The main objective of this study was to optimize the processing conditions of breads baked in halogen lamp-microwave combination oven by using response surface methodology. It was also aimed to construct neural network models for the prediction of quality parameters of bread as a function of processing conditions. Different baking time and power combinations were used in order to find the optimum baking conditions of bread in halogen lamp-microwave combination oven. The independent variables were the baking time (4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, and 6 min), power of upper and lower halogen lamps (40, 50, 60, 70, and 80%), and power of the microwave (20, 30, 40, 50, and 60%). As control, breads baked in conventional oven at 200&ordm / C for 13 min were used. The measured quality parameters were the weight loss, color change, specific volume, porosity, and texture profile of the breads. Baking time, upper halogen lamp power, and microwave power were found to be significant on affecting most of the quality parameters. On the other hand, lower halogen lamp power was found to be an insignificant factor for all of the responses. For the optimization process, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used. The optimum baking conditions were determined as 5 min of baking time at 70% upper halogen lamp power, 50% lower halogen lamp power, and 20% microwave power. Breads baked at the optimum condition had comparable quality with conventionally baked ones. When halogen lamp-microwave combination oven was used, conventional baking time of breads was reduced by 60%. Artificial neural network models were developed for each of the quality parameters in order to observe the effects of the baking time and different oven conditions on the quality of the breads. High regression coefficients were calculated between the experimental data and predicted values showing that this method is capable in predicting quality parameters of breads during halogen lamp-microwave combination baking. In addition, the results were comparable to the RSM study.

In this study, the efficiency of high-pressure treatment (HHP, 250 - 450 MPa) with the combination of heat treatment (20 - 70oC) on peroxidase (POD) and lipoxygenase (LOX) inactivation in green beans, green peas and carrots was investigated for blanching purposes. Two steps treatments were also performed by pressurization at 250 MPa at 20&deg / C for 15- 60 min and then by water blanching at 40-70&deg / C. For green beans, 25 % residual activity was obtained by water blanching at 50&deg / C for 15 min after the pressurization at 250 MPa for 60 min. The enzyme inactivation in green peas was 78 % with water blanching at 50oC for 30 min after holding at 250 MPa for 60 min. When the carrots were water blanched at 50&deg / C for 30 min after HHP treatment at 250 MPa for 15min, 13 % residual activity was obtained. During the experiments, the stability gain or the activation of latent form of the enzymes were observed prior to inactivation. For carrots, LOX activity could not be measured. For green beans, 22 % LOX inactivation was obtained by holding at 250 MPa for 15 min and then by water blanching at 40&deg / C for 5 min. For green peas, the multiple treatment of 250 MPa for 30 min and water blanching at 50&deg / C for 30 min provided 70% inactivation. To obtain the enzyme inactivation higher than 90 % for blanching purposes, the pressure applied must be increased. Key words: high hydrostatic pressure, green bean, green pea, carrot, blanching, peroxidase, lipoxygenase

The quality and shelf-life of pressure processed (150, 200 and 250 MPa at 25 and 35&deg / C for 5, 10 and 15 minutes) orange, tomato and carrot juices were compared to fresh and thermally pasteurised (60&deg / C for 5, 10 and 15 minutes and 80&deg / C for 1 minute) juices. Treatments were capable of microbial inhibition of juices to non-detectable levels. The change in ascorbic acid content of HHP treated juices was not statistically significant (p&gt / 0.05). Both heat treatments at 60 and 80&deg / C, displayed a significant loss and induced a decrease in the free radical scavenging activity but was not affected by HHP treatments. Pressurization at 250 MPa at 35&deg / C for 15 minutes and thermal pasteurization at 80&deg / C for 1 minute and stored at 4 and 25&deg / C for shelf-life analysis. HHP treated juices showed a small loss of antioxidants (below 10%) at both storage temperatures whereas the loss is higher (about 30%) in the heat treated juices through shelf life (30 days). The pressurized juices, stored at 25&deg / C, contained ascorbic acid better than heat treated ones after 30 days. The total color changes were minor (&amp / #8710 / E=10) for all pressurized juices but for heat pasteurized samples, higher as a result of insufficient antioxidant activity. The pH of juices was not affected by treatment, storage temperature or time. HHP yielded a better product, regarding the studied parameters of the juices compared to the conventional pasteurization. Therefore, HHP treatment (250 MPa, 35&deg / C for 15 minutes) can be recommended for industrial production of fresh fruit and vegetables.