Food and Beverage Dispensing

Food & Beverage Dispensing | Tygon® Tubing & Accessories Markets

Food and beverage dispensing applications vary widely from wine and beer products, which contain the solvent ethanol, to dairy products, which can accelerate bacterial growth on tubing surfaces if not cleaned with aggressive chemicals. Such a range of product applications requires flexible tubing solutions with highly specific and often varying performance properties. 

Because so many factors must be taken into account when determining the correct tubing solution for food and beverage dispensing equipment, working with a trusted tubing solutions supplier is essential. Saint-Gobain has design and engineering know-how, as well as materials science expertise that can help food and beverage brand owners successfully manage this complex and vital step, specifying materials that exhibit the right performance properties to meet specific beverage dispensing tubing application needs.

Top 5 Food & Beverage Dispensing Issues

Attributes such as flexibility, durability, chemical resistance and non-leaching attributes — in varying capacities — are critical to the success of the dispensing tubing and dispensing equipment as a whole. Below are the most common dispensing issues that can occur in food and beverage applications.

Taste

Taste

  • Tainting: Integrity of flavor is impacted by substances that leach out of food contact materials
  • Scalping: Loss of flavor due to sorption or permeation of critical beverage components into or through the tubing
  • Permeation: Oxygen present outside of tube permeates into liquid causing oxidation
  • Cross-Contamination: Re-use of tubing with new flavor causes absorbed flavors to impact quality of beverage

Flexibility

Flexibility

  • Kinking and routing difficulties caused by tight spaces inside equipment
  • Flexible tubing allows for easy installation on fittings

Resistance

Chemical & Heat Resistance

  • Chemical compatibility with tubing cleaning chemicals is important for longevity

  • Temperature
         - HOT: Can cause tubing to warp, exacerbate permeability, flexibility, and taste issues
         - COLD: Tubing can become brittle, causing stiffness, fitting retention difficulties, and rupture risks

Performance

Peristaltic Pump Performance

  • Tubing rupture due to fatigue or high pressure can lead to unforeseen maintenance

  • Flow rate reduction resulting from quality and material factors related to wear

  • Loss of prime in the pump due to loss of seal

Compliance

Regulatory Compliance

  • Regulation compliance in the various countries that purchase and utilize beverage and food dispensing machines

  • Chemicals of concern and the perception that some chemicals are more harmful have caused the industry to self-regulate

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