Hot filling records - Jam/preserve making

Hi there,

We had a recent audit where the auditor has requested that we implement hot filling records for our production. We cook jams and marmalades to above 100 degrees and they are auto filled straight away. This has never been an issue before and I am just wondering if anyone has any experience in this area or is there a justification for this?

Any help or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sandra.

Hello Sandra.,

           The auditor might have told you from the food safety point of view for sterilization/pasteurisation of product ,Due to the high sugar content in jam and the acidic nature of jam any harmful and/or spoilage bacteria are unlikely to grow. Because some fungi are more tolerant of acid and or high sugar conditions, there is a small possibility of them growing, depending on the recipe, how the product is made and stored as well as how long and under what conditions it is kept once opened.

Use a jam thermometer to ensure the jam is heated to the correct temperature (setting point). Jam sets around 105°C. Heating to this temperature will destroy a significant number of harmful bacteria.

                                   However this may change for low sugar jams and the setting point of low sugar jams will vary.For low sugar jams, it is important to ensure the pH is 4.5 or lower and/or the water activity is below 0.9 throughout the product during the shelf‐life to control the risk of C. botulinum.

Attached below file-HACCP Case Study Fruit Jam

That's great, thanks so much for the information and attachment. Have you experience in a jam production facility?  We cook our jam past 100 degrees but we don't have a pasteurisation step as per the attached and instead of using citric acid, we use lemon concentrate but we have had cases of mould so perhaps we need to change this? Do you think there is a need to record filling temperatures throughout the auto filling of the batch considering the product is cooked past 100 degrees in order to set it?

Many thanks,

Sandra.

Hello Sandra.,

Hello Sandra.,

            Though you cook your jam past 100 Degree Centigrade ,the important step is filling into bottles to prevent Mold growth. Most yeasts and Molds are heat-sensitive and destroyed by heat treatments at temperatures of 140-160°F (60-71°C) and if the products get filled below this temperature in bottles there is the possibility of Mold growth. Are you adding any preservatives to your jams.

Normally filling should be carried out above 85 degrees centigrade to prevent bacteria and Mold growth .So it is good to monitor your batch the filling temperature every 15 mts or so and the last bottle should have a filling temperature above 85 degrees.

(Check periodically by removing one bottle from line and inserting a digital thermometer in the centre of jar to check the temp and record in your log sheet along with batch/lot no).

Lemon juice can be added but pH of the product should be around 3.5 for proper setting of jam.

Normally Molds enter the system through contaminated bottles or through your envirornment or through your raw materials.

Hence it is essential to keep your plant under hygienic and GMP condition.

Sometimes raw materials can also be the source of Mold contamination. Hence ask for certificate of analysis of microbiological tests for your raw materials (particularly mold count)

And sterilise your filling jars  before filling and inspect for dust and filth.

It is also important to use potable water with low count in Processing , and all Machinaries before and after filling should be properly sanitised and swabs taken to control Microbes.

Also take periodic microbial counts (particularly mold count)from the processing areas to maintain plant in good hygienic conditions and humidity levels of processing and filling areas should be between 30-50%.

Air is an impotant factor for mold growth and when bottles are filled above 85 degrees centigrade air in the head space is filled with steam and creates vacuum in side the bottles.

There should be Maintainence of vacuum in filled bottles and check for vacuum in filled bottles at 25-30 degrees centigrade ,if vacuum gets lost bottles will be exposed to air and spoilage will begun shortly.

If you are facing mold growth problem in filled jars,then you can  go for sterilisation at 100 degrees centigrade by immersion of filled bottles in  boiling water bath immediately after filling of bottles so that the water is few inches above the filled bottles and processing times as per the attached sheet (centre temp of the jam should be 85 degrees) . Tightness of lids is important otherwise seepage of water in bottles will spoil the batch of jam.

Also you have to contact your pectin manufacturer whether the pectin (quality control) will withstand such temperature without deterioration of the product ( jam not setting properly/Partially liquefied) and then decide for sterilisation or you can carry out the trial batch.

Check periodically your jam bottles for microbiological parameters (Tpc,yeast and mold count etc)

Hi Sandra,

Please can you confirm what you do with the jars before filling?

Invert? Rinse? Disinfect?

Regards,

Tony

Hi Tony,

The jars come in sterilised, we invert them and blast them with air before filling, they are then capped with steam injection.

Regards,

Sandra.

For the hot filling records the auditor has requested, I am just not sure how often to do the checks and what the critical limit should be, i.e what the lowest temperature the jam should go to before it would need to be reheated. If anyone has any guidance on this, it would be great.

Thanks,

Sandra.

Dear Sandra,

The answer is already in the post of SUSHIL:

[....]

Normally filling should be carried out above 85 degrees centigrade to prevent bacteria and Mold growth .So it is good to monitor your batch the filling temperature every 15 mts or so and the last bottle should have a filling temperature above 85 degrees.

(Check periodically by removing one bottle from line and inserting a digital thermometer in the centre of jar to check the temp and record in your log sheet along with batch/lot no).[....]