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4TVDSWuR5E) -canning
The double seam is formed by mechanically bending
the edge of the can body and the lid and then
pressing the two to create an interlocking seam.
A thin ring of PVC or rubber, applied on the lid, acts
as a gasket.
The double seam is formed in two steps or
‘operations’:
 a first operation of bending and
 a second operation of tightening
 Heat processing

The purpose of in-package heat processing may be either sterilization or

pasteurization.
Sterilization in hermetic containers : low-acid foods (pH 4.5) are
preserved by sterilization.
Practical sterilization requires processing the food at temperatures well
above 100°C.
Since most products contain water, pressures higher than atmospheric are
developed inside the package. (Saturation pressure of water vapor at
120°C is approximately 200 kPa, about double the atmospheric pressure.)
In order to prevent deformation and damage to the container, external
pressure equal to or slightly higher than the internal pressure must be
maintained.
For this reason, sterilization is carried out in pressure vessels known as
autoclaves or retorts
 Aseptic processing

Aseptic processing, also known as aseptic packaging or

aseptic filling, is, without doubt, the most significant
of the last developments in food technology
‘Aseptic’processes were developed before World War 2
and commercially applied in the 1950s.
The early applications were liquid and semi-liquid
foods, such as cocoa drinks, custards and banana
puree.
The packages were, invariably, metal cans and the
process was therefore called‘aseptic canning’
The pumpable food was continuously heated to sterilizing
temperature in heat exchangers and, after holding, continuously
cooled.
The cans and lids were sterilized with steam or a mixture of
superheated steam and air.
The sterilized food and the sterile cans met in an aseptic enclosure
that contained the filling machine and the seamer, closely coupled.
Aseptic conditions were maintained by a number of measures such
as disinfectants, a steady stream of superheated steam, UV
radiation etc.
The aseptic enclosure was kept at slight overpressure to prevent
penetration of air from outside
Compared to normally canned foods, the products
were of superior quality but the process was
cumbersome, slow and expensive.
New technologies that allowed aseptic filling into
flexible packages were developed in the 1960s.
At first, the main product of commercial aseptic
processing was UHT (Ultra-High-Temperature) milk
in cartons.
Gradually, applications expanded to almost any
pumpable low or high acid food such as soups, gravy,
dairy deserts, creams, soy milk, fruit juices, nectars
etc.