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of microwave frying process on the quality of potato slices and to optimize the process by using different statistical optimization techniques. Use of microwave frying for food products may be considered as a new way of improving the quality of the fried foods. In the first part of the study, the effects of microwaves on quality of fried potatoes (moisture content, oil content, color and hardness) were studied and the process was optimized by using Taguchi Technique. Microwave power level (400W, 550W and 700W), frying time (2.0, 2.5, 3.0 minutes) and oil type (sunflower, corn and hazelnut oil) were the parameters used in the study. Moisture content of potatoes decreased whereas oil content, hardness and &amp / #916 / E values of the potatoes increased with increasing frying time and microwave power level. The potatoes with the highest oil content were found to be the ones that were fried in the hazelnut oil. The optimum condition was found as frying at 550W microwave power level, for 2.5 minutes in sunflower oil. The potatoes that were fried at the optimum condition were determined to have lower oil contents compared to the ones fried conventionally.In the second part of the study, osmotic dehydration was applied prior to microwave frying process in order to reduce oil uptake and to evaluate the effect of osmotic dehydration with microwaves on quality of fried potatoes. The process was optimized by using both Taguchi Technique and Response Surface Methodology. Microwave power level (400W, 550W and 700W), frying time (1.5, 2.0, 2.5 minutes) and osmotic dehydration time (15, 30, 45 minutes) were the parameters used in the study. Osmotic dehydration treatment was conducted in a salt solution of 20 % (w/w) at 30oC. Moisture content decreased whereas oil content, hardness and &amp / #916 / E value of potatoes increased with increasing frying time and microwave power level. Dehydration of potatoes osmotically prior to frying reduced the oil content of fried potatoes. The optimum condition was found as frying at 400 W microwave power level for 1.5 min after 30 min of osmotic dehydration time according to Taguchi Technique. Microwave power level and frying time were the same as Taguchi Technique but osmotic dehydration time was 39 min for the optimum condition found using response surface methodology.

Cheese is one of the most well known food products in the world dating back to the 8th century B.C. There are more than 2000 varieties of cheese that are manufactured all over the world. Feta cheese is a soft white cheese with a salty and slightly acidic taste, which has originated from Greece. Most of the feta cheese manufactured in Greece is consumed locally, the migration of greeks to other parts of the world led to a demand for feta cheese outside of Greece. The spreading of the popularity of feta cheese to other ethnic groups in different parts of the world resulted in the high demand for feta cheese worldwide. The modern and most efficient method of feta cheese production involves a membrane filtration method, known as ultrafiltration. The ultrafiltration process utilises pressure as a driving force to concentrate milk by removal of water and small dissolved molecules. Hollow fibre and spiral wound ultrafiltration membranes are the two types of membranes that are commonly used for cheese production. An extensive amount of research exists on the implementation of ultrafiltration to improve the efficiency of the cheese making process and the performance of the membranes. However, limited research has been conducted on the comparison of the hollow fibre and spiral wound membrane performance in the cheese making process. The objective of the research was to determine if the hollow fibre membranes used at Puhoi Valley Cheese can be replaced with spiral wound membranes without compromising the quality of cheese produced. In order to achieve the objective, feta cheese was produced using hollow fibre and spiral wound ultrafiltration pilot plants. The operating performances of the hollow fibre and spiral wound membrane units were compared. To ensure that the quality of cheese is maintained, the cheese manufactured on the pilot plant units was analysed in terms of composition, microbiology, texture and sensory properties. The cheese made using the hollow fibre membrane pilot plant was compared with the reference sample from Puhoi Valley Cheese as they use hollow fibre membranes to produce feta cheese. The cheese made from the spiral wound membrane unit was also compared to that made by the hollow fibre membrane pilot plant unit. The operating parameters such as the inlet and outlet pressure, pressure difference along the membrane, transmembrane pressure, flow rate, recycle