What is use of Water softener plant in food and beverage production?
Water plays a critical and fundamental role in food safety. It is a vital resource for the food industry with numerous applications. Water is frequently taken for granted in most food preparation and processing operations. Aside from being used as an ingredient, water is widely used in food production at various levels. Water quality and its impact on food products and various food industry operations are frequently underestimated. Such underestimation frequently results in water mismanagement, equipment operation and maintenance issues, revenue loss, food safety, and product quality issues.
Water pollution can happen at any stage and in a variety of ways. In the safe production of food, physical, chemical, or biological agents pose significant health risks. Water contamination by a variety of pathological microorganisms poses significant challenges to food safety as well as risks to human and animal health. The majority of diseases spread by contaminated fresh water are caused by pathogenic microorganisms. Water must be free of undesirable taste, odour, colour, and impurities, such as pathogenic organisms, whenever it is used as an ingredient in a food product. Water quality must meet the safe drinking water standard.
FOUR MAJOR USES OF WATER IN FOOD PRODUCTION
1-Primary production:
Primary food production consumes the most water. Water is primarily used in agriculture to irrigate crops. Large amounts of water are used in livestock farming for livestock watering as well as general animal and equipment hygiene.
Agriculture, which also includes livestock husbandry and forestry, is the world's main source of food for the human population. Meat (beef, pork, poultry, and others), dairy products, and fishes, aquatic or sea food are all examples of food produced by the livestock sector. As the world's population continues to grow, more food and livestock feed will be needed in the future, which will necessitate the use of more water. As a result, agriculture must claim more water in order to produce enough food to feed the world.
2-Cleaning and sanitation:
Water is an all-purpose solvent. When used in the context of food handling, it refers to the complete removal of food soil and associated non-food visible components using water and detergent chemicals in accordance with recommended methods or processes. The first and most important step is to flush with water to remove any visible soil.
For all practical purposes, the water used for cleaning and washing should be of the same quality as potable water. Sanitation employs the use of water. It can be used alone or in conjunction with another chemical agent to achieve effective sanitization. Chemical sanitization entails the application of a chemical sanitizer at a specific concentration and contact time. Water is used as a medium or vehicle in chemical sanitization to achieve more effective and efficient cleaning and sanitization.
3-Processing operations:
Water management has numerous applications in food processing, including increased promotion and increased efficiency of water recycling. Water is used frequently in a wide range of food processing operations, including product transport, ingredient dissolution, product treatment (e.g., alteration, separation), maintaining an appropriate water content in the final product, cooling processes, steam generation, and abnormal incidents (e.g., fire protection).
4-Food ingredient:
Water can also be found as a food ingredient or as an ingredient in a food component. When water is considered as an ingredient of food, it is a major safety concern. It is used by humans to preserve, store, and consume food. Ordinary tap water that satisfies the criteria of the safe drinking water standard may not always do so.
WATER SOFTENER FOR FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES
Netsol manufactures water softeners for the food and beverage industries. Water softening is the process of removing magnesium, calcium, and sometimes iron ions from water. When an ion exchanger is used to soften water, the calcium and magnesium ions in the water are replaced with other ions such as sodium or potassium. As sodium and potassium salts, the exchange ions are added to the ion exchange reservoir.
All these processes require clean water which can be provided by soft water flowing smoothly through pipes. That is why a Water Softener is an important commodity in the food and beverage manufacturing units.