FOOD & BEVERAGE
Efficiency and sustainability in the food and beverage industry can be achieved with comprehensive approaches and appropriate technologies.
In order to meet increasing food demand faster and with better quality, the food and beverage industry is focusing on highest flexibility and productivity. At the same time, sustainability is not only a buzz word but requires firm actions: careful use of water resources, decarbonization, and energy efficiency are key factors to achieve these goals and withstand the global competition. A comprehensive approach and change from traditional practises is necessary. That is why it essential to talk about water in the food processing industry?
Water is vital!
Water is a major resource in food industry, from primary production throughout all stages in the food value chain.
Water can be in contact with food directly, as an ingredient, or indirectly – washing the produce. Water is also used to maintain hygiene and sanitation.
Potential physical, chemical and biological risks introduced by water into the production process shall be adequately controlled.
Thus, the quality aspect of the water applied in a food processing plant must be of your highest priority.
In order to ensure microbiological safety of the water, minimize microbial contamination, cross-contamination of products and microbial infiltration into produce, appropriate and effective treatment methods should be applied, controlled, monitored and analysed.
Ozone is Nature.
Ozone is a natural and potent oxidizing agent. Ozone destroys viruses, bacteria, mould and other microorganisms that can and will harm your product along the supply chain. Ozone is a sustainable kill step for the processing industry.
Ozone destroys bacteria, viruses, mould and fungus without harming the product with oxygen as the only residual left behind.
The natural properties of ozone that are collected and applied into the industrial ozone system provide several benefits – the main being control of the water quality extended shelf life of the produce be it: fruits and vegetables, species, liquid foods, protein etc.
Ozone known benefits for food processing:
- Extend the shelf life of the produce
- Preserve organoleptic properties of the produce – taste, sight, smell, touch, bite.
- Ensure and enhance food safety by eliminating harmful pathogens
- Decreases dependency on harmful chemicals
- Reduce usage of resources – energy and water
- Enables lower operational costs
Ozone less known benefits for food processing:
- Prevent of biofouling formation (here a link to the Biofilm in food processing step https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/biofilm-food-industry-hidden-enemy-safety-camilla-khrulova/ re-written)
- Improve the operational capacity of Heat Exchanger and Falling Films Chillers
- Lower energy cost
- Decrease the maintenance and cleaning procedures
- Reduce down time
- Improve the overall hygienic level of your processing facility
- Reduce Food loss at the processing step
| The Effect | The Impact | The Math |
| Shelf-life extension | Possibility to reach new/further away markets.
Reduction of food loss at the production step. Better storage control.
|
Increased profitability. |
| Prevention of biofouling | No risk of microbial growth.
No risk of food contamination. Less need for in depth cleaning. Less downtime of production. No product recall – no brand damage.
|
Lower operation costs.
Increased productivity. |
| Decreases dependency on harmful chemicals
|
No need for storage and handling of hazardous substances.
No harmful residues on the product. Enables entrance to organic segment. No product recall due to non-compliance with chemical thresholds.
|
Lower operation costs.
Increased productivity and profitability. |
| Prospect of water re-use | Microbiologically safe process water prone for re-use.
Lower intake of fresh water. Lower usage of fresh water.
|
Lower operational costs.
Green and sustainable profile. |
| Less need for time consuming mechanical cleaning | Increase production capacity.
Possibility to product change without cross-contamination risk.
|
Increased productivity.
Increased profitability. Increased production capacity. Lower OPEX
|
| Efficient operation of Falling Film chillers and heat exchangers
|
More efficient heat transfer.
Less mechanical cleaning. Prevention of biofouling and further re-contamination of the process water. |
No energy losses.
Increased cooling capacity. Less stops in production for manual or chemical cleaning. |
Contact us!
Where you can apply ozone
Processing food is very water-intensive process. Water is used at the time of harvest and during post-harvest handling : washing, rinsing, fluming, chilling, cooling as well as for general cleaning and sanitation.
The water used in the processing facility must be managed in a appropriate way to promote sustainability stewardship and conformity with strict food safety and environmental regulations.
Most existing recommendations require that post-harvest water that comes in contact with produce should be of portable quality during all post-harvest operations. This is not always possible – some food processors do not have access to the portable water quality while for other usage and discharge of portable water presents a big financial and corporate restraint.
Why only use water of high quality once? Recirculate, treat with ozone and re-use.
And critical points and challenges to consider include:
- Simply rinsing your product is not enough to remove contamination. Washing cannot remove or deactivate pathogens that by nature would seek protective niches on the deep surfaces of the product.
- Process water in the food processing plants has highly varying water quality paraments, such as dissolved solids, COD ( chemical oxygen demand) and microbiological quality – which makes it a challenge to implement standardized fit-for-all treatment solutions.
