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The relatively new convenience product segment known as chilled food
involves food that is freshly made, freshly processed and freshly cooled.
In addition to complete ready-meals, this segment primarily encompasses
fresh pizza and pasta that only need to be baked or cooked, as well as
kitchen-ready cleaned vegetables and salad preparations or complete,
ready-to-eat salads to which only dressing needs to be added. Other
examples of chilled food include sandwiches, cut and portioned fruit and
even plates of sushi. Chilled beverage products include smoothies and
freshly pressed juices. What all of these products have in common is that
they aren’t preserved thermally and don’t contain preservatives. They are
all sold in a chilled state and can be eaten after only minimal preparation.
Chilled products enable food companies to create more value than is the case
with conventional ready-meals or refrigerated products. They also offer
consumers the opportunity to enjoy freshly prepared food without needing
special skills or having to spend much time preparing meals. However, these
miraculously fresh products do require a certain amount of processing. In
addition to needing an effectively uninterrupted cold chain, hygienic and
germfree conditions are needed during the production and packaging of
chilled food. The focus is therefore on the germ count of the raw materials,
packagingmaterials, processing areas and finished products.
Clean surroundings are essential for combating germs
A clean and nearly germ-free production environment is the primary
precondition for ensuring that preservatives and heat treatment are not needed
to manufacture refrigerated fresh products. In addition to strict hygiene on the
part of personnel and the regular cleaning of all surfaces, machines and operating
materials, such an environment can best be attained through the use
of an appropriate air management system. As a result, clean rooms are slowly
being increasingly used in food production. However, targeted measures can
also be employed to ensure that airborne germs do not get anywhere near
chilled food in normal production facilities. For example, UV-C modules can be
integrated into air conditioning and ventilation systems. These modules
irradiate the air channelled into the room so that airborne germs are effectively
exterminated. Air is also effectively sterilized by atomising special aerosols in
the production areas. The effective components of these aerosols are
substances such as benzoic acid, lactic acid or hydrogen peroxide. These
substances can even be used for the production of organic products and they
also are effective on the food’s surface. Although they eliminate almost all of
the germs that cause spoilage, they are harmless for human beings and do not
damage the product.
Everything is under control in the packaging as well
Chilled food can be shrink-wrapped, which is particularly suited for pasta and
fully prepared meals. By contrast, sandwiches, sushi and salad preparations
would be damaged by such packaging or lose their fresh appearance. That’s
why Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) on trays is frequently used for
such products. MAPs replace preservatives with a germ-free gas atmosphere
that is tailored to the food in question in order to keep cut fruit, salads and
vegetables fresh. But tray packaging is also useful for other applications. The
merger of freshness and convenience is made perfect by all-new plastic
wrapping that allows kitchen-ready chilled products to be cooked or baked in
the microwave directly on the tray.
Creating clean conditions with high pressure
High Pressure Preservation (HPP) is a non-thermal method for preserving food.
This method, which has recently become generally available, reduces the
number of undesirable micro-organisms in food in a manner that preserves the
product’s properties. HPP helps to meet the increasing demand for very high
quality food products lacking additives. The system offered by the Anuga
FoodTec exhibitor Multivac consists of one or more HPP chambers and a
pressure booster. High Pressure Preservation of food is generally performed at a
pressure of up to 6,000 bars, which destroys any harmful micro-organisms that
the products may contain. The high-pressure treatment is employed on
primary packaged food. The process causes negligible thermal stress and hardly
changes the food’s structure, its taste or the valuable nutrients it contains. Protective
gas packaging that is especially adapted to high pressures is used as the primary
packaging to ensure that product quality remains unchanged during the food’s shelf life.
For further information on Anuga FoodTec, visit www.anugafoodtec.com
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