Decontamination of Solid and Powder Foodstuffs using DIC Technology

Abstract

Instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) technology is used as a highly appropriate ultrahigh temperature (UHT)-type treatment to decontaminate biological powders and solid dry materials. It combines different effects such as high temperature, thermal stress during both heating and instant cooling, and micromechanical impacts. The latter is due to the vapor constraints acting on cell walls when the high pressure instantaneously drops. The cell walls of both vegetative and spore forms may possibly explode. Some other gases can produce a similar micromechanical effect. Because of these combined thermal and mechanical impacts, DIC can be employed to great effect in industry for a large spectrum of sensitive biological products. Decontamination is usually optimized according to the product quality to be preserved. Since the number of cycles is a relevant operating parameter, competing with temperature and thermal processing time, multi-cycle DIC decontamination is increasingly appropriate and convenient for various industrial fields.