Methods for reducing contamination of dehydrated products
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2022-01-20
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-03
AI Technical Summary
Existing methods for cleaning and decontaminating agricultural products are inadequate for dehydrated or dried produce, failing to effectively address chemical, physical, and biological contaminants such as pesticides, mycotoxins, heavy metals, and microorganisms, and are energy-intensive.
A method involving a container with high-temperature steam treatment, vacuum conditions, and forced air circulation, combined with a metal detector, to reduce chemical, physical, and biological contaminants in dehydrated materials, achieving up to 95-99.95% and 97-99% reduction respectively.
The method significantly reduces chemical, physical, and biological contaminants in dehydrated products to meet safety standards, ensuring compliance with international regulations.
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Abstract
Description
[Technical field]
[0001] TECHNICAL FIELD OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates to the agricultural and foodstuffs technical fields, since it concerns a method for reducing contamination of dehydrated or dried products, such as agricultural products, subject to chemical, physical and / or biological contamination. [Background technology]
[0002] 2. Background of the Invention Currently, most of the existing technologies and processes for cleaning, decontaminating, sanitizing, etc., produce are directed to fresh produce such as fruits, vegetables, greens, etc. (Patent documents Korean Patent Application Publication No. 20130119606(A), Chinese Patent Application Publication No. 106359553(A), and Chinese Patent Application Publication No. 107950640(A)). Such technologies and processes are not suitable for use in decontaminating dried or dehydrated produce.
[0003] Patent document FR 2905286 A1 relates to a method and a device for treating bulk physical and / or chemical products, preferably food products, with a gaseous fluid, which due to its nature, its composition and / or its physicochemical properties is suitable for carrying out said treatment. For this purpose, a perforated conveyor belt is used so that it can be traversed (from top to bottom) by a flow of the gaseous fluid carrying out the treatment, the holes of the belt or, in the case of a mesh belt, its meshes, have dimensions chosen according to the nature and size of the products to be treated. According to this process, the products are deposited on a conveyor with a moving perforated belt so as to be distributed on the belt to form a relatively uniform layer, during which said products are exposed, on the one hand, to at least one flow of said gaseous fluid generated on the belt and directed downwards by blowing, so as to contact the products and ensure their treatment, and, on the other hand, to a suction generated on the moving belt or under the belt and tending to press the products against it. The combination of the two operations, blowing from above and suction from below, allows a relatively powerful flow rate operation, which allows a very efficient treatment, without the risk of scattering or causing an uncontrolled movement of the articles on the belt, which would damage them. Blowing is performed with the aid of at least one group or series of gas jets extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the sensitive moving belt, the series of gas jets used for blowing being arranged between two adjacent suction zones, the series of gas jets used for blowing 15 being arranged just before the suction zone, the gaseous fluid used for blowing being at a high temperature. The gaseous fluid used for blowing is water vapor, the gaseous fluid used for blowing has the function of drying and / or thawing the articles, the gaseous fluid used for blowing being at a low temperature. The gaseous fluid used for blowing has the function of cooling or freezing the articles. The gaseous fluid used for blowing is air.Additives capable of chemically or physically treating articles, for example decontaminating or coloring, are incorporated into the gaseous fluid by spraying prior to blowing, at least a portion of the gaseous fluid used for blowing comes from recirculation of the fluid absorbed under the belt, and the method is used to treat food products.
[0004] The method of document FR 2 905 286 A1 uses a conveyor belt along which the articles move and sanitizing substances that aid in decontamination, which requires a greater energy consumption, making the method expensive.
[0005] As can be seen, the systems and methods in the above documents all describe treatment with cold or hot water, chemical disinfectants (chlorination), UV, ozone, etc., most describe cleaning and Pasteurization, some sterilization, and do not focus on reducing pesticide, mycotoxin and heavy metal contamination as intended by the method of the present invention. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]
[0006] Therefore, to help overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings, a method has been developed to reduce contamination of dehydrated or dried materials, such as agricultural produce, originating from a field or production area that is subject to contamination, particularly from chemical, physical or biological causes. [Means for solving the problem]
[0007] Characteristic details of the present invention are clearly shown in the accompanying detailed description, drawings and examples, for the purpose of merely proving the concept and some of its preferred embodiments, and therefore such detailed description, drawings and examples should not be considered as limitations on the scope of protection of the present invention. [Brief description of the drawings]
[0008] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a method for reducing contamination of a dehydrate in accordance with the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0009] Disclosure of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for reducing contamination of natural or induced dehydrated products, which may be dehydrated or dried agricultural products, such as dried chillies, dried fruits, dried seeds, dried grains, dried leaves, dried meats, etc., where said dehydrated products may have some type of external contamination due to their production, handling and storage and may need to be subjected to a process to reduce said contamination and thus comply with established safety standards.
[0010] Types of external contamination can be chemical contamination caused by pesticides, heavy metals, mycotoxins, etc.; physical contamination caused by foreign substances, dirt, trash, dust, etc.; and / or biological contamination caused by microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc.), insects, among others.
