Carbonated Soft Drinks : Formulation and Manufacture

Описание

Steen: “fm” — 2006/4/27 — 18:30 — page xvii — #17
Preface
The market for carbonated beverages has grown dramatically in most countries,
for example, by 128% in the UK since 1984. This growth has required changes
in the way factories are run. Soft drinks are now classified as food products and
are produced under stringent hygiene conditions. Twenty years ago this was not
always the case – carbonated drinks were often produced in old buildings where
cross-contamination could easily occur. Filling technology has progressed rapidly
to meet the needs of manufacturers and consumers alike. Whilst the basic counter
pressure filler is still the main work horse, new generations of electronically and
pneumatically controlled filling machines have been developed that allow production under much more hygienic conditions and to much higher standards of filling
accuracy and repeatability.
Primary packaging for carbonated soft drinks in most countries appears to have
settled on PET bottles, with 500 ml and 2 l sizes predominating. The returnable
glass bottle business is in decline and single-trip glass bottles are now mainly
used for specialist products. The growth of can use appears to have stabilised. The
‘lightweighting’ of PET bottles over the last decade appears to be reaching its limits.
Work on this will inevitably continue though at a slower rate as a consequence of the
high cost of oil. Developments in barrier technology and new resins mean that shelf
life in small PET bottles is not the problem it once was for carbonated products,
although the much higher bottle cost restricts the use of such materials to premium
product. Closure technology has also improved over the last 10 years with the
advent of new neck finishes for PET bottles and improvements in closure design.
After an introduction to carbonated soft drinks, this volume considers the specifications and treatments for water, the main ingredient of any soft drink. A chapter on
the other ingredients and formulation of carbonated drinks then follows (Chapter 3).
Chapter 4 considers how ingredients are blended together to an agreed specification,
and includes sections on sugar dissolving and batch and continuous syrup production. The predominant philosophy now is to manufacture the finished product as
ready to drink (RTD), and prove that it is within specification prior to carbonation.
In this way losses are minimised, uniformity of product is guaranteed and there is
tight cost control of production.
A chapter on carbon dioxide production and the physics of carbonation then
follows (Chapter 5). Modern carbonation techniques and feedback control are
considered, with a discussion of different carbonation methods. The physics of
filling carbonated beverages is included, followed by a consideration of the latest
generation of filling machines (Chapter 6).
Chapter 7 deals with primary packaging – the concepts of containing, protecting,
identifying and marketing are considered in the light of environmental, legislative
and cost factors for the three main containers: glass bottles, PET bottles and cans.

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