Method and device to obtain fresh fruit flesh slices

Details Method and device to obtain fresh fruit flesh slices Method and device to obtain fresh fruit flesh slices

2002-08-01

2004-11-09

Weier, Anthony (Department: 1761)

Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products

Processes

Separating a starting material into plural different...

C426S519000, C099S569000, C099S540000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06814994

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method to obtain slices of peeled fresh fruit flesh for consumer use, from fresh fruits with pith or similar difficulties and properly gauged and washed, together with a device used to obtain slices from whole pieces of fruit.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Large kitchens such as those now commonly known as “catering” kitchens, or certain major consumers, such as prepared food establishments selling to the public, banquet rooms, large supermarkets, hospitals, schools etc., have been asking the food processing industry for a system to provide peeled fruit flesh cut in slices, ready for eating, and which can be kept physically stable for a somewhat longer time than foreseen, for its distribution, sale and consumption.
The food processing industry cannot provide a satisfactory device for certain fruits, such as those with very soft flesh or with pith. An example of this is the demand for the most popular fruit, which is orange slices. Consumers ask that these slices:
1.- have flesh that meets the physical integrity conditions (cellular, vesicular, etc.) that enable industrial sanitary processes to provide a life span of at least 10 days from preparation to the end consumer.
2.- that their mechanical aspect maintains a pleasant appearance, in their final presentation and that they are easy to eat using a knife and fork, and
3.- they are free of pith that gives them an undesirable bitter taste.
Peeled orange slices that are currently on the market are either peeled manually and the pith remains are carefully removed manually, or oranges are peeled mechanically and the pith remains are carefully removed mechanically. Both procedures end by mechanically slicing the resulting spherical flesh.
Clean flesh slices obtained manually meet the three previously mentioned conditions, but the costs involved in preparation are incompatible with the industrial processes. The manual process is very unpopular in the food processing industry.
Clean flesh slices obtained mechanically either have unwanted remains of pith, or if they are completely free of pith, the flesh is cut and the cellular and vesicular walls are broken.
Flesh with cuts and broken cells and vesicles does not meet condition
1
, as cut and broken flesh means that a large volume of the fruit, and also the abundant dispersed juice, are exposed to a large extent, to bacteria, fungi and enzymes, against which current sanitary treatments are not effective. For example, the most common industrial sanitary treatment is to finally wash the fruit with an aqueous solution of sodium hypochlorite. This solution must be very diluted to prevent the fruit slice from having a taste of bleach. The very small amount of sodium hypochlorite used in the treatment means that its preventive properties are not effective when external agents have too many opportunities to proliferate, such as in this case. These fresh fruit flesh slices have a life span of two days, which is such a short period of time, that purely for logistic reasons, there could be a health risk of consuming the fruit past the sell-by date.
Also, this flesh is a long way from optimum mechanical appearance, it is soft and excessively flexible and does not meet condition
2
.
In other fresh fruit slices, such as soft flesh fruit, when slices are prepared following usual industrial methods, there could be similar problems of appearance and sanitary treatment.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve all these problems, a method and device has been designed to obtain fresh fruit flesh slices, which is the purpose of this invention, that provides features directed at automatically preparing peeled fresh fruit slices with pith or with resembling peel, ensuring minimum damage in the vesicular walls where the juice is.
With this invention, the food processing industry is able to offer customers very clean and whole flesh slices of fruits with pith or similar difficulties that meet the three conditions indicated in the previous point. The method consists of a non-intuitive process that makes the slices of the fruit peeled instead of the fruit. In this way, the mechanical support of the peel is used to reduce damage to the flesh during the mechanisation of the process. Sanitary, mechanical and appearance qualities of the fresh peeled and clean flesh are improved to such an extent that they meet the aforementioned conditions satisfactorily.
The flesh remains the same or more integral than when peeling is done manually, because slicing fruit that has already been peeled, such as oranges, puts deforming pressure on an object that has lost the mechanical support of the peel, meaning that cuts and breakage of walls and membrane can occur, together with the dispersion of juice to a greater extent than when the fruit is sliced using this invention. With this method, fresh fruit flesh slices are obtained, in which the suitable aseptic treatment provides a life span of 12 days or more, which is considered acceptable to consumers.
With this invention, the fruit is sliced mechanically by positioning it manually in a two-conveyor belt system. Each of these conveyor belts has holes or optionally cells that are facing each other. The fruit is secured when its axial caps are inserted into these holes or cells. A cap is the end where the peduncle is located, and the other cap corresponds to the opposite apex. The relative position of the caps does not necessarily always have to be the same, simply the axis that joins them always has to be perpendicular to the planes of the belts.
The fruit is therefore positioned on the moving belt with holes. On the outer surface of each belt there is a blade that cuts the corresponding cap. The cap falls and is lead to its final position.
As long as it is the correct thickness, cutting the cap always guarantees that the pith is removed in this portion of the fruit, and therefore the ends remain free of pith and skin, of course.
The rest of the fruit continues to be held, as it is still secured in the holes. It is sliced by a set of blades. If the fruit is positioned between cells, all the blades are between the belts and the caps, and the slices will then be separated in a gauging belt. The next step has two options:
1.- The slices pass to another diameter gauging belt. In the case of oranges, three to five slices per fruit can be cut, as required. Therefore there will be two to three diameters to differentiate (without counting the caps if applicable). The slices, classified according to diameter, are led to peeling module units, The blades of each of these modules are adjusted to peel the slices according to their diameter.
2.- The slices are not differentiated by diameter and are led to a machine with a device that adjusts the blades to cut the slices held by the tongs.
Both options have a common star-shaped feeder that takes the slices from the belt one by one, and places each slice on top of open tongs. The tong arms are in constant circular movement, held to a power-driven revolving machine.
The axle is equipped with accessories that transform the rotary movement of the axle into another type of movement. Therefore, the tong arms continue to move closing and securing the slice of fruit.
The inner surface of the tongs is provided with anti-slip elements, for example two or three cantilevered cams at different levels. Without these elements, it would be difficult to hold a tapered slice, with a smaller diameter at the bottom, as the slice could slide upwards, slipping out of the tongs and causing a machining error. Resistance to vertical movement provided by the anti-slip elements stops slices from sliding upwards.
Without any physical contact, a mechanism moves over the tong, which has a piston alternately moving up and down. The origin of this movement is a rail bushing located on the upper end that moves over the periphery of a slanted disc. The pistons have springs for transmission during the downward vertical movement to the corresponding pushers that almost wrap around the pistons.
When the feeder places a slice of fruit be

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