rate (bleed off rate), temperature and the run time were recorded. The operating parameters of the hollow fibre and spiral wound runs were compared with the data from Puhoi Valley Cheese. The quality of cheese made on the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant units were evaluated in terms of composition, texture, microbiology and sensory properties. The composition was defined by the fat, protein, total solids and salt contents. The fat content was determined by utilising the modified Schmid-Bondzynski-Ratzlaff method, protein by the Kjeldahl method, total solids by using the air drying oven and salt percentage by the volhard method. The texture of the cheese was determined by the fracturability and hardness from the compression curve generated using the single bite compression test. The microbiological testing was performed according to New Zealand testing methods for E.Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, coliforms and yeast and mould. The difference from the control method was utilised for sensory evaluation. The acid degree value method was used to determine the lipase activity in feta cheese. It was found from the composition, texture and sensory analysis that the cheese from the hollow fibre pilot plant was different from the cheese manufactured at Puhoi Valley Cheeses (PVC). The spiral wound cheeses were also found to be different to PVC cheese, however the spiral wound cheeses and the pilot plant hollow fibre cheese were the same. The differences between both the pilot plant cheeses and PVC cheese were in terms of the fat, salt, moisture contents and the lipase activity in the cheeses. The fat content in the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant cheeses are lower in comparison to the PVC cheese. This difference in fat content is considered to be due to the difference in the fat to protein ratio of the milk concentrated on the pilot plant and the PVC ultrafiltration system. The lower fat content resulted in firmer cheese than PVC due to more cross linking between the protein strands in cheese. The salt content in the cheeses made using the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plants was lower than Puhoi Valley Cheese. This is considered to be due to the low ratio of brine volume to cheese volume used for salting the cheese. The salt content of brine decreases during brining; hence a low ratio of brine volume to cheese volume causes a significant decrease in brine concentration. The decrease in brine concentration decreases the salt intake of the cheese. As salt diffuses in the moisture diffuses out, lower salt content results in higher moisture content in the cheese. As mentioned, the moisture content of the hollow fibre pilot plant cheese was higher than the PVC cheese. The moisture content is inversely proportional to the total solids, hence higher moisture in pilot plant cheeses implies lower total solids than the PVC cheese. The lipase activity results showed that the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant cheeses had higher lipase activity than the Puhoi valley cheese. The differences in lipase activity of the pilot plant cheeses and Puhoi Valley cheese were considered to be due to the incomplete inactivation of lipase present in milk during pasteurisation. The results from texture and sensory evaluation support the above mentioned differences. The microbiology results for all pilot plant cheeses were within the trigger limits set by Puhoi valley cheeses. The results from monitoring the operating parameters of both the pilot plant data show that the permeate flux decreases while the total solids in milk increase with time, which was also observed from the Puhoi Valley Cheese data. However, the rate of decrease of the permeate flux and the increase of the total solids in milk are dependent on the membrane area, feed volume, transmembrane pressure, pressure drop across the membrane and the flow characteristics. The rate of decrease in permeate flux and the rate of increase in the total solids of the hollow fibre runs and spiral wound runs are slightly different. The difference is due to the availability of larger membrane surface area and processing of larger feed volume of milk in the spiral wound runs. The transmembrane pressure and the pressure drop across the membrane were maintained as close as possible to Puhoi Valley Cheese. In conclusion, spiral wound membranes can be used to achieve the desired total solids concentration and successfully make the same feta cheese as the hollow fibre pilot plant. In order to make the same quality of feta cheese as Puhoi Valley Cheese using the spiral wound membrane pilot plant, the same composition of milk used for concentration at Puhoi Valley Cheese needs to be used on the spiral wound pilot plant unit. It is recommended that Puhoi Valley Cheeses should be replaced with spiral wound membranes if they are more economical in terms of cost than the hollow fibre membranes.

