Retort sterilizers must operate properly in order to deliver a safe thermal process to canned foods. In order to accomplish this successfully:
- The adequate removal of air from the retort must be accomplished prior to the cook phase starting.
- Temperature uniformity/stability must be achieved and maintained during the cook phase.
"Establishing a Come Up Time (CUT) or Venting Schedule" refers to the task of evaluating temperature distribution data in order to validate these two items (listed above) are successfully achieved in the retort.
CALSoft enables you to Establish a CUT or Vent Schedule by providing tools that assist you in evaluating temperature distribution data as follows:
- Establish a TDCAL record
- Load Temperature Distribution (TD) Files to be evaluated
- For each TD file, evaluate the temperatures using Zoom Plotting, review the Pre-CUT plots, access the Min/Max Analyzer, and review time/temperature data
- Compare the minimum and maximum readings from the TD tests
- Assign conditions to the final CUT/Vent schedule
- Determine & print a CUT/Vent schedule
To establish a CUT or vent schedule, click on the "CUT/Vent Establishment" button on the CALSoft homepage. The middle panel will display the "recently used" CUT/Vent Files (TDCAL Records) that were opened in CALSoft.
This page will allow the user to Establish a New CUT or Vent Schedule or Open an Existing CUT or Vent Schedule.
Click the "New" button to begin a new CUT/Vent Project. CALSoft will then create a new TDCAL record in the ProCAL database. Once the TDCAL record is set up, you can begin the process of loading TD files, evaluating the data, and establishing the CUT/Vent schedule.