TWI852920B - Activation sterilization method and device for fruits and vegetables - Google Patents

Abstract

The method for activating and sterilizing fruits and vegetables is to electrolyze and oxidize the chlorine ion solution in an electrolytic cell, and then dilute the electrolytic oxidizing solution with water to generate a highly concentrated slightly acidic electrolyzed water of the sterilizing material. While spraying and attaching to fruits and vegetables and sterilizing harmful bacteria on the surface of fruits and vegetables, the amount of glutathione in the cells is increased to activate the lost activity. The device for activating and sterilizing fruits and vegetables is composed of a sterilizing material container, a spray device, and a fruit and vegetable processing container. The device sprays the highly efficient extremely finely atomized slightly acidic electrolyzed water and circulates it completely in the processing container to attach to fruits and vegetables, and simultaneously achieves the desired activation and sterilization with less drainage and almost no one.

Description

Activation sterilization method and device for fruits and vegetables

The present invention relates to a technology for making a sterilizing material of a food additive generated by electrolytic oxidation of a chlorine ion solution into a fine mist and spraying it on fruits and vegetables in a container, thereby activating the fruits and vegetables while sterilizing them.

Many technologies for electrolytically oxidizing chlorine ion solutions to produce sterilizing materials are already known. There are methods of electrolyzing salt solution in a diaphragm electrolytic cell and taking out saline sterilizing water from the anode chamber; methods of electrolyzing salt in a non-diaphragm electrolytic cell to produce sodium hypochlorite solution; and devices for electrolyzing dilute hydrochloric acid in a non-diaphragm electrolytic cell to produce hypochlorous acid water. Among these technologies, the electrolyzed water produced is atomized and sprayed on fruits and vegetables to sterilize the bacteria on the surface of fruits and vegetables, while increasing the amount of glutathione in the cells of fruits and vegetables to activate fruits and vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables are widely provided as food in cafeterias, hotels, and restaurants. These ingredients are sterilized once at the shipping processing factory, or are shipped to the store without being sterilized and only washed. In most stores, they are only washed and provided because they cannot be heated and cooked. As time passes, these ingredients adhere to and multiply the residual bacteria after sterilization on the surface or cuts, and the bacteria in the air adhere to and multiply on other ingredients, cooking utensils, and chefs, becoming the cause of food poisoning. Food poisoning accidents caused by harmful bacteria such as enterohemorrhagic E. coli, Salmonella, Cholera, Shigella, etc. often occur. Similarly, vegetables lose their vitality over time, that is, they wilt and lose significant or complete commercial value.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is: in the sterilizing material generated by electrolytically oxidizing a chlorine ion solution in an electrolytic cell and diluting the electrolytic oxidized solution with water, a high concentration of hypochlorous acid containing a sterilizing component of 20-80 mg/L is atomized and sprayed on the surface of fruits and vegetables to sterilize the fungi while increasing and activating the amount of glutathione in the cells of fruits and vegetables.

It is also very important to make the sprayed sterilizing agent adhere to the vegetables before it loses its function.

And since the sterilized material is eaten while attached to vegetables, it must be a food additive and does not need to be washed.

Since it is better to reduce the amount of water discharged, it is ideal to achieve this function with a small amount of spray.

The present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to make the sterilizing material, which is a food additive sterilizing material recognized as a sterilizing material without high-concentration residue, adhere to the surface of vegetables and spray it as a fine mist of appropriate particles with less drainage.

In order to solve the problem, the inventor of the present invention uses a sprayed sterilizing agent that does not use sodium chloride, a food additive sterilizing agent that produces residues during production, and uses slightly acidic electrolyzed water that does not require water washing.

The ideal concentration of hypochlorous acid as the sterilizing component of the sterilizing material is 20mg/L to 80mg/L.

The particle size of the sprayed fine mist sterilizer is preferably from 5 microns to about 20 microns, which can improve its adhesion on fruits and vegetables and reduce the amount of drainage.

