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Continuous flow pasteurizer for small volumes

Technology description

The present invention relates to Lo.V.Milk, the first pasteurizer able to treat variable volumes of liquid foods, as low as 100 ml, using HTST technology, and specifically designed for human milk banks standards.
The Holder pasteurization method (Batch pasteurization, 62.5 °C for 30 min) is the recommended  process for treating small volumes of liquid food, that cannot be processed with large HTST processing plants (Continuous flow pasteurization, 72 °C for 15 s). Nevertheless, Holder method may give rise to chemical and physical changes that impair the organoleptic properties and reduce the content or bioavailability of some nutrients. Lo.V.Milk is the first pasteurizer able to treat very small volumes of liquid using HTST technology, with all its benefits. Lo.V.Milk includes a heat exchanger, comprising a single tube through which the liquid product can flow, and an outer shell through which the heating/cooling fluid can flow, the two parts being in counter-flow configuration.

Applications

Lo.V.Milk has been specifically designed for human milk pasteurization, but it may find application also in food or pharmaceutical industry, for rapid heat-treatment of small volumes of liquid products.

Key advantages
  • Treatment of very low volumes
  • Higher speed and lower energy consumption, as compared with facilities currently available on the market
  • Microbiological safety, better retention of nutritional value, preservation of the organoleptic profile and retention of the immunological and anti-infective characteristics in the case of human milk processing
Inventors
Filing date and application number

Filing date: 16/07/2014

Application number: TO2014A000264

Available

Yes

Ownership
  • Università degli Studi di Torino
  • Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR)
  • Giada s.a.s.