Air-suspension particle coating is a process by which thin coatings are applied to powder particles. The coatings can be formulated to act as permeable barriers to increase powder shelf-life or to impart controlled release character. The ultimate objective of a coating operation is to produce individual particles, each with a well-controlled, even coating. This project was focused on the air-suspension coating of fine powders of ~100 µm in diameter for the dairy industry. Despite the widespread use of the technology in the pharmaceutical industry, its use in the food industry has been limited. Little is known about the fundamental mechanisms, and so published work to date is product and equipment specific and is statistical in the way the experimental design and analysis has been approached. This 'black box' approach is time consuming and costly. Better methods based on an understanding of the physical and chemical mechanisms are needed to deal with the numerous products and constantly changing formulations typical of the dairy industry. This thesis proposes a new approach to air-suspension particle coating research. The basis of this 'micro-level process approach', is to deconvolute the complex coating process into smaller manageable parts based on classical physical phenomena for which descriptions already exist. The thesis identifies and develops an understanding of the key micro-level processes controlling coated product quality and process performance. Four were selected for further study: drying, droplet impact and spreading, and stickiness which encompasses the two key micro-level processes of droplet impact and adherence and inter-particle agglomeration. They were studied separately to deconvolute the variable effects and interactions. Kinetic data were collected for the drying droplets containing maltodextrins, whey protein isolate and gum arabic. A mathematical model, based on 'ideal shrinkage' was developed to predict the drying kinetics of single droplets with particular interest in the development of the surface glass transition temperature. The model accurately predicted the kinetics until significant morphological changes occurred in the droplet. To better predict the kinetics late in the drying process, the droplet radius was set to be constant at a time based on the surface proximity to the surface glass transition temperature (critical X concept). This was done to arrest droplet shrinkage in line with experimental observations and to more accurately depict the drying of high molecular weight, amorphous glass forming polymers. After this point, a new flexible calculation scheme was used to better predict the variation in internal droplet structure as either a dense, 'collapsed shell' structure or a 'dense skin-porous crumb' structure. Further study should focus on the surface and internal droplet structure (porosity and mechanical integrity) development during drying, particularly the conditions leading to the arresting of the droplet radius and the subsequent rate of skin thickness progression. The critical X concept was used to make industrial-scale predictions of the optimum drying conditions that ensure maximum droplet impact and adherence efficiency and minimum inter-particle agglomeration in a Würster-style coating operation. This enabled the prediction of two key design parameters, the nozzle distance from the powder impact point and the Würster insert height. The span in design parameters showed that there is significant opportunity for design optimisation based on the critical X concept. A probe tack test was used to map the level of stickiness of droplets of different coating materials as they dried. As skin formation progressed, the stickiness passed through a maximum, in most cases to arrive at a point at which the droplet was no longer sticky at all (non-adhesive state). The maximum point of stickiness represents the ideal state to ensure successful droplet-substrate impact and adherence. The minimum point of stickiness represents the ideal state to prevent unwanted inter-particle agglomeration. The time interval between the onset of stickiness and the non-adhesive state was particularly dependent on the addition of plasticisers, but also on the formulation and the drying air conditions. Future work should look to establish a possible relationship between the surface glass transition temperature and the probe tack test stickiness measurements. The impact and spreading of droplets containing maltodextrin DE5 on to solid anhydrous milkfat was studied using a high speed video camera. It was found that the final spread diameter was able to be fixed close to the maximum spread diameter by using surfactants, thus avoiding significant recoil. Because existing literature focuses on predicting the maximum spread diameter, this work defines a need for adequate prediction methods for the final spread diameter, as this is the significant parameter in coating applications. Formulation and operating guidelines were established to independently optimise each micro-level process. These were used in a series of population based coating experiments in a pilot-scale Würster coater. This study highlighted the limited flexibility of the standard 'off-the-shelf' Würster coating apparatus for the coating of fine sized dairy powders. Because of this, the validation of the guidelines were inconclusive and optimisation could not be carried out. Further validation work is required on a custom-built apparatus for dairy powders. This work has advanced the fundamental knowledge of the coating process and is independent of material, equipment and scale. This knowledge, based on physical and chemical mechanisms, can be used to develop coating formulations and identify optimum process conditions for successful coating in less time and at less expense than is current practice. The next step is to put the guidelines into practice and craft the engineering of a continuous coating apparatus for dairy powder applications.

