A tower used to extend the life of the grains in the period of their storage, through procedures of grain humidification, sterilization, cooling, freezing and drying, which can be applied together or separately according to with the need of each particular cultivation, offering a multifunctional tower of high performance and low fuel & energy consumption, low noise and eco-friendly, not contaminating the grains that make the heat exchange with steam.

Methods and apparatuses to activate, modify, and sanitize the surfaces of granular, powdered, or seed material placed in a continuous flow of a low-temperature, reduced-pressure gas plasma. Said plasma may be created with radio-frequency power, using capacitive-inductive, or a combination of both types of discharge. The plasma is generated at pressures in the 0.01 to 10 Torr range. RF frequency ranges from 0.2 to 220 MHz, and correspond to a plasma density between about n.sub.e10.sup.8-n.sub.e10.sup.12 or 0.001 to 0.4 W/cm.sup.3. Inserts and electrodes may be temperature controlled to control process conditions. RF discharge may be pulsed or modulated by different frequency in order to stimulate energy exchange between gas plasma and process material. The apparatuses may be grounded, biased and mechanically activated (e.g., vibration, rotation, etc.).

The invention relates to a novel solid heat exchanger module containing a plurality of heat exchanger tubes having a particular shape and being arranged in a special manner.

Methods and apparatuses to activate, modify, and sanitize the surfaces of granular, powdered, or seed material placed in a continuous flow of a low-temperature, reduced-pressure gas plasma. Said plasma may be created with radio-frequency power, using capacitive-inductive, or a combination of both types of discharge. The plasma is generated at pressures in the 0.01 to 10 Torr range. RF frequency ranges from 0.2 to 220 MHz, and correspond to a plasma density between about n.sub.e10.sup.8n.sub.e10.sup.12 or 0.001 to 0.4 W/cm.sup.3. Inserts and electrodes may be temperature controlled to control process conditions. RF discharge may be pulsed or modulated by different frequency in order to stimulate energy exchange between gas plasma and process material. The apparatuses may be grounded, biased and mechanically activated (e.g., vibration, rotation, etc.).

A method for pasteurizing/sanitizing/sterilizing a food product to reduce the microbial load thereof, including the steps of: (1) providing a food product, wherein the food product comprises a plant seed and/or an aqueous plant seed medium; (2) optionally fermenting the food product; (3) controllably exposing the food product to ultra-high-temperature processing for a period of time; and (4) at least one of pasteurizing, sanitizing, and sterilizing the food product without materially altering the flavor profile and/or the nutritional profile of the food product.

A method for pasteurizing/sanitizing/sterilizing a food product to reduce the microbial load thereof, including the steps of: (1) providing a food product, wherein the food product comprises a plant seed and/or an aqueous plant seed medium; (2) optionally fermenting the food product; (3) controllably exposing the food product to ultra-high-temperature processing for a period of time; and (4) at least one of pasteurizing, sanitizing, and sterilizing the food product without materially altering the flavor profile and/or the nutritional profile of the food product.

Apparatus and methods for bulk processing items on a conveyor belt using an angled axial fan that extends obliquely into a processing chamber that performs a pasteurization or other process on the conveyed items. The angled axial fan enhances air flow around a product being processed on the conveyor belt.

The invention relates to the validation of decontamination processes and in particular to new surrogate organisms and mixtures of said microorganisms used for validating the decontamination processes.

The invention relates to the validation of decontamination processes and in particular to new surrogate organisms and mixtures of said microorganisms used for validating the decontamination processes.

A method of producing retort-sterilized cooked rice including: a heating water-absorption step A for heating uncooked rice having a hardness ratio lower than 1 (one) for causing water to be absorbed therein such that resultant water-absorbed rice grains weigh from 2.0 to 2.6 times as much as the uncooked rice grains; a filling step B for filling the heated, water-absorbed rice grains in a packing container; a sealing step D for sealing the filled packing container; and a retort-sterilization step E for sterilizing the sealed packing container by heating and pressurizing. Also, retort-sterilized container-packed cooked rice comprises rice prepared by retort-sterilizing Indica rice with charging of inert gas in a headspace of the packing container such that the concentration of oxygen gas therein may range 1% or more and less than 2%.