Shaking helps sterilise soup faster

A French manufacturer processing premium fish soup filled in glass jars is the recipient of the first industrial Shaka (diameter 1300 mm and with a useful length of 1400 mm) that combines shaking with heat to sterilise product more rapidly.

The Shaka facilitates in-container sterilisation that can be completed in a few minutes to allow the production of fresher, better tasting, long shelf life ambient foods. Food quality is comparable with pasteurised foods and with aseptic processed foods over a wide range of products.

Other retorting processes are slower and subject the food to a long exposure to heat, producing discolouration and that over-cooked note found in many canned and bottled foods.

The process sterilises food up to 20 times faster than conventional static retorting processes, with commensurate improvement in food quality.

For most retail cans and pouches of soups, sauces and similar food products, only about three minutes are needed for sterilisation and about 10 minutes for overall cycle times allowing about six batches per hour. Products containing particulates may take slightly longer. The Shaka process is not suitable for solid pack products such as ham or tuna, or for products requiring extended cooking.

The Shaka process can be used to improve the quality of existing long shelf life ambient packaged foods. With appropriate recipes, it can be used to create superior products comparable in quality to good pasteurised and chilled products, at ambient sector costs.

Soups, sauces, vegetables, baby foods, pasta-in-sauce, ready meals, pet foods and other categories can all be sterilised using the Shaka process.

The Shaka process is very fast, even for food in large containers. With quality raw materials, it can be used both to improve current food products and to make premium and gourmet ambient products for the food service market.

With packaging such as cans and pouches, which are highly heat conductive, the Shaka process can save up to 95% of sterilisation and overall cycle times compared to traditional static retorting processes.

With less conductive glass jars, the Shaka process can save about 85% of sterilisation and overall cycle times. Plastic packs also perform well, subject to precise temperature and pressure control.

Glass jars, pouches and plastic containers are processed with overpressure. All the containers used so far have withstood shaking in the retort.