Fouling of heat treatment equipment in the dairy processing industry is an expensive and persistent problem. The objective of this work was to develop a better understanding of the mechanisms of dairy fouling in heat exchangers and identify methods to control this build-up. This was part of a larger project investigating the interaction between spore-forming thermophilic bacilli (thermophiles) contamination and fouling deposits on internal surfaces of equipment. Two systems were developed to monitor the onset and build-up of fouling on the internal surfaces of two research heat exchangers. The first used a commercial sensor to measure the local heat flux and the temperature on the hot side of a plate type heat exchanger. The heat transfer coefficient was calculated and normalised with its value at the start of the run to reflect the contribution of fouling deposits to the thermal resistance, thus giving a real-time estimate of the rate of fouling. The second system used an energy balance over a tubular type heat exchanger and measured inlet and outlet temperatures to estimate the overall heat transfer coefficient thus giving a global measurement of fouling over the tubular heat exchanger. In both systems the plot of normalised heat transfer coefficient over time often stayed constant over an induction period, which was followed by a falling period indicative of growth in the fouling layer thickness and/or mass. Each system was validated by comparing the final value of the normalised heat transfer coefficient with direct measurements of fouling made at the end of a run namely: fouling deposit height for the local measurement and fouling deposit mass for the global measurement. The normalised heat transfer coefficient reported by each system correlated well with the corresponding direct measurement of the fouling layer. An important factor identified in this study was the effect of air bubble nucleation on fouling deposits. It was shown that bubbles that formed on the heated surface greatly reduced the length of the induction period to a matter of seconds rather than hours, as found in previous studies of fouling in the absence of surface bubbles. The rate of fouling was also enhanced while the bubbles remained at the surface. The structure of bubble type fouling layers was linked to the behaviour of the bubbles at the heated surface. Visual observations of these bubbles showed evidence of growth, vibration and coalescence during their period of attachment to the heated surface. Deposits from bubble type fouling consisted of all solid components found in the original milk solution, except lactose, in approximately the same ratio. By contrast fouling deposits reported in the literature with systems operating under the traditional protein denaturation mechanism were reported to consist mainly of whey proteins. Bubble induced fouling can be limited in a number of ways, the most effective being to maintain a high operating pressure in the equipment to ensure nucleation does not occur. Experiments conducted in this study showed that a pressure of 130 kPa.g was sufficient to suppress all bubble nucleation at the heated surface at a temperature of 90°C. Another method identified was the use of high linear fluid velocities to entrain any surface bubbles into the processing stream immediately upon nucleation. Linear velocities above 1.0 m/s were shown to achieve this goal in the miniature plate heat exchanger tested. However, this method is only partially successful because the local linear velocity varies with position in heat exchange equipment of complex geometries and can drop below the mainstream average velocity causing surface bubbles to form, especially in recirculation regions behind flow obstacles. A more reliable method, in situations where high operating pressures could not be used, involved conditioning the heated surface with a thin protein layer during the first few minutes of a run. Conditioning the surface resulted in bubble suppression even at high temperatures and low pressures, thus greatly extending the length of the induction period. Trials performed in this study showed that the addition of a proteolytic enzyme produced by psychrotrophic microbes greatly increased fouling. The enzyme destabilised the caseins which could attach directly to the heat exchange surface independently from the bubble fouling mechanism. Thus the quality of the milk is another important factor to consider. However, the addition of enzymes produced by thermophilic bacilli isolated from milk powder plants did not increase fouling. A theory describing the air bubble induced fouling mechanism is presented along with recommendations on how to reduce this fouling contamination in processing equipment.

Cheese is one of the most well known food products in the world dating back to the 8th century B.C. There are more than 2000 varieties of cheese that are manufactured all over the world. Feta cheese is a soft white cheese with a salty and slightly acidic taste, which has originated from Greece. Most of the feta cheese manufactured in Greece is consumed locally, the migration of greeks to other parts of the world led to a demand for feta cheese outside of Greece. The spreading of the popularity of feta cheese to other ethnic groups in different parts of the world resulted in the high demand for feta cheese worldwide. The modern and most efficient method of feta cheese production involves a membrane filtration method, known as ultrafiltration. The ultrafiltration process utilises pressure as a driving force to concentrate milk by removal of water and small dissolved molecules. Hollow fibre and spiral wound ultrafiltration membranes are the two types of membranes that are commonly used for cheese production. An extensive amount of research exists on the implementation of ultrafiltration to improve the efficiency of the cheese making process and the performance of the membranes. However, limited research has been conducted on the comparison of the hollow fibre and spiral wound membrane performance in