In the summer of 1981, Watermill Foods Inc., went on line with its first piece of IQF (individually quick frozen) equipment, a two-zone freezer for fruit. The company tripled production, jumping from five-million pounds to 15-million pounds per year.
This increase comes from much shorter freezing times. Before installing the IQF freezer, labor-intensive bulk freezing was performed. Tins of fruit and sugar were carefully arranged in freezer rooms, where complete freezing took 24-30 hours. The new IQF freezer requires about 15 minutes to freeze fruit. And, it does so without any change to the quality of fruit.
“Our product's quality has always been good,” says John O. Hendricks, plant owner. “But the IQF capability makes it even better.
Easy to access to coils
Another feature Hendricks speaks highly of is the coil layout. The cooling coils are located at floor level alongside product conveyors, with complete access on both sides. This allows operators to remove bits of product before the coils are plugged. In addition, operators can blow frost off the coils even when the freezer is running.
The freezer runs most frequently at the end of the year, during the heavy fruit season. The first fruit processed is pitted cherries, from July to early August halved apricots start a week or two after the cherries. Halved plums begin in late August and continue into September. And finally, apples begin in October.
Apples make up about 80% of all production. Most apples are of the Johnathon variety, along with Golden Delicious and Winesap. Those apples not processed during the busy season are held in cold storage just a few degrees above freezing. “This is important to us, since it permits us to process throughout the year with a small, efficient crew,” Hendricks says.
Apple production begins by dumping the fruit into a caustic solution to loosen the skin, which is then mechanically removed. Next, the apples are conveyed to a corer/ slicer, a blancher, then the IQF freezer. (Hendricks explains some of his customers do not want blanched apples-these go directly to the freezer).
Apples are first conveyed into the “crust freezing zone.” The slices move into freezer, which has perforated stainless steel trays below the belt.
These trays are necessary because the slices are fluidized, which prevents them from freezing to the belt.
Centrifugal fans force chilled “polar” air up through the perforated trays, the belt and the slices. After three or four minutes, the slices are crust-frozen, and are conveyed to the second zone.
The finish freezing zone continues moving cold air through the slices. At this point, the slices are stacked about eight-inches high, and handled very gently. To be sure freezing is correct, belt speed is independent in each zone. For example, apple slices spend twice as long in the finish freezing zone (up to ten minutes) as they do in the crust freezing zone.
Usually, some 4,000 pounds of product is sent through the freezer per hour. Product temperature at output is about –10oF.
Примечания к тексту:
individually quick – поштучное быстрое
freezing, IQF – замораживание
bulk freezing – замораживание в массе
feature – особенность
coil layout – расположение змеевиков
plug – зд. заблокировать, закупоривать
frost – иней, шуба (на змеевиках)
pitted cherries – вишня без косточек
1. Ответьте на вопросы по содержанию текста.
1.How many pounds of fruit did the company produce before and after installing IQF equipment?
2.How much time did freezing take before installing IQF freezer?
3.What are the main features of new equipment?
4.What kinds of fruit does the company process?
5.Does the freezer run throughout the year or during fruit season only?
2. Опишите процесс переработки яблок.
3. Переведите на английский язык письменно.
1.Яблоки хранят на складе при температуре на несколько градусов выше точки замерзания.
2.Здесь нарезанные кусочками фрукты раскладывают слоем примерно в 8 дюймов толщиной.
3.Доступ к охлаждающим змеевикам свободен, так как они размещены вдоль конвейера на уровне пола.
4. Переведите на русский язык резюме текста.
Fruit travels through the IQF freezer much faster than the previously used method – bulk freezing in cold rooms. For example, apple slices freeze in about 15 minutes, compared to 24-30 hours in a cold room.
Before freezing, apples are cored and sliced, then checked for defects. The freezer will handle 4,000 pounds of apple slices per hour.
5. Напишите краткое изложение текста на русском языке. Прокомментируйте часть текста, которая показалась вам наиболее интересна.
Text №7
FACTORY–ASSEMBLED IQF FREEZER MAINTAINS HIGHQUALITY OF DELICATE BROCCOLI FLORETS
Running a food plant in rural Mexico can have both advantages and disadvantages. Energy cost is lower there, but spare parts can be a problem. “If a machine breaks down,” says Val K. Nicholson, Vice President of Birdseye de Mexico, “somebody here has to drive down to Mexico City for spare parts.”
The ideal process equipment for this situation, he agrees, would be both simple to operate and dependable. That's why, when Birdseye de Mexico (a General Foods' company) went looking for a new fluidizing freezer about three years ago, the firm settled on a Cascade IQF Freezer made by Refrigeration Engineering Corp., of San Antonio, Texas.
