Process for the continuous preparation of yogurt and other fermented milk products

DETAILED DESCRIPTION What is claimed is: 1.
An apparatus for the continuous preparation of yoghurt comprising a pre-fermenting tank, means for adding milk to a fermenting mixture of milk and starter in said pre-fermenting tank, a coagulation tank having an inlet end and an outlet end, means for transferring the fermenting mixture from said prefermenting tank into said coagulating tank in which further fermentation and coagulation take place, means for cooling the fermenting mixture during passage into said coagulating tank, means positioned at said inlet end of said coagulating tank for distributing the fermenting mixture into said coagulating tank, means for generating shear forces positioned near said outlet end of said coagulating tank, said shear forces generating means including a preforated plate and means for translating said performated plate longitudinally relative to said coagulating tank, and means positioned downstream of said shear forces generating means at the outlet end of said coagulating tank for discharging the resulting product.
2.
The apparatus of claim 1 in which said translating means moves said perforated plate parallel to the axial direction of said coagulating tank.
3.
The apparatus of claim 1 in which said perforated plate is substantially flat and has substantially the same diameter as the inside of said coagulating tank.
4.
The apparatus of claim 3 and further comprising sliding seal means for sealing said perforated plate to the inside of said coagulating tank.
5.
The apparatus of claim 1 in which the perforations in said perforated plate are evenly distributed over the entire surface of said perforated plate.
6.
The apparatus of claim 5 in which the area formed by said performations comprises at most 20% of the entire area of said perforated plate.
7.
The apparatus of claim 1 in which said translation means moves said perforated plate upstream toward said inlet end of said coagulting tank at a speed of at least 1 cm/sec.
8.
The apparatus of claim 1 in which said translation means moves said perforated plate downstream toward said outlet end of said coagulating tank at a speed of at most 5 cm/min