Increasing awareness about the ill effects of chemicals and toxins has led to a demand for foods free of such unhealthy stuff, as processing itself could sometimes leave behind a toxic residue.
Recognizing this rising demand, Jaivik Foods, a company focused on delivering EPC solutions to food, spices, and pharma industries, has claimed to provide three comprehensive solutions that ensure the safety of food products – steam sterilization, pasteurization, and fluid bed dryers.
Steam sterilization
The company recognized a significant problem in the food industry, the risk of infectious bacteria growth. Fumigants (ethylene oxide and propylene oxide), steam, and irradiation are some methods used to overcome this problem. However, effectiveness, quality impact, and acceptance by customers vary for these methods.
The most effective method is natural sterilization, which Jaivik Foods has adopted. The continuous HT-ST ‘in-flow’ steam decontamination involves using pure steam for sterilization. The process involves a short-time contact of 20-40 seconds with high-pressure steam at a temperature between 102°C and 122°C, which decontaminates heat-sensitive herbs, pulses, and spices without affecting their quality.
The equipment includes a unique continuous autoclave, shaking bed conveyor, and self-cleaning rotary valves. The total process takes 30 seconds for sterilizing and seven minutes for conditioning and is best suited for spices, herbs, and seeds.
Pasteurization
Vegetables play an essential role in a balanced and healthy diet and are a source of essential vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. However, they are highly perishable. Vegetables require appropriate preservation technology to preserve and lengthen their shelf life while maintaining their nutritional benefits and their original state and texture.
Pasteurization is subjecting food to temperatures of up to 100°C. Jaivik Foods’ pasteurization plant uses natural steam of 100-105°C to eliminate microorganisms. This plant is designed to eliminate microorganisms from food, increasing its shelf life and maintaining quality.
The plant has a shaking pasteurizer connected to a shaking fluid bed dryer/cooler, which uses low temp steam for pasteurizing, followed by filtered air to dry and cool the food. The pasteurizing plant is good for herbs, seeds, and nuts.
Fluid bed dryer
Jaivik Foods collaborated with Tema Process – known for designing and producing fluid bed systems for dehydrating minerals, chemicals, food, feed, and biomass, to develop a sophisticated fluid bed dryer.
The Tema fluid bed is used to dry, cool, roast, puff, blanch, and strip, and can be used on spices and herbs to help sterilize, pasteurize, and calcinate. The sophisticated PLC allows automation of the fluid bed drying system to facilitate human-free operation.
A constant energy balance controls the dryer as the system monitors the temperature of the air exiting it. The dryer consumes less energy, minimizes operating costs, and facilitates greater process flexibility while integrating cooling operations.
Jaivik Foods’ steam-powered solutions are good for sterilizing and pasteurizing food substances while allowing a more fantastic range of functions through the fluid bed dryers.