the cheese making process. The objective of the research was to determine if the hollow fibre membranes used at Puhoi Valley Cheese can be replaced with spiral wound membranes without compromising the quality of cheese produced. In order to achieve the objective, feta cheese was produced using hollow fibre and spiral wound ultrafiltration pilot plants. The operating performances of the hollow fibre and spiral wound membrane units were compared. To ensure that the quality of cheese is maintained, the cheese manufactured on the pilot plant units was analysed in terms of composition, microbiology, texture and sensory properties. The cheese made using the hollow fibre membrane pilot plant was compared with the reference sample from Puhoi Valley Cheese as they use hollow fibre membranes to produce feta cheese. The cheese made from the spiral wound membrane unit was also compared to that made by the hollow fibre membrane pilot plant unit. The operating parameters such as the inlet and outlet pressure, pressure difference along the membrane, transmembrane pressure, flow rate, recycle rate (bleed off rate), temperature and the run time were recorded. The operating parameters of the hollow fibre and spiral wound runs were compared with the data from Puhoi Valley Cheese. The quality of cheese made on the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant units were evaluated in terms of composition, texture, microbiology and sensory properties. The composition was defined by the fat, protein, total solids and salt contents. The fat content was determined by utilising the modified Schmid-Bondzynski-Ratzlaff method, protein by the Kjeldahl method, total solids by using the air drying oven and salt percentage by the volhard method. The texture of the cheese was determined by the fracturability and hardness from the compression curve generated using the single bite compression test. The microbiological testing was performed according to New Zealand testing methods for E.Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, coliforms and yeast and mould. The difference from the control method was utilised for sensory evaluation. The acid degree value method was used to determine the lipase activity in feta cheese. It was found from the composition, texture and sensory analysis that the cheese from the hollow fibre pilot plant was different from the cheese manufactured at Puhoi Valley Cheeses (PVC). The spiral wound cheeses were also found to be different to PVC cheese, however the spiral wound cheeses and the pilot plant hollow fibre cheese were the same. The differences between both the pilot plant cheeses and PVC cheese were in terms of the fat, salt, moisture contents and the lipase activity in the cheeses. The fat content in the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant cheeses are lower in comparison to the PVC cheese. This difference in fat content is considered to be due to the difference in the fat to protein ratio of the milk concentrated on the pilot plant and the PVC ultrafiltration system. The lower fat content resulted in firmer cheese than PVC due to more cross linking between the protein strands in cheese. The salt content in the cheeses made using the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plants was lower than Puhoi Valley Cheese. This is considered to be due to the low ratio of brine volume to cheese volume used for salting the cheese. The salt content of brine decreases during brining; hence a low ratio of brine volume to cheese volume causes a significant decrease in brine concentration. The decrease in brine concentration decreases the salt intake of the cheese. As salt diffuses in the moisture diffuses out, lower salt content results in higher moisture content in the cheese. As mentioned, the moisture content of the hollow fibre pilot plant cheese was higher than the PVC cheese. The moisture content is inversely proportional to the total solids, hence higher moisture in pilot plant cheeses implies lower total solids than the PVC cheese. The lipase activity results showed that the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant cheeses had higher lipase activity than the Puhoi valley cheese. The differences in lipase activity of the pilot plant cheeses and Puhoi Valley cheese were considered to be due to the incomplete inactivation of lipase present in milk during pasteurisation. The results from texture and sensory evaluation support the above mentioned differences. The microbiology results for all pilot plant cheeses were within the trigger limits set by Puhoi valley cheeses. The results from monitoring the operating parameters of both the pilot plant data show that the permeate flux decreases while the total solids in milk increase with time, which was also observed from the Puhoi Valley Cheese data. However, the rate of decrease of the permeate flux and the increase of the total solids in milk are dependent on the membrane area, feed volume, transmembrane pressure, pressure drop across the membrane and the flow characteristics. The rate of decrease in permeate flux and the rate of increase in the total solids of the hollow fibre runs and spiral wound runs are slightly different. The difference is due to the availability of larger membrane surface area and processing of larger feed volume of milk in the spiral wound runs. The transmembrane pressure and the pressure drop across the membrane were maintained as close as possible to Puhoi Valley Cheese. In conclusion, spiral wound membranes can be used to achieve the desired total solids concentration and successfully make the same feta cheese as the hollow fibre pilot plant. In order to make the same quality of feta cheese as Puhoi Valley Cheese using the spiral wound membrane pilot plant, the same composition of milk used for concentration at Puhoi Valley Cheese needs to be used on the spiral wound pilot plant unit. It is recommended that Puhoi Valley Cheeses should be replaced with spiral wound membranes if they are more economical in terms of cost than the hollow fibre membranes.