The preferred spray volume depends on the size of the sterilized fruit and vegetable processing container, but the ideal spray volume per hour is about 500mL~1500mL.

It is better for the container for storing sterilizing materials to be built into the spraying device or placed nearby. The ideal container is from 4L to about 20L, which can spray for more than 8 hours.

It is preferred that the container for storing sterilizing materials is made of a transparent or translucent sealed resin so that the content can be visually confirmed and a suction tube can be inserted into the bottom surface.

Because the spray device has the function of automatically sucking the sprayed sterilant, it is equipped with a suction pump and a control function to control the appropriate suction amount, which can be automatically operated by a timer during the spraying time.

It is better to use an ultrasonic atomizer to spray the sterilizing agent without losing the function of the sterilizing agent. Its function is determined by considering the particle size and atomization ability.

In order to prevent the sterilizing material from being affected by the sterilizing material, the atomized sterilizing material is transported from the upstream side by airflow such as a fan and transported to the exhaust duct. In addition, a filter is installed at the air inlet of the fan to remove dust, garbage, etc.

The carry-out duct is a resin tube with a smooth inner surface or a corrugated tube with no liquid accumulation. It is connected to the top of the fruit and vegetable container and circulates in the container before being discharged from the bottom as drainage.

In order to prevent the sprayed sterilizing material from changing flow in the container, a conduit, a porous plate and a wind direction adjustment plate are installed at the container connection part, forming a structure in which the sterilizing material flows down and circulates completely in the container.

It is preferred that the fruit and vegetable processing container is a cube, the size of which is determined by the amount of vegetables to be processed. Drawers are provided on the sides of the cube to form a tray, and the bottom plate of the tray is formed into a porous plate or a mesh, and the atomized sterilizing material can flow from top to bottom.

It is better to place fruits and vegetables that are difficult to sterilize (scallions, leeks, cucumbers, strawberries, etc.) on the upper tray, and to place green leafy vegetables and fruits that can be easily sterilized to a certain extent on the lower tray.

As mentioned above, the atomized sterilizing material is introduced from the top of the processing container, passes through each tray, and maintains the atomized sterilizing material in the container after reaching the bottom. The drainage falling from each tray and the water accumulated on the bottom plate of the container are stored on the bottom plate of the container. After the fruits and vegetables arranged at the bottom are sterilized, the drainage discharged from the drain nozzle at the bottom of the container loses its sterilization ability and becomes liquefied water, and there is no problem in general drainage.

It is better to use fluororubber such as fluororubber for linings and sealing pads of sterilizing containers, spray devices, and vegetable containers.

According to the present invention, harmful food poisoning bacteria attached and proliferated on the surface of vegetables are sterilized, ensuring the safety of raw vegetables, and having the effect of revitalizing wilted vegetables.

By forming such a structure, the following advantages can be obtained. The container for storing the sterilizing agent can use the existing resin container, and the sterilizing agent can be circulated in the vegetable processing container to maintain the sterility of the container. It can also be used to sterilize suitable ingredients other than fruits and vegetables (such as seafood) and kitchen utensils.

The treatment time is set by setting a timer function in the spray device. If it is set in advance, unattended treatment can be carried out from the start to the end, and no service is required by simply connecting the treatment container to the drain.

1: Sterilization material container

2: Slightly acidic electrolyzed water

3: Insertion tube for suction

4: Suction tube

5: Spray device

6: Spray pipe

7: Finely atomized slightly acidic electrolyzed water

8: Fruit and vegetable processing container

9: Dispersion board

10: Wind direction adjustment plate

11: Slightly acidic electrolyzed water

12: Upper scaffolding

13: Central Shed

14: Lower scaffolding

15: Drain nozzle

16: Drain valve

17: Drain pipe

18: Drainage trough

19: Suction tube 2

20: Suction pump

21: Supply pipe

22: Spray water container

23: Liquid level lower limit gauge

24: Liquid level upper limit gauge

25: Spray water supply piping

26: Spray container

27: Ultrasonic oscillator

28: Atomizer tank

29: Mist fan (axial flow fan)

30:Filter

31: Dispersed catheter

32A: Lower plate

32B: Lower plate

32C: Lower plate

33: The lowest shelf of the container

34: Control device

35: Clock Department

36: Operation Department

37: Drops of slightly acidic electrolyzed water falling from the upper shed

38: Unliquefied mist

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of a piping configuration involved in an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing the structure of (4) in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing the structure of (6) in Figure 1.

