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US 9,560,873 B2Granted
Antimicrobial compositions and methods for treating packaged food products
AssigneeEcolab USA Inc.
InventorsScott L. Burnett, Jocelyn H. Chopskie, Joy G. Herdt, Teresa C. Podtburg, Timothy A. Gutzmann, Daniel G. Brown, Richard J. Christianson, Harriet L. E. Ulland
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method of using an antimicrobial composition on a food product where the antimicrobial composition is applied to a food product, the food product is packaged and sealed, and then activation energy is applied to the sealed food product.
Claims12
A method of reducing microorganisms on a food product comprising:
- (a) applying an antimicrobial composition to a food product;
- (b) packaging the food product in a packaging to create a packaged food product;
- (c) sealing the packaged food product so that additional microorganisms are less likely to enter the packaging;
- and
- (d) applying a sub-lethal amount of heat at a temperature of from about 160° F. to about 210° F. to the sealed food product for about 2 to about 20 seconds to activate the antimicrobial composition, wherein the heat is applied in a shrink tunnel, the heat alone does not significantly reduce the microorganism population, and the heat activated antimicrobial reduces the microorganism population by about 1 log to about 3.5 logs.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.