Flash pasteurisation at our Widford factory
All our fruit-based products are pasteurised to extend their shelf life and destroy naturally occurring yeast, bacteria or mould.
At Britvic we use two different methods of pasteurisation:
Flash pasteurisation is more efficient and involves passing the liquid through a plate heat exchanger before it is packaged. This heats it to a high temperature for a short time (HTST) - approx. 95 degrees centigrade for 15 seconds.
The liquid is then filled into cleaned containers and the cap or lid fitted. Because the container and the air around the filler is not necessarily sterile, these products normally require the addition of some preservatives to prevent the growth of yeast or mould.
In-pack pasteurisation involves heating the packaged drinks to a lower temperature for a longer period of time - approx. 75 degrees centigrade for 40 minutes.
In-pack pasteurisation units are more expensive to install and run, both in terms of their initial cost and the amount of energy and water they use. However, as both the product and the pack is pasteurised, drinks produced in this way can normally be made without the use of preservatives.