)的構造的圖。 Figure 4 shows the arrow view angle of Figure 3 (

)’s structure.

Figure 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration involved in the implementation of the present invention.

The best implementation method of the present invention is a structure composed of a sterilizing material container, a spray device, and a vegetable container. The capacity and size of the device can be appropriately determined based on the amount of processing.

Next, an example is given to illustrate the present invention in more detail, but the purpose is not to limit the scope of the present invention to this example. The purpose is to deepen the understanding of the present invention.

The implementation of the present invention is described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same symbols are given to the same or corresponding parts in the drawings.

The hypochlorous acid water generating device involved in this embodiment is described with reference to Figures 1 to 4.

The drawings of the embodiment are shown in Figures 1 to 4. 5L of slightly acidic electrolyzed water 2 with a hypochlorous acid concentration of 50mg/L and a pH of 5.6 generated by a slightly acidic electrolyzed water device without adding sodium chloride is stored in a sterilizing material container 1 with a capacity of 10L. The spray device 5 is a device stored in a cubic frame, and has a power supply and control function 34. The slightly acidic electrolyzed water 2 is transported to the spray water container 22 by the suction pump 20 inside the spray device 5 through the suction insertion tube 3, the suction tube 4, the suction tube 2 (19), and the supply tube 21. A lower limit liquid level gauge 23 and an upper limit liquid level gauge 24 are set in the spray water container 22. When the lower limit liquid level gauge 23 is detected during the operation of the device, the suction pump 20 operates and delivers the slightly acidic electrolyzed water 2 to the spray water container 22. When the upper limit liquid level gauge 24 is detected, the liquid level control function of the suction pump 20 is stopped and operated.

The spray water container 22 is connected to the spray water container 26 by the spray water supply pipe 25 and supplies the slightly acidic electrolyzed water 2. The liquid level of the spray water container 22 is the same as the liquid level height of the spray water container 26, and this height is designed to be the optimal liquid level height of the mist generation of the ultrasonic emitter 27. The slightly acidic electrolyzed water, which is a fine mist of about 5 microns in diameter, is scattered in the atomization tank 28 by the atomization function of the ultrasonic emitter 27.

The air sucked by the spray fan (axial flow fan) 29 is sucked through the filter 30 to remove dust and garbage, and then the atomized slightly acidic electrolyzed water 2 is transported to the spray duct 6 and transported to the upper part of the cubic fruit and vegetable processing container 8.

The atomized slightly acidic electrolyzed water 7 sent to the upper part of the fruit and vegetable processing container 8 is transported to the dispersion duct 31, which has a structure in which a dispersion plate 9 and a wind direction adjustment plate 10 are arranged toward the depth of the container and the atomized slightly acidic electrolyzed water 11 is dispersed over the entire width of the fruit and vegetable processing container 8. The dispersion plate 9 is a porous plate with a pore diameter of 5mm to 10mm, and the wind direction adjustment plate 10 is a plate-shaped structure arranged at equal intervals and can be changed to an angle of about 90° when viewed from above.

The upper shelf 12, the central shelf 13, and the lower shelf 14 are drawer-type structures, and the vegetables are arranged on each tray in the pulled-out state. The dispersed slightly acidic electrolyzed water 11 flows from top to bottom in sequence, contacts the vegetables arranged on the shelf, and partially adheres to exert its function. The lower plates 32A, 32B, and 32C of the upper shelf 12, the central shelf 13, and the lower shelf 14 are porous plates, and the holes become larger along the flow direction of the mist, and the mist circulates completely in the tank.

