Making cooking a quick and cost-effective process

Food Processing looks at a solution that promises energy, space and cost savings for the production of wet pet food

Traditional wet pet food processing requires multiple jacketed or pressure vessels, emulsifiers, heat exchanges and/or retorts to achieve the necessary high temperature sterilisation.

All this equipment can take up a lot of space and it requires regular maintenance and yearly pressure testing. The multiple processing stages also use a lot of energy. It also requires a considerable amount of labour and huge volumes of water and caustic to clean and remove burn-on. It also requires a considerable amount of labour.

DC Norris believes it can offer a better solution with its Jet Processing System which can offer energy and cost reductions by minimising the overall processing times for cooking, powder mixing, sterilisation, cooling and cleaning.

One of the innovations included in the system is high-speed Jet Entrainment used for powders such as gums, gels, vitamins and hydrocolloids. This entrains, heats, mixes and hydrates powders to their required temperature within minutes. It then automatically transfers them to a ‘none’ jacketed processing vessel which can contain ingredients such as meat, vegetables, water and rice.

Next, a Jet Cook In-tank unit heats the pet food to 50°C. The next step sees high-shear mixing heads emulsify the product before it is automatically diverted via Jet In-line units. It is then heated again from 50°C to 150°C in a single pass in less than 2m, with zero burn-on or fouling. As product goes through the units, the process flow undergoes a double phase change and a rapid transition of pressure and velocity.

Any powders, fats or liquids contained in the flow become thoroughly homogenised, along with even heat distribution from steam condensation, giving a 99.8% usage of the steam energy. The cooling process is completed using the same line, bringing it back down to 70°C before diverting to the filler holding vessels.

Finally, the mains water that has cooled the product after sterilisation is recovered back into the first process vessel, offering energy savings.

A recent Jet Processing installation for Pets Choice has allowed the company to produce 18,000 kgs of wet pet food per hour, using only one operator and all within a footprint of just

80m2

Due to the versatility of this bespoke system, the same features can be applied to many other cooking applications including soups, condiments and beverages.