Fast food pumping

Louise Davis

Bredel CIP pumps to a global brand sauce and condiments manufacturing plant

Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG) has supplied Bredel CIP (clean-in-place) pumps to a global brand sauce and condiments manufacturing plant in Russia.

Replacing pumps that were proving difficult to clean and maintain, Bredel CIP 50 models are being used to pump products that include cheese sauce, tomato ketchup and mayonnaise.

Hygiene is paramount in food industry applications, where any failures can have a devastating impact on brand reputation.

For this reason, Bredel CIP 50 pumps are available with the option of externally operated retracting shoes that release the hose so that the line is open and unobstructed for cleaning.

Pumps featuring this option are used at the Russian plant with a food-approved hose and food grade lubricant, both from WMFTG, while stainless steel sanitary connectors include DIN, ASA and JIS types.

Hygiene and sterility are crucial at the plant where, depending on the production plan, clean-in-place (CIP) is often scheduled daily. The process takes place at full velocity using food industry standard cleaning agents such as Tarmo (1.0%) and ET (0.3-0.5%).

Bredel CIP 50 pumps have been installed on two filling lines to transfer cheese sauce, which is heated to 75°C. Here, the sauce needs to be pumped quickly from the hoppers to the filling line at flow rates of up to 7000 l/h.

If the sauce cools in the pump hose or in the transfer lines, it will solidify, which would cause huge cleaning issues because hot water and stronger cleaning agents would be needed to break down the starch and fats.

Elsewhere on site, the pumps transfer ketchup through 20m-long pipework with 7m delivery.

The pumps dose ketchup with a viscosity of 50,000 cP (at 30-40°C) from the hoppers to a line that fills plastic single serving sachets for fast food outlets.

On the same line, plastic sachets are also filled with mayonnaise (5,000 cP), again for fast food outlets.

Aside from ease-of-cleaning, there were several important factors to consider before selecting the Bredel pumps, not least the shear thinning of these thixotropic sauces.

Further factors included the avoidance of air entrainment, which could lead the sachets to burst upon filling, and the need for sterility. Sachets are in high demand in the Russian market, where glass bottles are deemed unacceptable. The same is true in Africa, which is a major export market for the plant.

Recent Issues