Food product processing by drenching

This process serves to improve the organoleptic and nutritional properties and shelf life of meat, fish, shellfish and molluscs. The treatments include drying and impregnation (product formulation) techniques such as salt-drying, drying, marinating and impregnation with various solutes (salt, sugar, acids, flavourings, etc). The various treatments are applied by drenching.

• Drenching the products to be treated with the treatment solution ensures uniform treatment at a controlled temperature.
• The treatment solution is constantly filtered, topped up with solutes and recycled. The process is thus economical, and the ecological and economic costs of treating the solution after use are limited.
• Drenching is easier than conventional immersion techniques: it requires only very simple equipment, is quick, and can be run continuously. It is easily automatizable and suitable for use on an industrial scale.
• The products to be treated are placed in an original way, in a single layer, on openwork trays stacked one on top of another. This limits handling operations for subsequent treatments.

Patented product.

Cirad is looking for equipment manufacturers and meat product manufacturers to produce salted, dried, flavoured, marinated or dyed products.