What Does
Water Treatment Mean?
Water treatment refers to the process of purifying water to ensure that it is safe for consumption or use in food and beverage production.
Safeopedia Explains Water Treatment
Water is used at various steps in the production of food and beverage products, including:
- Boiling or steaming
- Washing ingredients
- Cleaning surfaces and cooking implements
- Added to products as an ingredient
To ensure that the water used is safe for consumption and does not introduce harmful bacteria to the process, it may need to be treated.
Water Treatment Methods
- Settling: Allowing particles with higher density to settle at the bottom of a tank of water. This method is used to remove fats, grease, sand, grits, and other particles.
- Reverse Osmosis: Using a semipermeable membrane to remove ions and unwanted particles, including some chemicals and bacteria.
- Ion Exchange: Dissolved contaminantsform ions, which can be removed through an ion exchange process, replacing them with non-harmful substances.
- Carbon Filtration: Activated carbon filters are limited in their efficacy since they cannot remove metals, nitrates, or microbes from water. However, they can remove, dissolve, or minimize the presence of:
- Deaeration: Feeding steam into a deaerator can heat water to dissolve and vent out oxygen and other gases contained in it.
- UV Disinfection: Ultraviolet light has germicidal properties and can be used to disinfect water.