Beverage Filling and Sealing: Multi-Link Control to Build a Solid Defense Line f

Beverage Filling and Sealing: Multi-Link Control to Build a Solid Defense Line for Quality and Safety

As the peak season for summer beverage consumption arrives, beverage manufacturers are entering a busy period of production and sales. As a key link in ensuring beverage quality and shelf life, the standardization of the filling and sealing process has attracted significant attention. Industry experts remind that strict control must be implemented in multiple aspects such as equipment commissioning, material adaptation, and operational standards to prevent issues like liquid leakage and spoilage, thereby safeguarding consumers' health.

Accurate Equipment Commissioning: The Primary Premise

Filling and sealing machines need regular parameter calibration to ensure that the filling volume error is controlled within industry standards (usually ≤ ±2%), avoiding cost waste or damage to consumers' rights due to inaccurate measurement. At the same time, focus should be placed on checking the fit between the sealing mold and the bottle mouth—if the mold is worn or there is alignment deviation, incomplete sealing is likely to occur. A beverage factory recently failed to replace aging molds in a timely manner, resulting in a liquid leakage rate of over 5% for a batch of products. In the end, all products were recalled and reworked, causing considerable losses.

Adaptability of Packaging Materials: Not to Be Ignored

Bottle bodies and caps of different materials require matching sealing processes: PET bottles commonly use heat sealing or screw cap sealing, while glass bottles mostly adopt press-on cap or crown cap sealing. Mismatch between materials and processes can easily lead to seal failure. For example, when some enterprises use recycled PET bottles, they fail to adjust the heat sealing temperature according to the bottle thickness, resulting in deformation and cracking at the sealing area, which increases the risk of microbial contamination. In addition, the material of the cap gasket must meet food-grade standards to prevent the release of harmful substances at high temperatures.

Operational Standards and Sanitation Management: The Core

Empty bottles and caps must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before filling to ensure an aseptic state. During the filling process, the beverage temperature must be strictly controlled—hot-filled beverages (such as tea drinks) are usually maintained at 85-95℃ to achieve secondary sterilization through high temperature, while cold filling must be completed in an aseptic workshop to prevent the invasion of environmental microorganisms. Meanwhile, operators need to disinfect their hands regularly and wear sterile work clothes to avoid human-induced contamination. A recent sampling inspection by a testing agency found that a small beverage factory failed to implement aseptic operations, leading to excessive microbial indicators in some products after sealing, and the factory was ordered to suspend production for rectification.

Subsequent Sampling Inspection and Maintenance: Equally Critical

Enterprises need to establish a batch sampling inspection system, and identify leaking products through sealability tests (such as the negative pressure method and water immersion observation method). Regular disassembly and cleaning of filling and sealing equipment should be conducted to remove residual beverage stains and prevent bacterial growth. Industry insiders emphasize that only by implementing precautions in every production link can beverage safety be guaranteed from the source, and the healthy development of the industry be promoted.