A new tuna canning method designed by Galician engineer Antonio Sartal will allow to verify the health conditions of each tin. Technical industrial engineer Antonio Sartal is expected to become a complete revolution in the canning industry. The system invented by this 21 year-old Galician guarantees a correct sterilization of tins without damaging the taste nor the nutritional characteristics of the product.
Companies processing food products in cans require a sterilization period or heat treatment for their product that guarantees its perfect health condition. In order to assure the elimination of all microbes, the tins are submitted to a heat process for a longer period of time than necessary. However, this method deteriorates the taste and nutritional characteristics of the canned product.
Sartal performed this investigation, using canned tuna, as a project for his University finals at the Industrial Technical Engineering University of Vigo. His work delivered a mathematical model that, when applied to the heat transmission of the sterilizing equipment in the canning industry, it enables to read –with absolute certainty- the inner temperature of the cans, without having to periodically puncture and therefore damage several tins.
This method is applicable to any type of canned food products, which require sterilization or pasteurization, like milk.
The importance of this revolutionary finding becomes even more valuable considering that the European rules for food safety are going to become even tighter in January.