CORRECTION

In J. Peter Clark’s Processing column, “Developments in Beverage Processing” (January 2003, p. 72), sentences in the last two paragraphs (second column on p. 74) were inadvertently mixed up. Here are the correct paragraphs:

In Egypt, where mango processors complained about excessive separation in some of their juices, it was observed that many plants had wide open doors and windows, permitting dust and other foreign matter to enter the plants. One technique that is often used to promote separation, where this is desired, as in wine or beer clarification, is to add bentonite clay or colloidal silica as a fining agent. These particles help neutralize electrostatic forces that otherwise repel suspended particles from each other. As the particles aggregate, their settling velocity increases and they come out of suspension.

It was suggested to the Egyptian processors that keeping their plant environments dust free might reduce the tendency of their juice pulp to separate. This can be done by filtering incoming air, keeping doors closed, and enclosing filling equipment and tanks in rooms where the environment can be controlled. Those who maintained such conditions had fewer problems.