The mist flowing down to the bottom section is liquefied, and the slightly acidic electrolyzed water droplets 37 falling from the upper shelf become liquid and come into contact with the fruits and vegetables arranged on the bottom shelf 33 of the container, and then are drained from the drain trough 18 through the drain nozzle 15, drain valve 16, and drain pipe 17. The unliquefied mist 38 is further circulated in the container.

Next, the functional structure of the control device 34 is explained with reference to FIG. 5. The control function does not require a control device in the sterilizing material container 1 and the fruit and vegetable processing container 8, and only exists in the spraying device 5. First, the liquid level height control of the spraying water container 22 is to operate the suction pump 20 to suck the slightly acidic electrolyzed water 2 stored in the sterilizing material container 1 based on the lower limit liquid level detected by the liquid level lower limit level gauge 23, and to prevent malfunction, the ultrasonic oscillator 27 is stopped. If the liquid level lower limit liquid level gauge 23 does not detect, the ultrasonic oscillator 27 is started to start spraying. If the liquid level upper limit liquid level gauge 24 detects, the suction pump 20 is stopped to prevent the spraying water container 22 from overflowing. The ultrasonic oscillator 27 and the spray fan 29 operate in the same way. If the ultrasonic oscillator 27 is operating, the spray fan 29 will start and stop at the same time. The control function is provided with a clock unit 35, and the device is stopped by the spray time input in advance in the operation unit 36. If the lower limit liquid level gauge 23 continues to detect that the liquid level exceeds the set time during the spray time, the control unit will determine it as abnormal and stop the device.

When this device sprays 500mL of sterilizing agent in 1 hour, the amount of water discharged is 150mL. 350mL should be attached to the vegetables.

The state of the vegetables treated with hypochlorous acid concentration of 50 mg/L and slightly acidic electrolysis of pH 5.6 at a spray volume of 500 mL per hour for 1 hour using the vegetable sterilization activity method and device is as follows, achieving sufficient sterilization results. The treatment volume and measurement method at this time, and the results are as follows.

Processing volume

萵苣(切成大塊)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.93kg

Lettuce (cut into large pieces)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.93kg

花椰菜(切成大塊)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.47kg

Cauliflower (cut into large pieces)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.47kg

青椒(切成大塊)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.45kg

Green pepper (cut into large pieces)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.45kg

黃瓜(切成圓片)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.50kg

Cucumber (cut into round slices)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.50kg

胡蘿蔔(去皮切成塊)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧2.40kg

Carrots (peeled and cut into pieces)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧2.40kg

高麗菜(剝去外皮切成大塊)‧‧‧‧‧‧1.20kg

Cabbage (peel and cut into large pieces)‧‧‧‧‧‧1.20kg

蔥(切成大塊)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.50kg

Scallions (cut into large pieces)‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧0.50kg

Measurement method

The surface of the specimen before and after cleaning is wiped with a sterile cotton swab and inoculated into the culture medium. Culture is performed under established conditions. In addition, the specimen is washed with tap water before treatment.

Culture medium: For general bacteria, use "trypticase soy agar plate culture medium (Φ90mm culture dish)"

Wipe inspection: dilute with sterile water (10ml)‧wipe with sterile cotton swab and sterile graduated pipette (for 1ml)

Culture thermostat: culture conditions (temperature 37°C, 48 hours)

高麗菜、

菠菜、

黃瓜的3種採取200mg且以1g的純水稀釋之中的5μL作為檢體，各別測定處理前、處理後的總穀胱甘肽量來比較。 Next,

Cabbage,

spinach,

200 mg of three types of cucumber were taken and 5 μL of the diluted 1 g of pure water was used as a sample. The total glutathione content before and after treatment was measured for comparison.

