Machine removes adherent micro-organisms from skin of snack apples

KRONEN GmbH will be displaying their new machinery and solutions live and in use at Anuga FoodTec 2018 in Cologne, Germany, from 20 to 23 March.

The production of ready-to-eat, packaged fresh products such as cut fresh-cut salads has increased in the last couple of years. A trend which has come up more recently is the production of packaged, fresh fruit salad. Consumers of these products are private households supplied by retail as well as large customers such as cafeterias, hospitals and restaurants. But also schools offer apple wedges during school breaks for example. However, the processed fruit have a shorter shelf-life than fruit which are not cut, since they are much more sensitive to microbial attacks. And the crucial quality criterion for fresh-cut products from the view of consumer safety is the microbial harmlessness.

The goal of the project is to not just wash apples, but to also hygienize them in a gentle way and without using any additives or chemicals.

The partners want to develop an innovative plant and process in order to do so. By using temperature guided and controlled processes microbial pathogens which are spoiling food and pathogenic germs harming humans are both reduced. Thus, the rate of spoiled food is decreased and the consumers’ safety is increased. The company states that the new system is perfect for the fresh-cut industry, since it can be implemented in cold rooms without any disadvantages. Since the thermal procedure works without any chemical additives, it can be used for organic fruit salads.

"KRONEN works with a sustainable, holistic approach: We offer high-level

consulting and planning, in close cooperation with our partners from industry and research. We want to introduce new ideas for delivering innovative, tailor-made solutions in the interest and for the benefit of our customers,” says Eric Lefebvre, Technical Director of KRONEN. 

“Our project DEKONWA is one example how we want to meet the requirements of the industry in regards to achieving optimum KRONEN GmbH decontamination and food safety without using additives. The system is supposed to be integrated into an existing processing line easily and flexibly. Eventually, we plan to transfer the process to other products, such as fresh-cut salads, too”.

The topic will be presented in a lecture during ANUGA titled “Fresh fruit and vegetable decontamination by an innovative moderate heat treatment”, taking place at the Forum "Technology of Fresh-cut products", organized by the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) in the Congress Center East, Room 1+2, on 22 March from 14:00 to 16:00 pm. 

Speakers are Eric Lefebvre and Bertram Schmidt, who is Research Scientist for Horticultural Engineering at the ATB Potsdam. The lecture is in English. Afterwards the speakers will be available for questions from the audience.

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