Fouling of heat treatment equipment in the dairy processing industry is an expensive and persistent problem. The objective of this work was to develop a better understanding of the mechanisms of dairy fouling in heat exchangers and identify methods to control this build-up. This was part of a larger project investigating the interaction between spore-forming thermophilic bacilli (thermophiles) contamination and fouling deposits on internal surfaces of equipment. Two systems were developed to monitor the onset and build-up of fouling on the internal surfaces of two research heat exchangers. The first used a commercial sensor to measure the local heat flux and the temperature on the hot side of a plate type heat exchanger. The heat transfer coefficient was calculated and normalised with its value at the start of the run to reflect the contribution of fouling deposits to the thermal resistance, thus giving a real-time estimate of the rate of fouling. The second system used an energy balance over a tubular type heat exchanger and measured inlet and outlet temperatures to estimate the overall heat transfer coefficient thus giving a global measurement of fouling over the tubular heat exchanger. In both systems the plot of normalised heat transfer coefficient over time often stayed constant over an induction period, which was followed by a falling period indicative of growth in the fouling layer thickness and/or mass. Each system was validated by comparing the final value of the normalised heat transfer coefficient with direct measurements of fouling made at the end of a run namely: fouling deposit height for the local measurement and fouling deposit mass for the global measurement. The normalised heat transfer coefficient reported by each system correlated well with the corresponding direct measurement of the fouling layer. An important factor identified in this study was the effect of air bubble nucleation on fouling deposits. It was shown that bubbles that formed on the heated surface greatly reduced the length of the induction period to a matter of seconds rather than hours, as found in previous studies of fouling in the absence of surface bubbles. The rate of fouling was also enhanced while the bubbles remained at the surface. The structure of bubble type fouling layers was linked to the behaviour of the bubbles at the heated surface. Visual observations of these bubbles showed evidence of growth, vibration and coalescence during their period of attachment to the heated surface. Deposits from bubble type fouling consisted of all solid components found in the original milk solution, except lactose, in approximately the same ratio. By contrast fouling deposits reported in the literature with systems operating under the traditional protein denaturation mechanism were reported to consist mainly of whey proteins. Bubble induced fouling can be limited in a number of ways, the most effective being to maintain a high operating pressure in the equipment to ensure nucleation does not occur. Experiments conducted in this study showed that a pressure of 130 kPa.g was sufficient to suppress all bubble nucleation at the heated surface at a temperature of 90°C. Another method identified was the use of high linear fluid velocities to entrain any surface bubbles into the processing stream immediately upon nucleation. Linear velocities above 1.0 m/s were shown to achieve this goal in the miniature plate heat exchanger tested. However, this method is only partially successful because the local linear velocity varies with position in heat exchange equipment of complex geometries and can drop below the mainstream average velocity causing surface bubbles to form, especially in recirculation regions behind flow obstacles. A more reliable method, in situations where high operating pressures could not be used, involved conditioning the heated surface with a thin protein layer during the first few minutes of a run. Conditioning the surface resulted in bubble suppression even at high temperatures and low pressures, thus greatly extending the length of the induction period. Trials performed in this study showed that the addition of a proteolytic enzyme produced by psychrotrophic microbes greatly increased fouling. The enzyme destabilised the caseins which could attach directly to the heat exchange surface independently from the bubble fouling mechanism. Thus the quality of the milk is another important factor to consider. However, the addition of enzymes produced by thermophilic bacilli isolated from milk powder plants did not increase fouling. A theory describing the air bubble induced fouling mechanism is presented along with recommendations on how to reduce this fouling contamination in processing equipment.

Cheese is one of the most well known food products in the world dating back to the 8th century B.C. There are more than 2000 varieties of cheese that are manufactured all over the world. Feta cheese is a soft white cheese with a salty and slightly acidic taste, which has originated from Greece. Most of the feta cheese manufactured in Greece is consumed locally, the migration of greeks to other parts of the world led to a demand for feta cheese outside of Greece. The spreading of the popularity of feta cheese to other ethnic groups in different parts of the world resulted in the high demand for feta cheese worldwide. The modern and most efficient method of feta cheese production involves a membrane filtration method, known as ultrafiltration. The ultrafiltration process utilises pressure as a driving force to concentrate milk by removal of water and small dissolved molecules. Hollow fibre and spiral wound ultrafiltration membranes are the two types of membranes that are commonly used for cheese production. An extensive amount of research exists on the implementation of ultrafiltration to improve the efficiency of the cheese making process and the performance of the membranes. However, limited research has been conducted on the comparison of the hollow fibre and spiral wound membrane performance