[0011] Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of: i) receiving a contaminated partial or complete dehydration, whether resulting from natural or induced dehydration; ii) analyzing the contaminated portion or the whole dehydrated product via conventional analytical techniques to detect the presence of contaminating agents and to determine the type and degree of contamination it has, where the contamination may be chemical, physical, and / or biological; iii) placing the contaminated part or the fully dehydrated item in a container made of a material that can withstand high temperatures, high vacuum, and positive pressure and that is configured to allow circulation of the gaseous fluid so that said gaseous fluid uniformly contacts the item to be decontaminated, such as a basket, baskets, grid boxes, and / or top-open boxes with access to the gaseous fluid, to name a few; iv) subjecting the contaminated dehydrate to at least one decontamination treatment, which may be a treatment reducing chemical, physical and / or biological contamination to parameters acceptable according to safety standards, according to the results of the analysis of stage ii); v) packaging the dehydrated material that has already been cleaned and / or decontaminated; A method for reducing contamination of a dehydrated or dried product comprising:
[0012] A variant of the method of the invention is when the decontamination treatment is to reduce chemical and / or biological contamination, which comprises subjecting the contaminated dehydrate to a temperature of 55-140° C., a pressure of 0.3-3.5 bar and a vacuum of 1-29 mmHg with water vapor for 15-90 min in a chamber or autoclave suitable for these conditions, in order to eliminate at least one chemical and / or biological contaminant, in which case the contaminating chemical agents are selected from the following groups: pesticides, toxic heavy metals, nitrates, microplastics, mycotoxins, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), etc., and the biological contaminants are selected from the following groups: microorganisms (among which bacteria, viruses, fungi), insects, etc.
[0013] A further variant of the method according to the invention is when the decontamination treatment is to reduce physical contamination, which comprises subjecting the contaminated material to a countercurrent air flow at a speed of 10-35 m / s at 20° C. for 1-10 s with the aid of a forced reverse air circulation system, in which the contaminants move against the air flow in order to clean the foreign physical matter, such as garbage, dust, crystals, thorns, bones, shells, plastics, stones, sand, gravel, dirt, personal objects, etc. from the outside, to name a few.
[0014] Another embodiment of the method also includes optionally subjecting the dehydrated material to a treatment for reducing metal part decontamination with the aid of a metal detector device to detect and eliminate metal parts that may be present in the dehydrated material, preferably after the dehydrated material has exited the physical contamination reduction treatment.
[0015] Therefore, a second object of the present invention is a decontaminated dehydrate by the method proposed according to the present invention, the chemical contamination of which is reduced by up to 95-99.95%, the physical contamination of which is reduced by up to 97% and the biological contamination of which is reduced by up to 99%. EXAMPLES
[0016] Working Example The following examples are included to illustrate the concepts of the invention and should not be considered limitations on the scope of the invention.
[0017] Example 1 Chemical decontamination of a batch of dried chili (Capsicum annuum L.) variety "chile de arbol".
[0018] On October 2, 2020, we received a 6 tonne batch of “chile de arbol” originating from the site where it was harvested, already naturally dried and labeled with batch number CTE 20.10.02.
[0019] A. Initial contamination analysis Chemical Contamination Analysis On the same date, October 2, 2020, 24 chili pepper samples were randomly taken with 150g each sample, following the IAS accredited testing laboratory TL-667 analytical protocol. The samples were analyzed in a laboratory called AGQLABS, located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where Gc+Lc+MX-2020 analysis was applied to detect if the crop was contaminated with residual chemical residues from pesticides applied to the crop. The analysis was carried out from October 2 to 7, 2020. The analysis of the samples gave the following results, shown in Table 1:
[0020] [Table 1]
[0021] As can be seen, the results in Table 1 suggest that the batch of "chile de arbol" was contaminated with some pesticide substances (data in bold) that exceeded the standards allowed by the safety regulations of some countries and / or blocks of countries (UE). It was therefore decided that said batch required chemical decontamination.
[0022] Of this same batch of dried "chili wood" CTE 20.10.02, three samples of 50 g each were taken to determine if they had contamination caused by aflatoxins. This analysis was also carried out at the AGROETIKA laboratory located in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, where the "FAST AFLATOXINA SC" analysis was applied from October 2 to 7, 2020. Each sample was compared with seven standards of different wavelength absorbance concentrations (0, 2, 4, 10, 20, 50, and 100). Table 2 shows the average calculated amount of aflatoxins for each of the samples.
[0023] According to the data shown in Table 2, this batch also has aflatoxin contamination since the tolerance limit is 20 μg / kg, therefore, it was also determined to require aflatoxin decontamination.
[0024] [Table 2]
[0025] Physical Contamination Analysis 12 samples were also taken from said batch CTE 20.10.02 for physical contamination analysis, which was performed visually (macroscopically) in the AGROETIKA laboratory with a ROSTECH WT3003GH scale microscope; ZEISS 18U640630 and CEM 9000 moisture analyzer device, October 3, 2020. The results are presented in Table 3.
