Food Safety Takes Priority In Design pt 2 | HRS Heat Exchangers

Food Safety Takes Priority In Design pt 2

September 22, 2022 | Categories: Food - Opinion Piece | by

HRS Heat Exchangers produces a wide range of equipment for use in the food and beverage sectors, from basic tubular heat exchangers to fully integrated pasteurisation/sterilisation and aseptic filler systems, as well as a number of specialist products such as evaporators, ice crushers and melters, direct steam injection systems, air removal systems and pumps. All of these are hygienically designed from the start to facilitate clean operation and prevent the types of product contamination discussed above. All HRS products designed for food use meet 3A Sanitary Standards.

Furthermore, HRS equipment is particularly designed to facilitate product removal and subsequent cleaning. It has always been a challenge for food and drink businesses to implement effective and rigorous CIP regimes which meet the necessary standards in a way which minimises the loss or degradation of saleable or useful product. One example is the HRS R Series of rotating scraped surface heat exchangers which can physically remove product without the need for traditional pigging or flushing systems.

The R Series is suitable for a range of heat transfer applications and its unique design enables high viscosity products to be pumped with reduced back pressure and lower energy use. The helical spiral is fitted with scrapers – which scrape the surface of the tubes to prevent fouling in normal use – can also be run in reverse; thereby enabling valuable product to be recovered prior to routine cleaning or product changeover. This design feature means that much of the product can be removed from the HRS R Series without the need for additional pumps or pressure systems, reducing both CAPEX and OPEX.

HRS also produces a Product Recovery System, which combines continual monitoring of a set parameter (for example Brix, pH or viscosity) with the three-way valve technology employed in every HRS pasteuriser or steriliser. Working together, these two systems ensure that all product which meets the set parameters is utilised and only that which falls outside (for example, that diluted prior to or during CIP) is discarded. Furthermore, such monitoring helps to validate the effectiveness of CIP and ensures that following a cleaning cycle, only product that meets specification is allowed to proceed.

The hygienic design and construction of food processing equipment is an essential but often overlooked aspect of controlling the safety and quality of food and drink products, playing a crucial role in preventing contamination and allowing other food safety procedures to be carried out.

 

Read: Food Safety Takes Priority In Design pt 1