Dairy Prize for Ultra-Clean-Chain
In September, the International Association of Dairy Engineers VIM and the Munich trade fair drinktec 2009 awarded the two German-Israeli partners Beth-El Industries/Fischer Planning the Dairy Technology Award for significant innovations in the area of production. The judges who are made up of renowned experts such as Professors Rademacher, Hinrichs, Hülsen and Weiss (Hanover and Hohenheim universities), have selected the Ultra-Clean-Chain, which begins with overpressure filters and finished with ozonisation of the containers and the seals, as a winner of one of the two main prizes. The ozonisation process, for which patents are pending, closes the last gap in the hygiene process. The gap exists because traditional filling methods do not guarantee the absolute sterility of the delivered packing materials. Thanks to the Sterivent and Laminar flow filters, the dairy product is delivered free of bacteria to the filling machine. Manufacturers, who strive for a long product life span, bypass the problem using aseptic filling machinery, mainly based on peroxide. Working with and using this hazardous substance demands high safety and machinery cost. In contrast, Beth-EL Industries/Fischer Planning have developed a process called SIP-Sterilization (SIP= Sterilization in Place), which works with the dry gas ozone. The ozone is then re-extracted and neutralized through a carbon filter. The developers sterilize aluminum- or the plastic film seals, in a similar manner. All of the sensitive areas in the production process are held in a state of overpressure, this prevents bacteria, fungus and spores being sucked out of the ambient air. The complete Ultra-Clean-Chain is made up of the Sterivent overpressure filters for tanks, Laminar flow filters for the filling machinery and the SIP ozonisation of the packing materials. The patented Hepa units Sterivent and Laminar flow have proven themselves in many cases at Coca Cola, Nestle, Unilever and Tnuva, helping to considerably extend the life of milk and drink products.
Written by
Bernd Genath
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