TOP Tess

A year ago I wrote a blog about our Tess. To refresh your memory: TESS (Temperature Effect Simulation System) is the autoclave developed by TOP to simulate the effect of different pasteurisation and sterilisation methods on the quality of food products.

Thanks to the development of the software, for instance an RF (Radio Frequent) and PATS (Pressure Assisted Thermal Sterilisation) treatment can be simulated, along with conventional heat treatments. The complete temperature profile can be set to suit your wishes; from heating and cooling processes up to fall-delay time and of course the core and surface temperature of the product.

A lot has happened over the past year. Tess has moved to our FoodLab, very much to her liking. On a regular base she is put to use to process vegetables, sauces, meat, fish, starchy products and complex meals. Last October TOP and Marfo organized a seminar about PATS, in which the products prepared by Tess were tasted.

Despite dealing with simulations, and not the real RF and PATS treatments, the results speak for themselves: conventional heat treatments have a significantly larger negative effect on the product quality. The heat load of RF and PATS is a lot lower, gaining quality in especially green vegetables and aqueous products.

At the moment TOP is developing an RF setup, with which we hope to perform the first tests coming spring. The simulations of Tess then can be validated on the real setup. We expect the RF products to be of even better quality, thanks to the lower heat load.

Tess, just like the other equipment in the TOP FoodLab, is free for use for our customers.

Interested? Tess’s colleagues are happy to help you in designing product specific simulations, quantifying the results, and determining suitable follow-up routes.

Bertine Smit