The measurement method is to perform 3-point measurement with each sample and each washing method by luminescence measurement and divide the average value into before and after treatment, and measure the total glutathione (GHS) concentration (μM=μmol/L) of each sample after the above treatment.

Next, the cabbage leaves cut into large and thick pieces were placed on a dish with a diameter of 15 cm to measure and compare their weight and volume height before and after treatment.

As a result, the treatment effect can be seen in both the sterilization of bacteria and the amount of glutathione after treatment. Whether in terms of numerical values, visual touch, or taste, the food is activated and feels fresh.

The above embodiments disclosed this time should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive in all aspects. The scope of the present invention is not disclosed by the above description but by the scope of the application, and includes the meaning equivalent to the scope of the application and all changes within the scope.

1‧‧‧Sterilization material container

2‧‧‧Slightly acidic electrolyzed water

3‧‧‧Insert suction tube

4‧‧‧Suction tube

5‧‧‧Spray device

6. Spray pipe

7‧‧‧Finely atomized slightly acidic electrolyzed water

8‧‧‧Fruit and vegetable processing containers

9‧‧‧Dispersion board

10‧‧‧Wind direction adjustment plate

11‧‧‧Dispersed and atomized slightly acidic electrolyzed water

12‧‧‧Upper scaffolding

13‧‧‧Middle scaffolding

14‧‧‧Lower scaffolding

15‧‧‧Drain nozzle

16‧‧‧Drain valve

17‧‧‧Drain pipe

18‧‧‧Drainage trough

Claims (7)

A method for activating sterilization of fruits and vegetables is to electrolytically oxidize a chlorine ion solution in an electrolytic cell with or without a diaphragm, and to use the sterilizing water generated by diluting the electrolytic oxidizing solution with water as a fine mist spray on fruits and vegetables placed in a sealed container to sterilize harmful bacteria on the surface. The concentration of hypochlorous acid in the sterilizing material is 20-80 mg/L. The sprayed sterilizing material is a slightly acidic electrolyzed water that does not use sodium chloride that will produce residues during production and does not require water washing. The sterilizing material can be directly eaten when attached to the fruits and vegetables, and is a food additive. For example, in the method for activating sterilization of fruits and vegetables in the first item of the patent application, in order to allow the sprayed sterilizing water to completely contact the surface of fruits and vegetables, the sterilizing material is turned into a mist for spraying to increase and activate the glutathione in the cells of fruits and vegetables. An activated sterilization device for fruits and vegetables is composed of a container for holding or placing fruits and vegetables and a spray device. The container is sealed so that the sprayed fine mist is dispersed at the container entrance and flows down in the container, or the fine mist circulates and completely contacts the vegetables. The sprayed fine mist, i.e., the sterilizing material, is slightly acidic electrolyzed water that does not use sodium chloride that produces residues during production and does not require water washing. The sterilizing material can be directly eaten when attached to the fruits and vegetables, and is a food additive. As described in item 3 of the patent application scope, the activated sterilization device for fruits and vegetables, wherein the fine mist dispersing means is composed of one or more selected from a group consisting of a plurality of fine holes, fine mist dispersing plates or conduits provided at the inlet of the fruit and vegetable container. As described in item 3 or 4 of the patent application, the activated sterilization device for fruits and vegetables, wherein the spraying device is a device for atomizing liquid for spraying, and is characterized by being composed of a sterilizing material suction means, a mist generating means, a mist conveying means for conveying atomized mist, and a mist conveying path for conveying the mist, and is a mist dispersing device for dispersing the mist at a position different from the position where the mist is generated, and the mist generating means is an ultrasonic method. As described in item 3 or 4 of the patent application scope, the activated sterilization device for fruits and vegetables, wherein the fine mist delivery means is air flow delivery by an axial flow fan. As described in item 3 or 4 of the patent application scope, the activated sterilization device for fruits and vegetables, wherein the mist delivery path is composed of a corrugated conduit or pipe.