A British coleslaw and ready meal manufacturer has recently installed   KRONEN´s UVC Lock lines in its food processing production to ensure the vegetables are in a hygienic condition before the next processing steps e.g. peeling carrots or cutting cabbage and onions*. This results in the surface of up to 3000 kg of vegetable being efficiently disinfected without heat exposure and without leaving residue on the product.

Disinfection reduces the risk of cross-contamination and increases the food safety of the end product which is why the British company invested in this equipment with its UVC state-of-the-art technology. The three lines ensure optimum hygiene right at the beginning of the processing procedure. They were specially adapted to process these particular vegetables. Two lines are used to disinfect unpeeled carrots and peeled onions, whilst the third line decontaminates the surface of whole cabbages.

The first two lines consist of an incline conveyor belt with bunker, a horizontal conveyor and a vibrating table that feed the UVC Lock. The conveyor belts and vibrating table enable the product to be distributed across a wider surface area which prevents product overlap. This is essential to ensure that the whole product surface area is treated and decontaminated with UVC-Technology in the UVC Lock. When processing carrots and onions manual involvement should be kept to a bare minimum. This is achieved by the option of batch filling and the automatic single product entry into the UVC disinfection lock.

The third line consists of a horizontal conveyor belt and a UVC Lock disinfection lock since an incline conveyor with bunker and a vibrating table are not suitable for large product such as cabbage. In this case the product is separated by manually loading on to the infeed belt.

All three UVC-Locks have 16 special hybrid tubes which have been adapted to the desired application and processing speed. They are equipped with the latest UVC technology provided by KRONEN´s partner sterilAir® enabling a highly effective, fast and effective disinfection. With the UVC Lock products and items can be treated from all sides which means improved disinfection performance. Any germs on product surfaces are almost immediately eliminated on contact therefore significantly reducing the risk of cross-contamination and improving food safety. Neither heat nor undesirable additives are used in this dry decontamination process – a great advantage in the field of food processing.

After UVC treatment, disinfected products are delivered directly to the “high care” area. Each line automatically processes carrots or onions up to a capacity of around 2,000 kg per hour and for cabbage around 3,000 kg per hour.

These lines have already been operating successfully for several months at the British convenience food manufacturer in the UK.

* Food decontamination in accordance with country specific legal requirements.