Food & Beverage Technology News

If you are a chocolate fan, this may sound like sacrilege. Last month, scientists at the American Chemical Society's 245th National Meeting and Exposition proposed a new technology that would allow candy manufacturers to replace 50% of the cocoa butter and milk fat in chocolate with fruit juice. Their plan is to preserve the good qualities of chocolate — its healthy antioxidants and flavonoids — while reducing its fat and sugar content. The new chemical process can infuse milk and dark and white chocolate with micro-bubbles of juice or other liquids, reducing the confection's fat and sugar content while retaining its satisfying melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Color sensors from Micro-Epsilon recognize surface colors and self-luminous objects with extreme reliability. The sensors offer easy and flexible programming and recognize each color in various applications including automation technology, medical packaging, quality control, and more.

•  Delta E > 0.5
•  Fixed and fiber optics
•  True color measurement

Goffs' Clean Curtains are designed to reduce process line downtime during washdown cycles and convert sanitation hours into production hours. Constructed with a 40 mil USDA grade PVC, Clean Curtains come complete with a 304 stainless steel track-and-trolley system and are custom-made for each application.

Pfannenberg's DTS 3031 stainless steel cooling unit is designed specifically for cooling sensitive equipment used with food/beverage manufacturing. Applications include meat processing/smoking, dairy filling/pasteurization, and cheese, yogurt, and chocolate manufacturing. Contact Pfannenberg to learn more about cooling small enclosures for PLCs, HMI consoles, small PCs, and temperature controls for ovens.

Balston Sterile Air Filters safeguard food processing operations from rust, pipescale, water, and oil found in compressed air. Final stage of filtration removes all viable organisms at an efficiency of 99.9999+%. Stainless steel construction for harsh washdown environments. Go to www.parker.com/balston or view our IHS GlobalSpec profile.

A Vermont cheese maker uses cheese-making waste to improve its cheese. Cow manure becomes compost to nourish the pasture, while treated wastewater irrigates it. Heat from composting runs the wastewater treatment system, and methane from anaerobic digestion runs the creamery's boiler.

What can be done to mitigate the risk of explosions when drying milk or coffee powders? Answer: use bursting discs for venting. Discs designed according to new calculation guidelines from the German engineering group, VDI, are now available with sanitary ratings for both food and pharmaceutical processing.

A University of Arizona study indicates that consumers appreciate what Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) does for meat. They like the longer shelf life and redder color. And they will pay extra for it. However, when they hear about carbon monoxide's role in modifying oxygen levels in food packs, their favor can fade to concern.

The third generation of this in-mold thermoforming machinery for food packaging has been improved with a B&R drive and control system. The drive system was selected to ramp up the machine's speed, which can now approach 53 cycles/min. The machine forms cups from many materials, including PP, OPS, PET, and PLA.

Capturing metal contaminants from powder and bulk products with high moisture content and tendencies to bridge/choke the flow is remedied with IMI's new Roto-Drawer™ magnetic separator. Rotational magnet design and innovative SimpleClean™ feature keeps the flow moving, purifies the product, and eases routine cleaning and maintenance duties.

GLB provides custom belting for any food application, including bakery, candy, fruit, vegetable, meat, poultry, and dairy. We offer a wide selection of materials designed to deal with a variety of conditions. All meet the very latest FDA and USDA requirements. Please check our product page or go here for more information.

ProductSaver® product recovery systems provide automated removal of packaged dry or wet contents from the content's packaging. This separation process enables controlled recovery of contents for beneficial residual re-sale, reuse, or efficient disposal; and recovery of the packaging material for recycling or disposal. Reduces material loss and improves sustainability performance.

Let's discuss your specific food and beverage package requirements, including containers, bottles, canisters, caps, closures, dispensing and reclosing systems, aseptic packaging, POP displays, or special sizes and shapes. Our expertise is designing and developing customized plastic food and beverage packaging solutions. Let Shore Plastic Technologies solve your package design needs.

A voice-directed picking system is improving productivity at two distribution centers for a major beverage distributor. A case history shows how the new system helps to pick, manifest, and load daily deliveries. The warehouse staff receives voice-directed instructions via headset, and uses a laser scanner to confirm picks. A radio-frequency backbone provides communications between pickers and the host computer.

A fully-loaded, large size beer keg can weigh up to 170 lbs. Not a big deal for a fraternity full of college kids, but a real challenge for a delivery person who has to lug the massive metal containers to customers. Now, the Kegavator, a steel rack that holds as many as eight kegs and fits into a standard truck bay, features a panel on the front that swings down to form a shelf, allowing the delivery person to move the keg down to a workable height and safely slide it off the rack.

Food packaging experts have developed many successful edible antimicrobial films and coatings that release preservatives or antimicrobial ingredients directly onto the product itself. Now, scientists have discovered that all-natural essential oils from oregano and cloves are potent antimicrobial agents in film packaging for poultry. These oils were effective against the main spoilers that appeared on the surface of refrigerated skinless chicken breasts.

Researchers have developed a plastic analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the final component required to produce plastic sensors for monitoring packaged food freshness. The plastic ADC offers four-bit resolution and includes more than 100 n- and p-type transistors. While silicon costs too much for this application, the plastic version can be produced for about one cent.

Food-grade vibrating fluid bed dryer/cooler reclaims up to half the energy lost in airstream by reusing process air. Energy consumption and costs are cut and emissions reduced. Sanitary, 100% stainless steel, food grade polish, Teflon^®-coated conveying surface meet FDA requirements, withstand washdowns, and promote non-stick flow. Call 908-689-6500 for a complimentary test. See videos.

AirClean® Systems' ISO 5 polypropylene horizontal laminar flow clean benches are available in sizes up to 8 ft. AirClean® clean benches feature dual-wall construction with optional fixtures and services. Each clean bench is microprocessor controlled to monitor filter condition and airflow. Read more...

The PREN 12377 European standard specifies a test method for airtightness of the closures for flexible tubes. It is applicable to flexible single-layer metal or plastics tubes and multilayer or laminated tubes used for packing pharmaceutical, cosmetic, hygiene, food, and other domestic and industrial products.

For more information on IHS standards, visit us here.

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