JPS5934571B2 - How to seal food and drinks - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a manufacturing method for producing canned coffee that can be stored for a long period of time by filling a can with coffee extract, so-called drinking coffee (hereinafter simply referred to as coffee) and sealing the can. be.

Generally, when a can or pin is filled with various beverages and sealed, if air is present in the sealed container, the beverage is likely to spoil and deteriorate due to the air inside the closed container and the bacteria present in the air.

In order to prevent this, in the past, the container was filled with beverage and then sealed. However, since the transfer process from filling the beverage into the container to sealing the container is carried out by a transfer device such as a belt conveyor, the container vibrates and inevitably ends up being filled during the transfer. If the drink spills out of the container and the container is sealed in this state, it is inevitable that air will remain in the container.To prevent this,
Inefficient means had to be taken to slow down the transfer and ensure that the beverages were not spilled. Further, even if the transfer speed is reduced to prevent the beverage from spilling, it is impossible to completely avoid residual air remaining in the container, and long-term storage of the sealed beverage is difficult.

Therefore, it is conceivable to adopt the conventional steam vacuum sealing method, which seals the coffee in steam, as a method for producing canned coffee. It is extremely difficult to seal and sterilize food so that it can be stored for a long period of time, and no suitable method has yet been devised.

The present invention was made in an attempt to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems regarding canned coffee, and while speeding up the transfer process to improve work efficiency,
Even if the can container being transferred vibrates due to the increased speed and the coffee inside the can spills, it is possible to prevent air from entering the can as much as possible during the subsequent can sealing process. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing canned coffee in which the coffee in a sealed can can be stored for a long period of time without losing its aroma or taste.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on illustrative drawings. Fig. 1 is a flow sheet showing the production process of canned milk coffee, and 1 in the figure is the mixing of roasted and ground coffee beans with hot water. This is a pressure type extractor for extracting coffee liquid from liquid, and 2 is a liquid storage tank for storing coffee liquid.

3 is a milk powder dissolving tank, 4 is a filter, 5 is a homogenizer, and 6 is a mixing tank.

7 is a pair of filters, 8 is a plate heater,
The pair of filters 7 are each equipped with a plate heater 9 for preheating, and all of these devices
They are appropriately connected through pipes, etc.

Note that 10 is a water heater 11 which is a pump, and 12 is a balance tank. In addition, in the figure, 13 is an empty can supply stand for supplying empty cans, 14 is a can washing machine for cleaning empty cans, 15 is a divisor for pasting labels etc. on empty cans, and 16 is an empty can supply stand. A filling machine 17 is used to fill the cans with milk coffee, and a seamer 17 is used to cover the cans after filling, and these devices are appropriately connected to each other by various transfer devices such as a belt conveyor 1.

The seamer 17 is housed in a steam chamber 18, and a steam jet nozzle 18' is arranged inside the steam chamber 18. A configuration is provided in which a large number of cans sealed by the seamer 17 are fed into a cooler 20 disposed close to the seamer 17, and the cooler 20 and the seamer 17 are connected to a belt conveyor. They are connected by various transfer devices such as one. 21 is a can holder for transporting the can after being cooled by the cooler 20 to the sterilization tank 19.

19 is a sterilization tank that sterilizes the sealed can by heating it at high temperature under high pressure and then cools it to room temperature.

Next, to explain the state and operation of production, roasted and ground coffee beans are put into the hot water produced by the water heater 10, and only the coffee liquid is taken out by the extractor 1 and stored in the liquid. Store in tank 2.

The coffee liquid in the liquid storage tank 2 is sequentially sent to the brewing tank 6 by the pump 11. On the other hand, the milk in the melting tank 3 is processed by the homogenizer 15 and supplied into the blending tank 6, and sugar is also dissolved and supplied into the blending tank 6, where it is blended with coffee liquid. The blended sweetened milk coffee is sent to either one of a pair of filters 7 to be filtered, and at the same time is preheated by a plate heater 9. Then, it is heated again by the plate heater 8, and eventually reaches a temperature of about 95°C.
It is sent to a filling machine 16 via a balance tank 12. Then, by this filling machine 16, the empty can supply stand 13, the can washing machine 1
4. The empty can sent through the divider 15 is filled with milk coffee. The can filled with milk coffee by the filling machine 16 is transferred into the steam chamber 18 by a belt conveyor.