in the cheese making process. The objective of the research was to determine if the hollow fibre membranes used at Puhoi Valley Cheese can be replaced with spiral wound membranes without compromising the quality of cheese produced. In order to achieve the objective, feta cheese was produced using hollow fibre and spiral wound ultrafiltration pilot plants. The operating performances of the hollow fibre and spiral wound membrane units were compared. To ensure that the quality of cheese is maintained, the cheese manufactured on the pilot plant units was analysed in terms of composition, microbiology, texture and sensory properties. The cheese made using the hollow fibre membrane pilot plant was compared with the reference sample from Puhoi Valley Cheese as they use hollow fibre membranes to produce feta cheese. The cheese made from the spiral wound membrane unit was also compared to that made by the hollow fibre membrane pilot plant unit. The operating parameters such as the inlet and outlet pressure, pressure difference along the membrane, transmembrane pressure, flow rate, recycle rate (bleed off rate), temperature and the run time were recorded. The operating parameters of the hollow fibre and spiral wound runs were compared with the data from Puhoi Valley Cheese. The quality of cheese made on the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant units were evaluated in terms of composition, texture, microbiology and sensory properties. The composition was defined by the fat, protein, total solids and salt contents. The fat content was determined by utilising the modified Schmid-Bondzynski-Ratzlaff method, protein by the Kjeldahl method, total solids by using the air drying oven and salt percentage by the volhard method. The texture of the cheese was determined by the fracturability and hardness from the compression curve generated using the single bite compression test. The microbiological testing was performed according to New Zealand testing methods for E.Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, coliforms and yeast and mould. The difference from the control method was utilised for sensory evaluation. The acid degree value method was used to determine the lipase activity in feta cheese. It was found from the composition, texture and sensory analysis that the cheese from the hollow fibre pilot plant was different from the cheese manufactured at Puhoi Valley Cheeses (PVC). The spiral wound cheeses were also found to be different to PVC cheese, however the spiral wound cheeses and the pilot plant hollow fibre cheese were the same. The differences between both the pilot plant cheeses and PVC cheese were in terms of the fat, salt, moisture contents and the lipase activity in the cheeses. The fat content in the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant cheeses are lower in comparison to the PVC cheese. This difference in fat content is considered to be due to the difference in the fat to protein ratio of the milk concentrated on the pilot plant and the PVC ultrafiltration system. The lower fat content resulted in firmer cheese than PVC due to more cross linking between the protein strands in cheese. The salt content in the cheeses made using the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plants was lower than Puhoi Valley Cheese. This is considered to be due to the low ratio of brine volume to cheese volume used for salting the cheese. The salt content of brine decreases during brining; hence a low ratio of brine volume to cheese volume causes a significant decrease in brine concentration. The decrease in brine concentration decreases the salt intake of the cheese. As salt diffuses in the moisture diffuses out, lower salt content results in higher moisture content in the cheese. As mentioned, the moisture content of the hollow fibre pilot plant cheese was higher than the PVC cheese. The moisture content is inversely proportional to the total solids, hence higher moisture in pilot plant cheeses implies lower total solids than the PVC cheese. The lipase activity results showed that the hollow fibre and spiral wound pilot plant cheeses had higher lipase activity than the Puhoi valley cheese. The differences in lipase activity of the pilot plant cheeses and Puhoi Valley cheese were considered to be due to the incomplete inactivation of lipase present in milk during pasteurisation. The results from texture and sensory evaluation support the above mentioned differences. The microbiology results for all pilot plant cheeses were within the trigger limits set by Puhoi valley cheeses. The results from monitoring the operating parameters of both the pilot plant data show that the permeate flux decreases while the total solids in milk increase with time, which was also observed from the Puhoi Valley Cheese data. However, the rate of decrease of the permeate flux and the increase of the total solids in milk are dependent on the membrane area, feed volume, transmembrane pressure, pressure drop across the membrane and the flow characteristics. The rate of decrease in permeate flux and the rate of increase in the total solids of the hollow fibre runs and spiral wound runs are slightly different. The difference is due to the availability of larger membrane surface area and processing of larger feed volume of milk in the spiral wound runs. The transmembrane pressure and the pressure drop across the membrane were maintained as close as possible to Puhoi Valley Cheese. In conclusion, spiral wound membranes can be used to achieve the desired total solids concentration and successfully make the same feta cheese as the hollow fibre pilot plant. In order to make the same quality of feta cheese as Puhoi Valley Cheese using the spiral wound membrane pilot plant, the same composition of milk used for concentration at Puhoi Valley Cheese needs to be used on the spiral wound pilot plant unit. It is recommended that Puhoi Valley Cheeses should be replaced with spiral wound membranes if they are more economical in terms of cost than the hollow fibre membranes.