Food Industry | Thickeners

Thickeners

Various food products, such as soups, gravy, tomato sauce and puree, chicken broth, and other sauces, are mixed with starch or other binding materials. Starch is typically a solid powder that needs to be properly dispersed throughout the liquid medium. Starch and other thickeners used in food prep tend to clump or agglomerate once introduced to any liquid material.

In all cases, the liquid needs to be introduced into the liquid material typically in a process tank and agitated. In-tank agitation is rarely sufficient to create a fine smooth and uniform dispersion of the solid material within the overall liquid. You might get there eventually, but it is time consuming and not energy efficient.

A Sonolator homogenizer unit can be used in conjunction with your process tank to accelerate the process and significantly improve product attributes. The agitation process can be very minimal in this case, just enough to wet out the solids. The premixed solution is then processed inline though the Sonolator to break apart agglomerates instantly without inefficient mechanical shear. Our systems continue to pump the fully homogenized solution downstream to your hold tank or filling operation.

Here are the benefits of this approach:

• Improved product uniformity
• Reduced overall process time to achieve desired result
• Improved thickening effect through better dispersing method
• Better consistency as mechanical shear not used
• No unnecessary heat generated, thereby protecting the starch