Needed “gentle” freezer
Birdseye de Mexico ships cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, okra and zucchini to U.S. locations by truck and refrigerated trailer. The high-quality product, more than 20 million pounds a year of it, is shipped loose-frozen in bulk bins or pre-packaged for retail sale. And to maintain Birdseye's quality standards with this much volume requires gentle, positive handling – especially in products as delicate as broccoli florets.
Originally, the Birdseye plant had used plate freezers. But something better was needed. So, when Nicholson and other Birdseye officials went looking for a new continuous freezer that could handle delicate products, they checked out a number of possible machines before watching a RECO Cascade System freeze sliced carrots in Texas. After the demonstration, Nicholson reportedly walked over to a bulk bin filled with finished product and started sorting through the frozen pieces looking for clumps. He found just what Birdseye needed – very few “twos,” and no “threes.”
The Cascade IQF Freezer has a unique approach to initiating fluidization and, thus, prevent clumping. It involves having one or more (usually three) “humps” on the first stage of the system, and full fluidization is started rapidly because of the variation in productdensity.
Here's how it works. The trick is to keep the delicate broccoli florets from freezing together in “doubles” and “triples”. The Cascade System does this using two belts in series, with the conveyed product being fluidized by high-velocity frigid air (at minus 20-25ºF) moving up from below. The cold air agitates, fluidizes and provides for uniform glazing of the product.
On the first belt, incoming broccoli florets are spread in a shallow layer (0.5-2 inches deep) to remove moisture and to form an ice glaze on each piece. To break up clumps of product that form at this point, and to facilitate fluidization, the glazed product is passed over three “humps” in the belt. The humps loosen florets from the stainless steel wire mesh belt, and turn them over. The ice-coated product then drops onto the second belt, forming a layer 4-8 inches deep, and freezing is completed.
Continuous high quality
Freezing a “difficult” product such as broccoli so that it looks and tastes fresh and natural is a challenge. And fresh-frozen vegetables are best when they are packed near the growing area. But adapting modern technology to a rural area of Mexico – where food processing often is very labor intensive – can be frustrating. The RECO Cascade System, however, fits right in.
“We buy our produce on contract from growers,” explains Nicholson, “and most of the preparation for freezing is done by hand.” As the raw materials arrive at the plant, they are cleaned and cut, then blanched and fed into the in-line freezing system. From there, the mechanical freezing operation is continuous.
The Cascade IQF Freezer is convenient, too. The energy-efficient system is factory-assembled and skid-mounted so that it's easy to install and relocate. It comes with pre-piped and pre-wired services, including a control panel that may be mounted either on the machine or in a remote location. The system's sanitary design includes all stainless steel construction inside and out, and aluminum plate fin coils for quick defrost and cleaning.
Birdseye’s gentle IQF freezing system works just fine, says Nicholson. It was easy to install, easy to run, and RECO stands ready to provide spare parts if they are ever needed. “We are very pleased with it, ” he says.
Примечания к тексту:
run – вести (дело, предприятие)
fluidizing freezer – флюидизационный морозильный аппарат
(с увлажнением)
dependable – надежный
loose-frozen – мягкозамороженный
plate freezer – плиточный морозильный аппарат
“twos” or “threes” – комочки из двух, трех цветков
frigid air – холодный воздух
glaze – глазурь, глазировать
hump – бугор, горб
1. Ответьте на вопросы по содержанию текста.
1.Where is a food plant owned by ‘Birdseye de Mexico’ located?
2.What advantages and problems does the company's plant have?
3.What kind of freezing machines is it better to use for processing their products and why?
4.What was the main factor for the company when they were looking for freezers to process their delicate products?
5.Who supplies the food plant in Mexico with raw materials?
2. Расскажите о том, как работает система The Cascade IQF Freezer (система быстрого поштучного замораживания «Каскад»).
3. Переведите следующие предложения на английский язык письменно.
1.Три года назад компания установила новый флюидизационный морозильный аппарат фирмы RECO.
2.Эта морозильная система производит увлажнение продуктов перед замораживанием и этим самым предотвращает образование комков.
3.Морозильное оборудование «Каскад» поставляется с заранее установленной системой трубопроводов, электропроводкой и пультом дистанционного управления.
4. Переведите на русский язык резюме текста.
Freezing delicate broccoli florets without having them clump together can be a sticky problem. At Birdseye de Mexico, a Cascade IQF Freezer with patented “precool humps” does it by redistributing product across the conveyor belt during the critical precool process.
5. Напишите краткое изложение текста на русском языке. Прокомментируйте часть текста, которая вам показалась наиболее интересной.
Text №8