Food & Beverage Technology News

The short answer is yes: food processing, preparation, packaging, and all the other steps involved in delivering from the farm to the fork expend enormous amounts of energy. Costs are driving all manufacturers to take a new look at how they integrate their processes, and food and beverage manufacturers are no exception. In parts of the world where energy prices have traditionally been higher, food processors have made efforts to integrate processes to save energy; for example, by implementing heat recovery equipment and procedures and by changing packaging materials. Has your plant integrated its food processing lines or changed its packaging protocol to save energy?

Ryson Mass Flow Spiral Conveyors are based on the already proven Ryson technology and are designed to handle full and empty bottles, cans, jars, and other similar containers.

Products are conveyed up or down in a continuous mass flow. Ryson Spirals have a small footprint and provide considerable space savings compared to conventional methods.

Belden® introduces its highly-affordable Hirschmann™ RSB20 Series of managed industrial Ethernet switches ideally suited for OEM and network-edge level applications. Available in 16 model configurations, the RSB20 series provides a customized communications solution with design features that adapt to any application.

Learn more about the RSB20 Series or request a no-obligation quote.

For the automated packaging of medium and large volumes Multivac offers a comprehensive range of thermoforming machines. With all of these machines, you benefit from rigorous hygienic design, maximum reliability, and the flexibility to add options that meet your individual packaging needs.

Real-time, in-line optical oxygen monitoring with minimal maintenance. The OxySentry System is ideal for new or existing MAP lines. Accurate, fast, and easy-to-install, OxySense integrates seamlessly with your existing line PLC. With OxySentry, you get real-time monitoring, alarms, data logging, and process documentation.

Chicken wings, hot or mild, are in such demand that chicken producers have a tough time keeping up. Now, a U.S.-based company in Georgia has licensed a cutting process that produces 50% more edible meat per bird. The process also reduces the amount of cartilage or gristle in each wing, ensuring that every bite is a tasty treat.

A creamery invested in a reverse osmosis plant using membrane filtration technology to remove impurities such as mineral salts from the water used to run the steam boilers. Removing salts means running more efficiently, with less cleaning and fewer chemicals. It improves the boiling water and steam quality that the creamery uses to process milk and cheese.

Combine the food product's sensitivity to spoilage and damage with customers' need for every possible shipment configuration, and food packagers have a unique challenge. Automation is part of the answer; another is creating equipment lines with the flexibility to respond to special orders. One company uses 3D visualization software to help with palletizing (see videos).

By installing equipment and streamlining processes, a beverage can producer reduced energy costs and increased production. In two European plants, the company installed adsorption rotors to clean the air in the afterburning process to reduce energy use. They also updated air compressors — energy intensive equipment — used in the can production process.

Using state-of-the-art equipment, Critical Process Filtration, Inc. manufactures high-quality Pleated and Depth filter cartridges for wineries. Compliant with all FDA requirements and EC directives for manufacturing and contact, our low-cost filters maximize throughput and stand up to rugged sanitization. Boost the value of your filtration dollar — contact Critical Process Filtration.

SeQual Technologies Inc oxygen concentrators and nitrogen concentrators are capable of creating oxygen-depleted atmospheres for food storage and preservation. Its oxygen concentrators are also capable of feeding dry oxygen gas to ozone generators for ethylene oxidation to extend shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

Ensuring incoming materials meet standards? Monitoring refining/production? Or satisfying consumer expectations? The Food/Beverage industry has always measured colour. Reasons are as varied as the industry, the main criteria are quality control and standardization. The Tintometer's colorimeter was originally developed in 1885 to test beer colour. See the innovations the company offers today.

Excessive lubricant on conveyors and packaging equipment can contaminate product and create workplace hazards. PurgeX® lubrication pump dispenses the very smallest amount of oil or grease with absolute precision. Upgrade your lubrication to something clean, reliable, and simple to operate — PurgeX® positive displacement pump.

A Danish ingredients company created an in-house logistics unit to better handle the distribution of its emulsions, sweeteners, and cultures. The system takes a global view of logistics and customer service to handle demands, including combining ingredient deliveries created by separate divisions and using warehousing to ensure that supplies are readily available.

The company that pioneered the use of flash pasteurization in the 1950's now leads in the use of hybrid technologies to deliver products. Tropicana Products, which runs a fleet of over 350 trucks in the U.S. alone, recently took delivery of two trucks that feature hybrid engines, and a hybrid powered cold-plate refrigeration system.

Fish fraud is a serious problem in food production. Species substitution isn't just an annoying instance of bait and switch. It can erode food quality and the consumer's confidence in the industry. Sophisticated test methods are helping food inspection labs identify phonies, including new DNA-based testing and microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices.

Harvard scientists use the same magnetic levitation (MagLev) technology that powers high-speed trains to measure the fat content in some foods. A sensor the size of an ice cube uses MagLev methods to measure food sample density, enabling inspectors to determine the fat content of milk, cheese, and vegetable oil; estimate the salinity of water; or monitor grain drying.

Rotary Systems food grade rotary unions are customized to fit your filling equipment and designed to efficiently transfer your media to and from rotating machinery — saving you money in the process. Contact us today at 800-959-0146 or visit www.rotarysystems.com for assistance on your new or existing application.

Control Clean-in-Place reagent concentrations for optimum cleaning without waste using reliable Mettler-Toledo Thornton conductivity sensors with Tri-Clamp connections. Thornton four-electrode conductivity sensors are used with versatile multi-channel, multiparameter transmitters that can also measure pH, ORP, dissolved oxygen and flowrate in any combination, simultaneously. Wetted materials are FDA-compliant PEEK and 316L stainless steel.

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Measuring solids that vary in size, density, shape, and texture, our solids flow measurement products allow precise and accurate measurement and control of virtually all aspects of food manufacturing and processing including truck/railcar loading and unloading, seasoning, coating, mixing, blending, and even the ratio-control of multiple ingredients via recipes.

NEMO® Sanitary pumps are suitable for CIP processes when provided with optional flushing connections. These pumps meet 3A, FDA, and EHEDG standard requirements and can be disassembled quickly for easy cleaning. The NEMO® modular pump design, combined with food grade Nitrile or EPDM stators create a proven and reliable solution to your sanitary pump applications.

It's been a bad public relations year for some consumer products manufacturers. Lead and cadmium in children's products, continued revelations about the dangers of certain chemicals in plastic baby bottles, and other notorious compounds have prompted California officials to propose new regulation that would force manufacturers to certify that their products are without certain toxic chemicals. The hope is that more companies will adopt chemical production processes that are green and sustainable.

It's summertime (in the northern hemisphere) and the living is easy. So what better celebration than a video on The Chemistry of Barbecue? Learn how to cook steaks to give them the most flavor and how to prepare outdoor meals as healthfully as possible. Shirley O. Corriher, author of CookWise, and Sara J. Risch, food chemist and founder of Science by Design, describe how to avoid creating carcinogens or ingesting E. coli when cooking on a grill.

Is Nano-based Food Really Food?

Nanotechnology has introduced the potential for nanoparticles in the food supply, but does it still constitute food? Will the nano-skeptical public eat something that has nanoparticles in it?