Danish equipment supplier P Lindberg Industri has developed super microwave ovens capable of pasteurising food. The first customers are egg packers and milk powder producers, and the company claims that the meat industry has also showed an interest in the equipment.
"The gigantic microwaves can also be used within the food industry and the fruits and vegetables business," said Anders Boisen, sales manager at P Lindberg Industri. "This is especially true with regard to the killing of unwanted bacteria on packaging and pallets."
The principle of the gigantic microwave oven is identical to the one in an ordinary and much smaller microwave oven. A plate rotates in the bottom of the oven, microwaves run through in order for the subject to be heated up quickly - it can be heated up to 90 degrees Celsius.
According to Anders Boisen, a computerised giant-microwave measuring three metres in high, three metres in breadth and two metres deep, costs between $244,000 and $330,000 depending on the level of technology each oven is equipped with.
P Lindberg Industri is better known in the food industry for the manufacture of stainless chill tanks, but the company is confident that there is a lucrative market for its giant microwave technology. There is certainly an increased focus on food safety at the moment. New EU food safety legislation comes on line in January 2005, and there are plenty of other innovative pasteurisation products coming onto the market.
Another interesting new product is Leda Technologies' patented pasteurisation system that is specifically designed to eliminate Salmonella and high levels of avian flu in shell eggs. The company is currently looking to role the technology out on an industrial scale.
"If a large egg producer were to contact us to work on a large-scale industrial process, then that is something we would look into," communications manager Stejn de Preter told FoodProductionDaily.com."We know we have the technology, and we know how efficient this system is."
Leda's technology ensures that eggs can be pasteurised in the shell and consequently safely stored for long periods of time. The company claims that the appliance, called Pollux, incorporates traditional means of heat pasteurisation with intelligent software that increases the system's ability to ensure food safety.
The firm claims that the system has been independently certified to kill at least 700 million Salmonella bacteria inside shell eggs while not affecting the eggs' composition, appearance, nutritional value, taste or cooking properties.
Egg safety is a growing concern. According to the World Health Organisation, at least 40 per cent of reported food poisoning cases in Europe can be attributed to food containing infected eggs, with Salmonella playing a particularly prominent role. And over the past few months, avian influenza has raised fears even further over the safety of poultry products.
The disease has led to the imposition of severe import restrictions on Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, China, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. At the end of February, as bird flu surfaced in Texas, the EU halted all poultry related imports from the United States. Last year's bird flu epidemic in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany led to the cull of 30 million chickens.