Aseptically packaged milk and juice has probably had the biggest impact of any technology in the beverages industry in the last 50 years.

One of the packaging machines of the Tetrapak, the company that started the trend by fabricating an aseptic machine, is pictured below.

This page actually contains an interactive diagram of the filler where you are able to look at key aspects of the machine and its design.

A nice way to view these multi million dollar machines!

This is a short 10 page note from The National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service . It summarises the various drying technologies applicable to food drying in a concise manner, supporting this with some cost information.

It then focusses on the potential of drying as a value addition process on the farm before ending with a lot of information and supplier links.

I’m a firm believer in people doing best, if they work for themselves rather than accept handouts. I therefore support SMME job creation as one of the tools to removing poverty in rural areas of South Africa. However, many of those in poverty in South Africa need information to support them in starting their own business – that’s why I run this website. I hope people working with those in poverty are able to use this information to assist.

For Nelson Mandela’s birthday I have spent my 67 minutes putting this free spreadsheet online.

The spreadsheet can be run by anyone by clicking on the image above or using the link http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AqVCDdQFhqhwdGI3ZVM1RUVKVzNXUlprSXE5ampPZVE&hl=en and I also provide it free to anyone who emails me here.

The spreadsheet is easy to use and could therefore also be used by any potential entrepreneur able to access the INTERNET.

Falling Film Evaporators are designed for the production of concentrates from heat sensitive liquids.

The text on the above image from a Wiegand brochure reads:

FALLING FILM EVAPORATORS

Design
Vertical shell-and-tube heat exchanger, with laterally or con- centrically arranged centrifugal separator.

Operation
The liquid to be concentrated is supplied to the top of the heating tubes and distributed in such a way as to flow down the inside of the tube walls as a thin film. The liquid film starts to boil due to the external heating of the tubes and is partially evaporated as a result. The downward flow, caused initially by gravity, is enhanced by the parallel, downward flow of the vapour formed. Residual film liquid and vapour is separated in the lower part of the calandria and in the downstream centrifugal droplet separator. It is essential that the entire film heating surface, es- pecially in the lower regions, be evenly and sufficiently wetted with liquid. Where this is not the case, dry spots will result

This study in the African Journal of Nutrition, Agriculture and Development (AJFAND), clearly shows, as would be expected, the loss in Vitamin A and C was the highest, while the crude protein content measured by a Kjeldahl method fell more than the minerals and fibre which one would not expect to be directly effected by drying.

I would have liked to have seen a bit more on the heat sensitive components of the three Amaranthus varieties used as feed and some mass balances to compare the degree of drying with the nutrient changes.

It is also interesting to note that AJFAND is a free online journal and that is edited by Professor Ruth Oniang’o. A few of the other articles that caught my eye were.

• Use of dried kapenta (Limnothrissa miodon and Stolothrissa tanganicae) and other products based on wholde fish for complementing maize-based diets.
  Anna Haug et al.

• Production of protein concentrate and isolate from cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) nut.
  Semiu Ogunwolu et al.

The next big international event of 2010 in South Africa is the IUFOST Congress starting in Cape Town on 22 August.

(click the image to open website)

The list of topics taken from the website indicate the breadth of the Congress.

• Food Safety, Food Safety Assurance schemes & Risk Analysis (incl. Crisis Management)
• Food Contaminants, Toxicology & Mycotoxins (incl. best approach/methods/models, communication to public)
• Food Analysis (incl. new approaches/methods, rapidity and applicability i.e. simplicity, cost-effectiveness & qualitative vs quantitative)
• Food Chemistry (incl. protein, lipids/fats/oils, carbohydrates & fibers, less known products, composition profiles, new insights into structure/behaviour)
• Food Ingredients and Additives (incl. bakery, dairy, beverage, meat and confectionery, functionality and Clean Label)
• Functional Foods (incl. nutrition profiles & labelling)
• Food Flavours
• Food, Nutrition, Diet and Health (incl. Products for patients with HIV/AIDS, combating obesity and other diseases of lifestyle)
• Physical and Sensory Sciences – Sensory Perception and Analysis
• Product Development/New Products (incl. post depression realities & real value delivery)
• Global and Regional Consumer Trends and Behaviours – Marketing to Consumers
• Food Information & Consumer Education
• Food Processing, New Technologies & Process Optimisation
• Fruits & Vegetable Processing, Fruit Juices & New Technologies
• Meat & Poultry Processing, New Species, New Processing Technologies
• Seafood, Fish and Fish processing, New Species, New Processing Technologies
• Food Packaging (incl. functionality vs sustainability vs risk, carbon footprint, new materials, special environments, new simplicity pressures, cost/benefit data, food waste reduction)
• Waste Management & Environmental Sustainability – (incl. water in food processing, carbon footprints/food miles, water availability, cost, closing the loop, waste reduction and handling, by-products, water related illness, energy issues, wastewater treatment and disposal)
• Cereals, Legumes & Oil Seeds (incl. baking science, processing, chemistry and analysis)
• Food Security Issues – Food Products in Situations of Critical Food Security – the real risks and best actions
• Food Regulations (incl. harmonisation and approval of new technologies, e.g. GM, nanotechnology, food cloning. Science base, enforcement, resources, management and support)
• Fermentation and Biotechnology (incl. optimisation, new unique products, new processes)
• Food Engineering (incl. physical properties of foods, process design, process simulation)
• Genetically Modified Foods (incl. facts, opportunities/risks, slaying the myths)
• Ethnic Foods
• Agricultural Production and Food Supply – Reducing Post-harvest Losses (incl. putting science based research to work in practice, technology transfer, influence of Global Warming and sustainability of agricultural production)
• Food Microbiology
• Food Science and Technology Education Development (incl. harmonisation, curriculum development, student recruiting)
• Other
• Nanotechnology

The direct stem injection method of heating has several advantages such as efficiency, easy control, no fouling on heat transfer surfaces and compactness. It does, however, mean that whatever carry over there maybe in your steam system will get into whatever you are heating.

Another of CTA’s series of pamphlets on processing.

These pamphlets are broad but short (normally 6 to 8 pages) and give a background about the topic, identifies the things to ask, describes processes, gives trouble shooting information and gives contacts from where further information can be sourced.
In this particular case it describes cooling in the double pot evaporative cooler and sun drying.