[0026] [Table 3]
[0027] There is bio-contamination due to the presence of feces and hence possible presence of pathogenic viruses like Hepatitis virus, Enterovirus etc. High content of dirt in the form of dust, insect attacked raw material was observed.
[0028] It is important to note that for this type of article to be approved for consumption, it must have less than 6% physical contamination, a maximum presence of feces of 2,203 mg / kg, and a maximum of 3% of the article attacked by fungi, insects, etc. (FDA).
[0029] B. Decontamination treatment of batch CTE 20.10.02 Chemical decontamination Once the results of the chemical and aflatoxin analyses were available, the dried "chile de arbol" batch CTE 20.10.02 was disinfected. To do this, the dried chiles were placed in a plastic box equipped with a grid that allowed the circulation of water steam, ensuring uniform contact of this steam with the items to be decontaminated.
[0030] The chili peppers were subjected to a vacuum of up to 25 mmHg, a temperature of 120° C., and a pressure of 1.5 bar for 70 min using steam in an autoclave.
[0031] Physical decontamination Then, the chili peppers were transferred to a countercurrent airflow at a speed of 10-35 m / s at 20°C for 1-10 s with the aid of a forced reverse air circulation system, and the dehydrated material was moved against the airflow to clean foreign matter, garbage, dust, etc. from outside.
[0032] Once the chili peppers exited the forced reverse air circulation system, they were subjected to a metal detector device to eliminate any metal particles that could potentially contaminate the dried chili. In this case, no ingress impurity analysis was performed.
[0033] Finally, the decontaminated, clean chili peppers were conventionally packaged in containers suitable for distribution.
[0034] C. Results Chemical decontamination The treated dehydrate ultimately exhibited chemical contamination that was reduced from 5% of the initial level to undetectable levels by chromatography, i.e., an overall reduction in contamination of approximately 95%.
[0035] With regard to contamination with aflatoxins, it has a reduced contamination with respect to the initial value down to 0.5% aflatoxins, which is already within the parameters permitted by safety standards.
[0036] Physical decontamination Physical contamination was reduced to less than 3%, with 0 mg of faeces, a maximum of 1% of the items attacked by fungi and completely free of dust and dirt.
[0037] Therefore, this decontamination method is expected to be successful in treating contaminated materials in compliance with safety standards established in several countries.
Claims
1. below: i) receiving contaminated partial or complete dehydration, whether resulting from natural or induced dehydration; ii) analyzing the contaminated portion or the whole dehydrated product via conventional analytical techniques to detect the presence of contaminating agents and determine the type and degree of contamination it has, if the contamination is chemical, physical, and / or biological; iii) placing said contaminated or fully dehydrated part in a container made of a material that can withstand high temperatures and pressures and that is configured to allow circulation of a gaseous fluid so that said gaseous fluid uniformly contacts the article to be decontaminated; iv) subjecting the contaminated dehydrate to at least one decontamination treatment according to the type of contamination indicated by the analysis results of stage ii), the decontamination treatment being a treatment that reduces chemical, physical and / or biological contamination to parameters acceptable according to safety standards; v) packaging the dehydrated product, which has already been cleaned and / or decontaminated; 13. A method for reducing contamination of a dehydrated or dried product, comprising:
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the container is a basket, a basket, a grid box, and / or a top-open box having access to a gaseous fluid.
3. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the treatment to reduce chemical and / or biological contamination comprises subjecting the contaminated dehydrate to a temperature of 55-140° C., a pressure of 0.3-3.5 bar and a vacuum of −1 to −29 mmHg with water vapor for 15-90 min in a chamber or autoclave suitable for such conditions to eliminate at least one chemical and / or biological contaminant.
4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the chemical contaminants are selected from the following group: pesticides, toxic heavy metals, nitrates, microplastics, mycotoxins, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
5. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the biological contaminant is selected from the following group: microorganisms and insects.
6. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical decontamination treatment includes subjecting the contaminants to a countercurrent air flow at a speed of 10-35 m / s at 20° C. for 1-10 s with the aid of a forced reverse air circulation system, and the contaminants move against the air flow to clean physical foreign substances from outside.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the foreign matter is garbage, dust, crystals, thorns, bones, shells, scales, plastic, stones, sand, gravel, soil, and personal objects.
8. 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising subjecting the dehydrated material to a process in a metal detector apparatus to detect and eliminate any metal parts that may be present in the dehydrated material, the process reducing contamination caused by metal parts.
9. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contaminated part or fully dehydrated part is an agricultural or livestock product.
10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the produce is an agricultural product.
11. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the produce is dried chile type "chile de arbol" (Capsicum species).
12. 12. A decontaminated product according to any one of claims 1 to 11, comprising 95-99.95% reduced chemical contamination, up to 97% reduced physical contamination, and up to 99% reduced biological contamination.