The present invention pertains to a method of preparing modified whey protein compositions by gentle oxidation under conditions that expose and selectively oxidize free thiol groups of beta-lactoglobulin. The resulting modified whey protein product has been found to have an excellent performance in e.g. protein-rich beverage products and has particularly been found to give rise to a reduced level of unpleasant odours during sterilizing heat-treatments at neutral pH and during consumption of such beverage products.

An acoustic apparatus and method for using a combination of low-frequency and high-frequency vibration of dried food, grain being an example, such that there are a large number of collisions among the individual grain particles for destroying microorganisms that reside on the surface or just below the surface of the grain, are described. Embodiments of the invention permit bulk and continuous processing of the food. It is expected that such collisions do not produce any chemical changes in the food, nor should it have any adverse effects on the taste thereof. Embodiments of the apparatus are applicable to destruction of airborne microorganisms.

The present invention relates to methods for processing fruits or vegetables such that sweet ingredients or ingredients useful to the human body effectively infiltrates into fruits or vegetables and to apparatus used in the method. The present invention relates to methods for allowing sweet ingredients or ingredients useful to the human body to be effectively absorbed into fruits or vegetables while supplying fruits or vegetables to the inside of a pressure chamber, reducing the inside of the pressure chamber to low vacuum state within a specific pressure range while all fruits or vegetables to be processed are immersed in aqueous solution of a useful ingredient, maintaining the condition for a set period of time, and returning the inside of the pressure chamber to atmospheric pressure. The present invention relates to methods using only subatmospheric pressure so as to allow sweet ingredient or ingredient useful to the human body to effectively infiltrate into fruits or vegetables while minimizing damage to the skin or the internal tissues of the fruits or vegetables and to apparatus used in the method.

Provided is an innovative method for sterilization or inactivation treatment of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria that demonstrates a sufficient sterilization effect in a reliable manner and that can be implemented using simple equipment by reducing the heat resistance of heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria by the effect of decompression treatment in a high-pressure process, and by carrying out a heat sterilization treatment after a predetermined resting time has elapsed after the decompression to thereby sterilize and inactivate heat-resistant bacteria that have reduced heat resistance. A method for sterilizing or inactivating heat-resistant spore-forming bacteria by performing, as a pretreatment of a heat sterilization treatment, a high-pressure treatment in which a hydrostatic pressure of 50 MPa or more and 200 MPa or less is applied to an object under a temperature of 50 C. or less, and a decompression treatment for decompression is carried out, after which the object having undergone the decompression treatment is subjected to the heat sterilization treatment after a predetermined resting time has elapsed after a variation in hydrostatic pressure by the decompression has occurred.

The method of the invention is characterized in that in the first phase the device installation is filled with processed liquid product, yielding a low pressure zone and then the processed liquid product is introduced under high pressure into the cavitation process, where moving at a rate of not less than 3 m/s and under pressure of not less than 20 bar is introduced to the cavitation and rotation location of the separated streams of the processed liquid product, which rotating in the further part, in the longitudinal axis of the cavitator, move in the opposite directions, resulting in differential pressure leading to cavitation process with effects characteristic for sterilization and homogenization with heterogeneous parameters, wherein in the next phase a separation takes place into a liquid product, which has a particle size larger than 600 nm and a liquid product which has a particle size smaller than 600 nm, wherein the liquid product of larger particle size is directed to cooling and complementary cavitation reprocessing, and the liquid product of smaller particle size is subjected to particle size analysis control, by which the liquid product, which meets the preset parameters, is directed to the finished product acceptance, and the liquid product which does not meet the acceptance criteria is sent to the next reprocessing.

Provided is a modular vacuum storage apparatus and method for storing, dispensing, preserving and shipping perishable items.

Processes for production of a composition containing active follistatin via spray/heat drying of a biological source containing follistatin as well as compositions containing this active follistatin and methods it use increasing muscle mass are provided.

The present invention provides a process for the preparation of freeze dried microorganism composition, comprising the step of (i) subjecting a frozen composition comprising micro-organisms to a drying pressure of from 133 Pa [1000 mT] to 338 Pa [2540 mT] such that at the drying pressure the frozen composition is dried by sublimation of water present in the frozen composition to provide a freeze dried composition comprising the micro-organisms.

A method for packaging a frozen food product includes placing a fluid food product into a flexible container, sealing the container and pasteurizing the food product in the sealed container. The method further includes applying a form to at least one surface of the flexible container, the form embossing the container and creating a series of compartments separated by thin segments therebetween, and freezing the product in the container with the form in place.

A multilayer high pressure cylindrical vessel (1) has an inner metal cylinder (3), the inner surface defining an inner volume of the vessel (1) along the radial direction, an outer metal cylinder (4), and one intermediate cylindrical layer sandwiched in space between the inner cylinder (3) and the outer cylinder (4) has and comprising a number of circular wedge segments (51) separated by gaps (52). To improve the vessel there exists an interference fit between the one intermediate cylindrical layer and the adjoining solid cylinders and said gaps (52) are broken by bridges (522) connecting angularly adjacent circular segments (51) and defining two axially adjacent gap sections (521) so that the cylindrical layer is a single cylindrical element (5), and the circular wedge segments (51) separated by gaps (52) both extend in parallel to each other along the longitudinal axis of the vessel (1).