7 replies to this topic

[Willis Morgan]

Hi all,

 

I have a factory that produces dehydrated potato flakes, I am looking at ways to validate my steam dehydration drums as a kill step. Would be awesome if some one had this study done already.

 

 

Thanks,

Willis

[Evans X.]

Greetings Wilis,

 

Unfortunately dehydration cannot be a kill step. It does not eliminate but only slows the growth of microorganisms, by lowering the water activity (a_w) of the medium.

Different microorganisms also have different low a_w at which they slow down. For example, most bacteria do not grow at a water activity range below 0.91, and most molds cease to grow at water activities below 0.70.

The steam you use (if I understand correctly the process) could be checked out, but it is unlikely that it can reach the needed "kill" temperatures.

 

Regards.

[Willis Morgan]

The steam drums operate in excess of 300 degrees F to fully dehydrate the product. I would assume this temp is in excess of needed temps to kill anything that might be there.

[Scampi]

Here's some 

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC8017434/

 

https://silva-intl.c...afety-processes

 

https://www.research...Potato_Products

 

https://ucfoodsafety...iles/224455.pdf

 

https://cen.acs.org/...chnologies.html

 

https://www.fda.gov/.../99581/download

 

https://www.acs.org/...ehydration.html

 

https://www.ams.usda..._Dehydrated.pdf

[Sayed M Naim Khalid]

My first question is, what do you want to kill with the 300 F during dehydration? Is it a CCP in your HACCP plan or not? what is the critical limit for your CCP? 

 

The reasons I am asking about CCP/CL is that you may have identified microorganism to kill. So if you know what you have killed, would be only determined by taking samples of finished product. My solution would be: 

 

1. what I am testing for (what hazards?) 

2. what is my acceptable limit (e.g., what level of log reduction I need?) you may find this in standards, legal documents or scientific literature.

3. Where should I collect sample (during drying, after drying, during cooling right after drying)? How many samples should I collect? 

4. Conduct your analysis or (experiment). 

5. Interpret your results/finding and see if you need to re-do/re-validate your process. 

 

 

FAO's Codex guidance for validation - Read pages 9-16. It has some interesting examples https://ucfoodsafety...iles/172961.pdf

[kingstudruler1]

The steam drums operate in excess of 300 degrees F to fully dehydrate the product. I would assume this temp is in excess of needed temps to kill anything that might be there.

 

You are headed in the right direction   The CCP / PC is probably the time temperature relationship of the flaker.   Keep in mind that as you drive off water the heat resistance of pathogens such as salmonella increases.   So, the meat time / temp charts are not valid in your process.  

 

You best bet is to try the manufacture of the drum.  For some reason, "flakers" all think their 1950s technology that everyone uses is super proprietary.  Thus you are unlikely to find this information from industry. 

 

another option might be to find validation (time temp) information on the cook step prior to flaking.  

 

Is the current philosphy  the same as it was years ago? - "the customer cooks it, so we don't need to validate anything."

[Willis Morgan]

You are headed in the right direction   The CCP / PC is probably the time temperature relationship of the flaker.   Keep in mind that as you drive off water the heat resistance of pathogens such as salmonella increases.   So, the meat time / temp charts are not valid in your process.  

 

You best bet is to try the manufacture of the drum.  For some reason, "flakers" all think their 1950s technology that everyone uses is super proprietary.  Thus you are unlikely to find this information from industry. 

 

another option might be to find validation (time temp) information on the cook step prior to flaking.  

 

Is the current philosphy  the same as it was years ago? - "the customer cooks it, so we don't need to validate anything."

 

Yes i was thinking the same thing to validate the cooking that happens prior to the drums. I have some inquiries to the manufacturers already and other places so i will see what comes of it.

 

Yes as of now it is the customer cooks it so it doesn't need any thing more, I want to get ahead of that and get our factory more up to speed with the direction the food industry is headed

[SHQuality]

Hi all,

 

I have a factory that produces dehydrated potato flakes, I am looking at ways to validate my steam dehydration drums as a kill step. Would be awesome if some one had this study done already.

 

 

Thanks,

Willis

There are bound to be studies about dehydrating potato flakes and using temperatures to kill the relevant bacteria, but for those studies to be relevant, you should make sure they cover the drums you're using and that even the worst possible location in the drum reaches the required temperature. 

 

That alone probably means you can't simply reuse an existing study.