Two types of equipment used to keep ingredients fresh in food processing plants

The meat, vegetables, fruits, and seasonings that are using by food processing plants to produce packaged food products can degrade rapidly if they are not handled or stored in the right way. Here are two kinds of industrial equipment that processing plants use to keep their product ingredients fresh.

Commercial refrigerators

Virtually every food processing plant uses commercial refrigeration units to maintain the quality, and extend the shelf life of its fresh ingredients.

The bacteria that are responsible for the degradation of fresh food items can only breed under specific conditions; in addition to oxygen and moisture, they usually need a warm environment.

Because the temperatures inside a commercial refrigerator are consistently low, the rate at which these harmful bacteria multiply on the surfaces of the food that is kept on their shelves is drastically reduced.

Commercial refrigeration units differ from their residential counterparts in several ways. Firstly, their climate controls are usually far more precise and high-tech. Some models can, for example, automatically adjust their interior temperatures to compensate for changes caused by warm air entering the unit each time the door is opened.

Secondly, these units are usually made from more robust, bacteria-resistant materials that are easier to sanitise and can withstand constant heavy usage.

Industrial steam cleaners

The fresh ingredients used to make packaged food products are processed on conveyor belts and large tabletops. These surfaces need to be sanitised several times throughout the course of a typical work day, in order to prevent any bacteria that has been transferred onto them from contaminating the ingredients that are being processed on top of them.

In this situation, standard antibacterial chemical cleaners cannot be used, as these substances often leave behind a residue which could affect the flavour or quality of the ingredients that it comes into contact with. As such, most food processing plants use industrial steam cleaners to sanitise the surfaces on which they prepare their products.

The extremely high heat of the steam produced by this equipment is enough to kill off the vast majority of dangerous pathogens that may be living on the processing plant's conveyor belts and tabletops, without leaving behind any residues that could have a negative impact on the quality of the end product. Steam cleaners are particularly useful for removing bacteria from porous surfaces which feature cracks and crevices that a cleaning cloth or scrubbing brush may not be able to access.

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