What are the main benefits of aseptic filling? ultra-high temperature (UHT) treatment associated with aseptic bottle filling technology is an important strategic choice for dairy and beverages industries.
From a marketing perspective, aseptic filling (such as hot filling and retort technology) offers many benefits to the consumer, and in comparison with chilled products, the shelf life is extended, hygiene and food safety are enhanced, making storage convenient and outside the cold chain.
Aseptically filled bottles are easy to handle, resealable and shock-resistant. The bottle is also a good way of standing out from competition on-shelf and is a new way of expanding the refrigerated milk and milk beverages market.
Concerning aseptic filling of low acid products such as UHT milks and dairy beverages, it has substantial quality advantages versus retort technology.
Long-life, shelf-stable milk used to be packed in bottles using autoclaving technology – milk being firstly UHT, processed then filled and sealed on a conventional machine before in-bottle sterilisation with temperatures ranging between 110°C and 120°C over 10-15 seconds (depending on the technology).
Aseptic filling in bottles involves UHT treatment, the product being then cooled down to 20°C before aseptic filling with no further heat-treatment. The organoleptic quality of aseptically processed UHT milk shows significant benefits in terms of lactulose, lactoserum proteins and vitamin content.
Aseptic packaging also avoids a cooked taste due to Maillard reaction or caramelisation.
Aseptic packaging in bottles is well suited to dairy beverages with high added value and a delicate formulation. For instance, where the added vitamins won’t bear further heat treatment. This includes flavoured milk and all low-acid drinks such as ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee, baby milk and nutritional milks, and where an overcooked taste is a major drawback (as in white milk).
Finally, aseptic filling in bottles achieves a consistently high grade of food safety.
PAA (Peracetic Acid) has been the chemical traditionally used for PET bottle sterilisation. It remains the most efficient medium with the largest decontamination spectrum over all germs (bacteria, spores, moulds and yeasts) and can be used for high and low acid products.
Moreover, PAA is used by Serac, for example, at around 50°C, which involves no damage to PET packaging. However, PAA decontamination system require sterile water rinsing, which is a major disadvantage in countries where water is ?rare and expensive.
Some companies, including Serac, have developed a dry decontamination process using H2O2 gas. This system is more compact and cheaper to run, with no rinsing required. As the H2O2 is used at high temperatures (over 100°C), this process can be critical in for PET bottles if the right decontamination parameters and cycles are not properly applied.
In the future, following the trend to do without chemicals where possible, other technologies, such as E-beam (electron-beam) may appear ?as real alternatives.
Considering that an aseptic line represents a fairly big investment, our customers are looking for lines with maximum product and packaging flexibility. Quite often now, we need to fill low and high acid products on the same line, and shelf-stable and non-shelf-stable products such as UHT milk and fermented milk.
This is theoretically possible, as the cleaning, sanitation and sterilisation operations are very efficient. But for the customer, that involves strict cleaning procedures and a high level of training and assistance.
Packaging size flexibility has been made possible by neck transfer systems, allowing changeover without cleaning. Some of our lines can operate HDPE ?and PET bottles. Our lines are designed to run for long production cycles under aseptic conditions, with no intermediary sanitation (72-hour runs between cleaning/sterilisation cycles on low acid) – this is a major guarantee for our customers, as they can justify the investment knowing that some of our aseptic lines have been running for more than 20 years.
Capex is one factor, but another to consider is Opex. One of our objectives is to keep maintenance costs in terms of spare parts and labour intervention as low ?as possible.
The most important targets for an aseptic line are sterility and line efficiency, and in our view, finished product integrity and equipment performance are ?often closely linked.
In UHT bottles, where the traditional packaging material is 3- or 6-layer co-extruded HDPE and the most common packaging is 100% sterile blown closed bottles (avoiding bottle inner chemical decontamination), Serac is working with global players and European leaders in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and so on.
For all other plastic bottles with an open neck, and especially ISBM PET bottles, Serac has provided packaging for low acid beverages in Japan and lately for many European brands, including a well-known green tea drink packed in PET bottles in Europe.
One of the latest lines delivered by Serac to a dairy company in France is a line for UHT baby milk in multi-layer HDPE bottles.
Using the benefit of experience, last year Serac delivered two aseptic lines (one pilot line and one industrial high speed line) for low-acid milk based drinks to the US which meet with the full FDA approval process.
Commercial production should commence during 2013. In 2013, Serac will supply nine aseptic lines for various product applications, such as UHT milk and cream in HDPE, long-life juices and tea in PET and whipped cream in metal containers.
In 2013, Serac will supply nine aseptic lines for UHT milk and cream, long life juices and tea.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024