6. Conclusion

Continuous heat treatment technologies for agri-food products are of great industrial interest. The various technologies must be carefully selected according to their intended use. Improvements are regularly made to these technologies, not only to broaden their scope of application, but also to enhance the quality of the end product.

The development of these technologies in the food industry is held back by initial investment costs, particularly for aseptic packaging. These machines are costly and not well suited to the production rates of SMEs. In addition, two technological bottlenecks persist, namely the dosing of products with large pieces, and the dosing of products with pieces in a low-grade phase. In both cases, it is difficult to guarantee the distribution of chunks (of different sizes where appropriate) and juice in individual or family packs. Technical...