UHT TREATMENT FOR TEA

UHT (Ultra-high temperature processing, ultra-heat treatment, or ultra-pasteurization) is a processing technology that sterilizes liquid food/ drink by heating it above 135 °C (275 °F) – the temperature required to kill bacterial endospores – for 2 to 5 seconds. UHT is most commonly used in milk production, but the process is also used for fruit juices, cream, soy milk, yogurt, wine, soups, honey, stews, and tea.

The first system involving indirect heating with the continuous flow (125 °C [257 °F] for 6 min) was manufactured in 1893. In Sweden, Tetra Pak launched tetrahedral paperboard cartons in 1952. They made a commercial breakthrough in the 1960s, after technological advances, combining carton assembling and aseptic packaging technologies, followed by international expansion. In aseptic processing, the product and the package are sterilized separately and then combined and sealed in a sterile atmosphere, in contrast to canning, where product and package are first combined and then sterilized.

UHT processing is performed in complex production plants, which perform several stages of food processing and packaging automatically and in succession:

Flash heating
Flash cooling
Homogenization
Aseptic packaging

In the heating stage, the treated liquid is first pre-heated to a noncritical temperature and then quickly heated to the temperature required by the process. There are two types of heating technologies: direct, where the product is put in direct contact with the hot steam, and indirect, where the product and the heating medium remain separated by the equipment’s contact surfaces. The main goals of the design, both from product quality and from efficiency standpoints, are to maintain the high product temperature for the shortest period possible and to ensure that the temperature is evenly distributed throughout.

UHT milk tea packaged in a sterile box, if not opened, has a typical unrefrigerated shelf life of six to twelve months. The tea treated with UHT technology and aseptic packaging significantly cut the need for refrigeration, and thus benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse emissions while still preserve the most nutrition of materials.

Since 2018, Future Generation Co. Ltd has invested and developed UHT & Aseptic technology for our tea. Our products have been receiving a positive response from markets.