PRODUCTION OF FRUIT JUICES

INTRODUCTION

A fruit can be defined as the fertilized ovary of the flower. Fruits are important raw materials for many domestic, agro-industrial and export products such as juices, marmalade, jam, etc.

            In Nigeria, the availability of fruits is short-lived due to their seasonal and highly perishable nature. A larger percentage of the fruits are also consumed directly as they came from the orchards, due to lack of appropriate storage facilities, up to 30 – 60% losses are recorded annually during peak harvesting seasons. In= order to minimize these losses, fruits must be processed in large quantities into various forms at peak seasons, to make them available even at off-season periods.

            Juice extraction from fruits is one of the forms of first processing and this is attracting investment attention in recent times. However, commercial scale production and functional packaging of juice constitute a relatively low phenomenon in the industrial development of the country.

 

THE PRODUCT

Fruit juices are essentially products extracted from fresh fruits such as orange, mango, pineapple, grapes, etc. Fruit juices, after extraction, are generally preserved in different forms such as single strength pure juices, squashes, cordials and fermented fruit juice concentrate. Juices serve as non-alcoholic beverage drinks for thirst quenching, for pleasure and for supplying vitamin c.

 

PRODUCTION PROCESS

The production process for fruit juice production is simple. This involves the following unit operations:

 

Selection and Weighing of Fresh Fruits

Wholesome and fresh fruits are selected and weighed.

 

Washing

The selected fruits are washed in a trough using potable water.

 

Peeling

The fruits are peeled manually.

 

Juice Extraction

The juice is extracted using an extractor. Pulper is used for pineapples and other fleshing fruits.

 

Juice Formulation

This is the addition of other ingredients like: sugar, preservatives and water to obtain the right formulation.

 

Mixing

The juice is mixed in a tank using a homogenizer (mixer), in order to achieve a uniform blending of the formulated juice.

 

Bottling

The mixed juice is bottled and corked, either manually or with automatic bottle filling machine, depending on the scale of operation. Tetra brik or Tetra pak packages can also be used.

 

Pasteurizing

The bottled juice is pasteurized at a predetermined temperature for one hour using a pasteurizer. If Tetra brik or pak is to be used for packaging the juice, bulk pasteurization would be done before the packaging.

 

Cooling and Packaging

The pasteurized juice is allowed to cool and then arranged in corrugated cartons and sealed.

 

 

FRUIT JUICE PRODUCTION FLOW CHART