Consideration about the use of traditional chemical disinfectants should include:
the appropriateness of the method for organic produce and sustainable production practises that are demanded by the consumers.
Potential accumulation of toxic disinfection by-products that accumulate in the process water and can be transferred to the product itself.
FLO3W® water quality management system is based on correctly applied, monitored and controlled ozone, to provide safe process water and limit the cross-contamination of the product via process water.
We Place special attention and evaluate all existing steps that are involved in the process like:
- Washers
- Hydro coolers
- Blanchers/Coolers
- Brushers and polishers
- Glazing systems
- Holding tanks
- Water retention tanks for the product
- Product Storages
Arrow Lake team will help you identify the primary contamination susceptible steps in your processes, leading to product infection and its further recall.
Moreover, the Arrow Lake team will determine the most advantageous placement of the FLO3W® system for optimal and far reaching effect.
Fresh and Frozen Produce
Fresh-cut produce processing and frozen fruit and vegetable manufacturing are among the most water-intensive processes, due to the large consumption of portable quality water.
All the steps in processing fresh and frozen produce aim to preserve the natural nutrients of the product, the colour, taste.
Additional important aspect is food safety – the duty of the processor to monitor and preserve the food safe for consumption, free from viruses, bacteria, pathogens, and toxic chemical residues.
To maintain the process water treated, the producers usually use traditional chemical or physical solutions that
- Leave chemical residuals on the product
- Damage the equipment and piping system
- Powerless against prevent biofilm formation
- Requires additional rinsing step
- Unable to achieve required microbiology log reduction unless unauthorized/dangerous dosages are implied
- Unable to adjust to the internal and external factors affecting the process water during production cycle
- Allow the build-up of biofilm
The FLO₃W® - is more than just a treatment system.
Using ozone-based water quality management system The FLO3W®, we can achieve:
- Treatment of the process, maintaining the microbiological water quality standards.
- Prevention biofilm formation – eliminates the risk of potential outbreak on the factory
- Improves the efficiency of the Heat exchangers and Falling Films chillers, no energy losses.
- Less mechanical or chemical cleaning required
- Description automatically generatedOzone enriched water reduced the microbiology load by 4logs, total elimination of the yeasts and moulds.
- Prevents cross-contamination and re-contamination of the produce in between the temperature controlled environments
- Reduced oxidation time of the fruits – more time to further process the produce
- No alteration of the chemical or physical properties of the fruits even after cold storing for over 90 days.
- On-site generation eliminates the need and dependency on the supply of chemicals.
- Real time monitoring, control and analysis of the process water
- Recording and storing of the process data for further evaluation and reporting purposes
The FLO₃W® in food processing
It is more than just a treatment system – The FLO₃W® – Water Quality Management System.
The conditions during the processing of foods varies thought the day.
The production process is affected by many internal and external factors- the weather conditions, the quality of the incoming raw material from the source, the quality of the water, the plant’s cleaning procedures, etc. The process water matrix is never the same. Therefore, standard treatment methods with set parameters and dosages, ignoring these influencing factors, cannot guarantee sufficient treatment and microbiologically safe process water quality.
If your product microbiology results fluctuates on different occasion without known reason – good indication that your process water treatment is not effective.
Relying on our experience and knowledge within the food processing industry and water treatment expertise, Arrow Lake is proud to present:
All in Water quality management system – The FLO₃W ®
1 (One ) system – 100% (total)control over the quality of your process water.
One system that puts you in charge of the quality of your process water, ensuring the safety of your produce, increasing its shelf life. Decreasing operational costs and downtime of your production facility.
The FLO₃W® – water quality management system is designed to
Treat
- the process water without dependency on harmful chemicals
- multiple treatment points, individual dosages
Control
- the dosage following the quality of incoming raw material and water
Monitor
- the quality parameters of the process water
Store
- the data from the production cycle
Analyse
- Production cycle data – water and product parameters
- The quality of the water
The FLO₃W® – integrates all the features that allow you to be in control over critical and contamination prone points: water, raw material, overall sanitation and hygienic efficiency of manual and chemical cleaning.
The FLO₃W® – one solution to your multiple challenges.
The FLO₃W® for Hydrocoolers, washing basins and polishing steps
The FLO3W® ought to be part of every system that involves processing water that is in contact with the product:
The FLO3W water quality management system is designed with your processes in mind.
As a result, the FLO3W® will adapt to your operation and will be installed with no interruption for your production cycle.
As a centralized system with multiple points and processing steps – The FLO3W- M we can treat various processing steps simultaneously adjusting the dosage in accordance with the need and objective of each particular step:
While FLOW-U can be solely dedicated to treat one key bottleneck point to safeguard the safety of the produce.