Hi Martha,
In this particular case, I'm afraid I will have to respectfully disagree with your assessment!
The OP describes a small scale operation (currently using a pan of boiling water!)..... a pressure cooker (or even a glorified pressure cooker aka an old fasioned manual autoclave ) will work very effectively in the described situation...... and at a fraction of the financial outlay & no rewiring required (which I'm guessing may be key at this stage!!))
Kind Regards
Mike
Mike, I understand your point. Yes, they are equally as effective. But if you are not skilled in the use of these items, they are a nightmare for a safety officer. Although these were used for many, many years in homes and offices, they also were the source of many second and third degree burns if the operator did not use them correctly or was careless just once.
Here, they have been using one of the glorified pressure cookers for a long time, with no problem, but the worker was careless just once and was out for a month with second degree burns. In my childhood, my mother had a problem with a pressure cooker and the flying lid just narrowly missed her head. And she had been using them all her life.
The more automatic models, with safety built in, are a lot more expensive, but they are almost accident proof.
I wear both hats here, food safety and occupational safety, which is why I would choose the safer route. I was not here when they selected the pressure cooker to use, but once it dies, I'm going to try to make the powers that be switch to a Market Forge.
Martha
"...everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." Viktor E. Frankl
"Life's like a movie, write your own ending." The Muppets