PRESS RELEASE
High Standards and Impeccable Hygiene
Patented LUNA soft ice cream machines are protected automatically from germs
Whether it's an ice cream at your favourite Italian ice cream parlour or a soft ice cream when out
shopping, some consumers are sceptical when it comes to enjoying this chilled refreshment. Is it only
fresh ice cream that is used? Do the operators comply with hygiene requirements? A fully controlled
hygiene chain is crucial in the case of the manufacture and sale of soft ice cream, confirms Günter
Sommerer, Managing Director of LUMEN GmbH in Kulmbach. For more than 50 years, the Upper
Franconian company has therefore been placing its trust in a patented technology that stands for
quality, hygiene and efficiency.
"Our LUNA soft ice cream machines work according to a unique patented principle: each machine has a
pasteurisation system that can cool down the LunaMil ice cream mixture to below five degrees Celsius,
but also heat it up to around 75 degrees. The ice cream mixture is therefore fully pasteurised, thus
enabling absolutely impeccable manufacturing conditions," explains Günter Sommerer. The
pasteurisation process is started every evening after close of business with the press of a button. The ice
cream mixture remaining in the machine is then cooled down to five degrees and the machine remains
in standby mode overnight. Thanks to this procedure, the machine only need a full manual clean after
approx. 42 days. This job is carried out by specially trained service staff at our system partners.
A full clean without chemicals
LUNA soft ice cream machines are fully cleaned every six weeks by means of heat sterilisation. "This
means that no disinfectants are used. For this reason, the machine also does not need to run through
several rinsing processes. The process is extremely simple: once the freezing cylinder has been emptied
and cleaned, normal drinking water is added. The machine heats this up within a short period of time,
then cools it down and subsequently drains it. "Moreover, the heart of our technology is a specially
developed pressurisation system. This means that the soft ice cream machines work as a hermetically
sealed unit including both the tank and the freezing cylinder, which are pressurised as long as they are in
use," explains Günter Sommerer. Dirt and dust, in particular, have no chance of entering the LUNA soft
ice cream machines as the air required for whipping the soft ice cream is always filtered first. The tank
and freezing cylinder are made of high-quality stainless steel and a special polishing method prevents
soft ice cream and mixture residues from sticking to the surface.