The steam chamber 18 is filled with high-temperature steam ejected from the steam ejection nozzle 18', and the can fed therein is placed in an atmosphere of this steam. Even if the milk coffee in the can is spilled during the transfer, the steamer 17 placed in the steam chamber 18 supplies steam to the space near the mouth of the can. The can is sealed. At this time, germs present in the air are sterilized by the high-temperature water vapor, and the presence of this water vapor reduces the proportion of air itself in a given volume of water vapor.
Since the amount of air inside the sealed can can be kept to a minimum,
The presence of germs can be reduced more reliably.

The cans that have been sealed and sent out one after another in this manner are sent to the cooler 20, where they are immediately rapidly cooled to near room temperature, and then left in the atmosphere. Then, when a certain amount of cans have accumulated on the can holder 21, the sterilization tank 1
9. As above, sterilization tank 1
The can supplied into the tank 9 is kept at high pressure in this tank 19.
It is reliably sterilized by heating for about 30 minutes at a high temperature of about 120°C. After heat sterilization, the same sterilization tank 1
It is rapidly cooled down to near room temperature in tank 9 and then taken out from tank 19. In the above embodiment, the work of filling sweetened milk coffee into a can was explained as an example, but the contents may be other than sweetened milk coffee, such as sweetened coffee or unsweetened coffee. Needless to say. As shown in the examples above, the coffee extract according to the present invention is continuously filled to the full with the filling machine 16 at a high temperature of about 95°C, and the can is transferred to the steam chamber 18, The can is sealed in a steam atmosphere by a seamer 17 placed in the steam chamber 18, and the sealed can is rapidly cooled down to near room temperature by a cooler 20, and then heated at a high temperature of about 120°C under high pressure in a sterilization tank 19. , and because it is characterized by rapid cooling to near room temperature, it has the following advantages.

In other words, since the coffee is filled to the full when it is filled into the can, there is less remaining area after sealing, and the amount of germs remaining in the remaining area can be reduced. Since the coffee is filled at a high temperature of about 95 degrees Celsius, the coffee does not scatter and disappear, and most of the bacteria that adhere to the coffee itself can be removed.

After the coffee is filled in the can, it may spill out of the can due to transport vibrations during transportation during the sealing process, and a gap may be created between the liquid level of the coffee and the top edge of the can. Even if something happens, there is a sealing machine (Cima-11) to seal this can.
By placing 7) in the steam chamber 18, the can is sealed in an atmosphere of steam, so the air in the void created by spillage is replaced with steam when the can is sealed. Since this water vapor is hermetically sealed in a state filled with water vapor, almost no air remains in the void. Even if a small amount of air remains, the remaining air has been sterilized by being exposed to the high temperature of steam before the can is sealed, and the remaining air is sterilized by the high temperature steam and the high temperature coffee itself during and after the can is sealed. Since the bactericidal action continues, the canned coffee is obtained in an almost sterile state. Furthermore, the present invention liquefies the sealed water vapor and dissolves the remaining air into the liquid itself by rapidly cooling the sealed canned coffee to near room temperature using the cooler 20 without waiting for natural cooling. It is possible to quickly promote the cooling volume contraction of the coffee itself, change the void to a state close to vacuum, lower the pressure inside the can, and prevent the activation of residual bacteria. Until the sterilization process, it is possible to maintain a good state free of rot, deterioration, etc. due to residual bacteria.

In addition, by heating again in the sterilization tank 19 under high pressure at a high temperature of about 120°C, which is above the boiling point, and quickly cooling it to near room temperature, the liquid quality is not changed due to overheating. In addition, residual bacteria are almost completely killed without losing flavor, and the inside of the can after cooling can be constantly maintained in a highly vacuumed state due to the volumetric contraction of the coffee itself, resulting in coffee spoilage and deterioration caused by bacteria. It has become possible to almost certainly eliminate this, and to obtain canned coffee of stable quality that can withstand long-term storage.

Furthermore, since the present invention is configured as described above, it has become possible to speed up the transfer of the can after filling the coffee to the sealing machine, and it has also become possible to improve work efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the method for producing canned coffee according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is an overall flow sheet, and FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the main part. 16...Filling machine, 17...Cima one,
18... Steam room, 19... Sterilization tank, 20... Cooler.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Coffee extract is continuously filled to the full with the filling machine 16 at a high temperature of about 95°C, and the can is placed in the steam room 1.
8 and placed in the steam chamber 18
7, the sealed can is sealed in a steam atmosphere and placed in a cooler 20.
A method for producing canned coffee, in which the coffee is rapidly cooled to near room temperature, further heated at a high temperature of about 120° C. under high pressure in a sterilization tank 19, and rapidly cooled to near room temperature.