JP2001037437A - Sterilizing system for packaged tofu with ozonous water - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive method for sterilizing a packaged Tofu which can be adopted even in a small-scale plant for producing the Tofu. SOLUTION: A container is tilted on the upstream side and blanching water is discharged. Ozonous water is simultaneously showered in a conveying line between a blanching water tank and a heat-sealing machine of a conventional automatic filling line for a packaged Tofu. The interior of the container is then filled with ozonous water on the downstream side thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a system for sterilizing packaged tofu.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a heat sterilizer has been used for sterilizing packaged tofu. There are 6 heat-sealed tofu
Sterilized by heating at 0-70 ° C for 10-30 minutes.

[0003]

In this heat sterilization method, an expensive apparatus, a large installation area and a large amount of heat energy are required, and the cost burden is increased. Therefore, this method cannot be used in a small-scale manufacturing plant. . Therefore, there has been a long-awaited desire to develop a method capable of obtaining a sterilizing effect similar to that of heat sterilization with a small cost burden that can be adopted even in a small-scale factory.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for responding to this demand, wherein a container containing tofu is provided on a transfer line from an exposure tank to a seal pack machine in an automatic filling line for packed tofu. Ozonated water in the container is replaced by ozone water by showering ozone water while transporting the container obliquely, and then the container is returned to a horizontal position, and then the inside of the container is filled with ozone water again. It is a sterilization system for packaging tofu.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described based on embodiments with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the system of the present invention. Conveyors 1, 5, and 6 are conventional conveyors for automatic filling lines for packaged tofu. Conveyor 1 is a conveyor in which tofu cut in an exposed water tank is filled in a container in water and carried out of the water tank. The conveyor 6 is a conveyor having a heat sealing mechanism (not shown) for sealing the container containing cut tofu with a film downstream, and the conveyor 5 is a conveyor for supplying the container containing cut tofu to the conveyor 6. The conveyor 3 is the core device of the present invention, and the conveyors 2 and 4 are conventional conveyors for connecting the line and the conveyor 3. Sprinkler pipes 7 and 8 connected to the ozone water generator are installed above the conveyor 3 and the conveyor 6, and the valve 9 controls the ratio of ozone water supplied to the two sprinkler pipes. The start switches of the conveyors 2, 3, 4 and the ozone water generator 10 are all linked with the power switch of the conveyor 6.

[0006] The conveyor 3 is driven by a pulley.
A zone that consists of six round belts 11 and tilts the container obliquely from horizontal to discharge the exposed water in the container (a in the figure).
And a zone in which the ozone water is showered while the container is being transported while being inclined and the exposed water is replaced with the ozone water (b in the figure), and a zone in which the inclined container is returned horizontally (c in the figure). A drain tray 12 is provided below the conveyor 3, and water discharged from the conveyor 3 is guided to a drain duct.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'of the zone b in FIG. The inclined container is supported by the guide rail 13, and the side of the container is conveyed while sliding on the guide rail surface. The inclination angle of the container is 30 to 45 degrees (horizontal 0
As a degree). If the angle of inclination is smaller than 30 degrees, the displacement of exposed water and ozone water becomes worse and the sterilization effect is reduced. If the angle of inclination is larger than 45 degrees, tofu tends to spill out of the container. b zone length is 0.5 ~
It is good to be 1 m. If the length is shorter than 0.5 m, the replacement of the exposure water and the ozone water becomes insufficient, which is not preferable.
If the length is longer than 1 m, the exchange rate of the exposed water and the ozone water is improved, but the wasteful ozone water is increased.

[0008] The watering pipe has a hole of 1 to 5 mm in the pipe.
Use ones opened in a row at 10 cm intervals. It is preferable that the length of the water sprinkling pipe is equal to the length of the zone in the conveyor 3, and the length of 2 to 4 containers (20 to
50 cm). If the container 6 is heat-sealed before the container is not filled with water due to the shortage of water, the air will be enclosed in the packaged tofu, and it will float up in the chiller water tank in the next process, causing problems such as insufficient cooling. Since the water is generated, the ratio of the ozone water supplied to the two water sprinkling pipes is determined so that the conveyer 6 does not run out of water.

Since the solubility of ozone gas in water increases as the temperature decreases, it is preferable to supply chiller water at 5 to 10 ° C. to the ozone water generator. The lower the temperature, the higher the concentration of ozone water obtained and the greater the bactericidal effect. In addition, the tofu (40-50 ° C) cut in the bleaching tank is preliminarily cooled, thereby suppressing the growth of bacteria. This has the effect. Also, when ozone water is showered, dissolved ozone is diffused into the atmosphere. However, the lower the water temperature, the less the air is diffused, so that there is also an advantage that the working environment is less polluted. However, some ozone is diffused even at 5 to 10 ° C., so it is preferable to install transparent resin hoods 14 and 15 connected to the exhaust fan by ducts in the two shower zones.

[0010]

EXAMPLE An ozone water generator Sania Clean SC-1050 manufactured by Onit Co., Ltd. was chilled at 7 ° C. for 1 t / h.
The feed supplied ozone water at a concentration of 5 ppm. 1
In FIG. 1 in which this system was introduced into an automatic production line for producing 2,000 packaged tofu at a time, a 0.4 t
/ H, 0.6 t / h was supplied to the sprinkler tube 8 to produce packaged tofu. After storing the two kinds of the obtained products in a cold storage at 10 ° C. for 4 days, the number of general bacteria of tofu was measured by an ordinary method and compared with the measured value before adopting this system.
Was obtained.

[0011]

[Table 1]

[0012]

The present invention is embodied in the form as described above, and discharges the exposed water of the tofu filled in the conventional packaged tofu and replaces it with the ozone water so that the packaged tofu can be shipped. Bacteria can be greatly reduced,
As a result, the net expiration date can be extended for 1-2 days. The apparatus of the present invention is extremely inexpensive compared to conventional heat sterilization, requires little installation space, and requires little operating cost, so that the same sterilization effect as heat sterilization can be obtained even in a small-scale manufacturing facility.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along arrow AA 'of a zone b of the conveyor 3 of FIG.

[Description of Signs] 1, 5, 6 Conveyor for existing line 2, 4 Conveyor for transferring conveyor 5 and existing line 3 Conveyor for replacing exposed water in container with ozone water 7, 8 Ozone water sprinkling pipe 9 ozone Valve for water ratio control 10 Ozone water generator 11 Round belt 12 Drain tray 13 Guide rail 14, 15 Ozone gas exhaust hood a Zone for discharging the exposed water in the container b Zone for replacing the exposed water with ozone water c Inclined Zone for returning containers horizontally

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tsuki Asano 500-31 Misu, Soja City, Okayama Pref. LW10 MC01 MK08 MP03 MP05 MQ04

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims 1. In a transfer line from an exposure tank to a heat sealing machine of an automatic packaging tofu filling line, ozone water is showered while a container containing tofu is obliquely transported while being conveyed. Is replaced with ozone water, the container is returned to a horizontal position, and then the container is filled with ozone water again.