TERRA Food-Tech® autoclaves for trade schools, the essential tool for proper practical training
Any trade school, academy or university that offers vocational programs, professional training, courses or specializations related to cooking, foodservice, the food industry and the packaging industry, among others, should have an autoclave in its workshop. Only in this way, trade schools will be able to offer their students a 100% practical training adapted to the latest trends of the labor market.
Studies related to cooking, catering and the food industry
There is a wide range of training programs related to gastronomy and foodservice, with different durations, specializations and qualifications. All of them usually teach, from the beginning, the basic processes of cooking, culinary techniques, preprocessing and preservation of food, as well as safety and hygiene standards regarding to food handling and food hygiene.
Culinary-related studies are characterized by being very practical. The theoretical aspect is very important, since it is necessary to know methods, principles and rules, but more important is to know how to carry them out, especially considering that we are talking about food, which is going to be consumed by other people.
Training students for the labor market requires practical application of what they have learned, that is, the use of the knowledge they have acquired. And in order to achieve this, your trade school should have a complete kitchen or workshop equipped with what could be found in a professional kitchen of any restaurant or catering company. This means equipping the kitchen of your institute, trade school or college with all the basic utensils and equipment required by health regulations: refrigerators, cabinets, ovens, autoclaves for sterilization and pasteurization, glass-ceramic countertops and vacuum packaging machines, etc.
Autoclaves for cooking and foodservice trade schools
Does my trade school really need an autoclave? We are convinced that it does. Keep in mind that nowadays the option of opening a traditional restaurant is no longer seen as profitable or at least, not the only way to obtain profits. There are already many restaurants on the market and society demands something different. At this point, the production of preserves increasingly comes into play as a business alternative in foodservice. Many of our customers are entrepreneurs who create their own business of ready meals and/or preserves exclusively. Also professionals of catering sector who want to open a new line of business.
Any chef or restaurant can prepare a main dish, sauce or stir-fry and sell it to third parties, in person or online. It allows to build a brand and impact customers in new ways, opening new markets and even breaking new frontiers. And you can also prepare preserves in order not to waste meals, to take advantage of seasonal fruits and vegetables and always count on certain seasonal vegetables and fruits preserved in perfect condition for your stews. It also saves downtime in the kitchen preparing sauces that will later be consumed on site.
If you want to see examples of what we are talking about, here is the successful case of chef Antoni Izquierdo, who has decided to focus entirely on preserves and culinary advice, or Italian chef Luca Marchini, awarded with the Michelin star, who in addition to his restaurant, cooking school and catering service, now has his own brand of gourmet preserves.
Professional training for food industry and food packaging sector
Training activities in this field are mainly focused on responding to the needs of food industry by enabling students to design and implement the best methods regarding production, processing, packaging and preservation of food. In addition to researching and developing new formulations and technologies that meet the criteria of hygiene, quality, safety, sustainability and health.
In order to be trained in food pasteurization and sterilization, students must be able to perform tests and trials in a specific autoclave that allows them to simulate the conditions that take place in an industrial autoclave. And for this purpose, our compact autoclaves, which are much cheaper to purchase, install and maintain, are the perfect ally for all these centers. Some of our customers include high schools, trade schools, universities with degrees in food science, food technology and agronomy as well as specialized research centers.
On the other hand, one of the objectives of the R&D&I (research, development and innovation) laboratories of food industry and food packaging industry is to devise, develop and produce new recipes or containers that are adapted to consumer tastes and preferences. Before offering your new preserve, ready meal or package for sale, it is necessary to carry out studies and tests in pilot batches to guarantee the safety and quality of that product, as well as to comply with health regulations. To do this, these R&D laboratories need a food autoclave.
Knowing this fact, it is needless to say how important it is for your facility to have a 100% equipped food laboratory. It is essential to provide your students with sufficient theoretical and practical knowledge about the different subjects related to food science and technology so that they can work, know how to handle the main equipment and become problem solvers capable of overcoming any problem that may arise in this regard. Whether as future food industry operators, researchers or professionals in charge of production of a preserve line.
Autoclaves for trade schools specialized in the food industry and the packaging industry
An autoclave, besides being an essential tool in R&D laboratories, should also be a piece of equipment that must be known and studied in order to be able to work with it, both inside and outside your trade school. Your students cannot finish their training program without first learning how a food autoclave works and all the functions and advantages it offers for food industry and food packaging sectors. They should understand how this equipment works and the technical-scientific fundamentals related to food pasteurization and sterilization.
Autoclaves for small trade schools
Even if your trade school is small and has few resources, this does not mean that it is impossible to have a food autoclave. Because unity is strength and there are more alternatives than you might think at first. Alternatives such as, for example, collective workshops.
You may have one of these facilities nearby in your area and your students may be able to access them. And, if not, you can also create a shared workshop that your students can use, in collaboration with different trade schools of your area.
This is a very interesting alternative that can receive both public and private financing. Moreover, this space can be made profitable by offering it as a service to third parties, for example, the case of Quattro Stagioni, which, in addition to producing its own preserves, offers its services and facilities to local producers, restaurant owners, traders and individuals who wish to create their own line of preserves.
Mastering the use of a food autoclave will provide better future options for your students.
It is important to adapt training programs to actual market needs and provide students with practical work experiences that will enable them to respond to difficult situations and to work under pressure if necessary. All these aspects are essential in any type of work, but even more important in the field related to food, whether it is catering sector or food industry, because in these areas any human error can be very harmful to consumers’ health.
Trade schools, academies, professional schools and universities that offer studies related to cooking as well as food industries and food packaging sectors must be aware of this fact and make an effort to offer their students practical and real training programs. But this cannot be achieved without a perfectly equipped workshop with a food autoclave.
TERRA Food-Tech® autoclaves for professional trade schools
There are many autoclaves on the market, but few are as compact and intuitive as ours. We have designed and manufactured our autoclaves taking into account the specific and real needs of the different players in the food industry and also for your trade school.
With TERRA Food-Tech® autoclaves, your students will be able to cook, sterilize and pasteurize packaged foods, maintaining their organoleptic properties and nutritional characteristics, as well as carry out tests in pilot batches, both for testing new products and packs.
Our autoclaves are used by professors, chefs, small producers, independent R&D laboratories and companies that operate in food industry and food packaging. We have specific autoclaves to provide solutions for each one of them.
TERRA Food-Tech® autoclaves are the result of the evolution of RAYPA brand, with more than 40 years of experience designing and manufacturing laboratory autoclaves. These are compact autoclaves developed to meet the demand of small producers of packaged preserves and thus facilitate the development and quality control tests in food industry.
If you are interested in equipping your workshop or laboratory with one of our autoclaves, do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to help you to improve the training program of your students, not only by providing the equipment, but also with practical sessions that will help them to better understand all its possibilities in your industry.