CONTAINERS ANDPALLETSANUGA FOODTECINTERNATIONALFood&DrinkFood&Drinkwww.fdiforum.netFEBRUARY 2018£3.50 STERLINGEASYFAIRSConstantinnovationConstantinnovation01_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:28 Page 1Eliminate problem metalsVibratory FeederWWW.ERIEZ.COMERIEZ MAGNETICS EUROPE LIMITED | T: +44 (0)29 2086 8501 | E: info@eriezeurope.co.ukEriez’ wide range of Metal Detectors, Magnetic Separators and Vibratory Feeders provide the ultimate solution to protect product purity and increase the efficiency of your process line – from the moment ingredients enter your plant to the time your end product ships. Improve quality control Protect machinery Protect reputation Eliminate downtime Save costsCO-INJECTED, PP/EVOH/PP | HIGH PERFORMANCE CAPSULE | HIGH OXYGEN BARRIER, EXTENDED SHELF LIFEBaristaCoffee Capsulewww.menshen.co.uk02920 473147 sales@menshen.co.uk !"#$02_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:23 Page 1ContentsFebruary 2018This magazine is now fully recyclable. By recyclingmagazines, you can help reduce waste and add tothe 5.5 million tonnes of paper already recycledby the UK paper industry each year. Before yourecycle your magazine, please ensure you removeall plastic wrapping, free gifts and samples. FoodandDrinkInternational@fdiforumwww.fdiforum.netcompany/fdiforumNews 4• General news • On line - production news• On the shelf - new products and initiatives • Appointments Import and export12 Scotland’s star is rising, with record food andbeverage exports and a rugged can-doattitude in the face of BrexitContainers and pallets16New technology and automation is placingincreased demands on pallets and containers –while a changing retail market also demandsmoreFrozen and chilled foods 20The frozen and chilled foods market hasboomed in recent years, and looks set tocontinue doing so. But what challenges facemanufacturers within the industry – and howare they navigating these?Software spotlight23Software systems are in use all across the foodand drink industry and yet there are someareas where many food manufacturers fallbehind our international rivalsSorting and weighing26Though weighing and sorting may seem likesimple steps along the supply chain, they arecritical from everything to ensuring regulatoryand uniform portion size, to dividing products.Food and Drink International investigatesWater treatment30In order to ensure the upmost cleanliness,manufacturers are putting greater emphasis onthe hygiene levels of water systems withinfood processing plants, deploying neweroptions such as stabilised peroxide to the ever-faithful ultraviolet• AquaEnviroLabelling, coding and marking34Imagine the unassuming starkness of a blankaluminium can. Without its labelGroup Editor: Steve Fisher (s.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk) Editor:Michael Fisher (m.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk) Editor’s PA: Angela Sharman (a.sharman@blmgroup.co.uk)Journalists: Stuart Pearcey (s.pearcey@blmgroup.co.uk)Dominic Cuthbert (d.cuthbert@blmgroup.co.uk)Sales Director: Teri Cooper (t.cooper@blmgroup.co.uk)Sales Manager: Sam Trott (s.trott@blmgroup.co.uk)Sales: Vicky Hunt (v.hunt@blmgroup.co.uk)Kimberley Read (k.read@blmgroup.co.uk)Tel: +44 (0) 1472 310302 Accounts & Subscriptions: John Downes (j.downes@blmgroup.co.uk)Design & Production: Gary Jorgensen, Mark Casson(studio@blmgroup.co.uk)Editorial:Tel: +44 (0) 1472 310305, Email:fdi@blmgroup.co.ukPart of the Business Link Magazine Group: Armstrong House, Armstrong Street,Grimsby, N E Lincs DN31 2QE EnglandAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may bereproduced, transmitted, photocopied, recorded orotherwise without express permission of the copyrightholder, for which application should be addressed first tothe publisher. While every reasonable care is taken, neitherthe publisher nor its participating agents accept liability forloss or damage to prints, colour transparencies, negatives orother material of whatever nature submitted to thispublication. The views expressed in this publication are notnecessarily the views of those held by the publisher.wrapped around its circumference or a dateand batch code printed onto its bottom, it’spractically impossible to determine its interiorwithout opening iteasyFairs PackagingInnovations38Returning to Birmingham’s NEC on 28February & 1 March 2018, PackagingInnovations, Empack and Label&Print is set tobe the largest show to dateHotelympia43Taking place at London ExCeL between 5 – 8March, Hotelympia returns with four brandnew shows, providing a platform forrestaurants, hotels, pubs, casual dining andcontract caterers to meet, review and sourcefrom the finest suppliers available in themarket.Anuga FoodTec44Anuga FoodTec is the leading internationalsupplier fair for the food and beverageindustry and will be once more proving thisfrom 20 to 23 March 2018 at Koelnmesse,Cologne .Events50Your chance to keep abreast of forthcomingexhibitions and food fairs from around theworldClassified 53Food & Drink Diary 54MAIN: SHUTTERSTOCK/STILLFX • TOP: KOELNMESSE GMBH• MIDDLE: WWW.GOPLASTICPALLETS.COM• BOTTOM: COLPAC03_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:29 Page 1Alison unveils new UK-made bread basket dollyAlison’s new bread basket dolly isanother example of how the company isgiving UK bakers greater flexibility andresponsiveness in the way they ordertheir packaging products.Alison Handling Services (AHS),Europe’s largest stockist of plasticcontainers and boxes, has introduced a newbread basket dolly designed for standard (762 x 508x 216mm) 12-loaf stack nests. Capable of holding up to eight nests and available in grey orpurple (to match Alison’s trays and baskets), the dolly has been designed with availability inmind.Alison Dearden at AHS said: “One of the keys to that is ensuring our customers can get theirbread baskets and dollies precisely when they need them, and that’s why we’ve made thedecision to manufacture the dolly in the UK.”Manufacturing the dollies in the UK makes lead times shorter. That, and the fact that Alisoncan hold more of the dollies in stock, eliminates any potential delay in meeting orderrequirements.news4 Food & Drink Internationalwww.fdiforum.netA.M.P Rose wins fifthannual ManufacturingSafety Excellence AwardsTo recognise industrial companies with best-in-class safety, Rockwell Automation hasannounced UK-based equipment builder A.M.PRose as the winners of its fifth annualManufacturing Safety Excellence Awards, andautomotive manufacturer Honda of CanadaManufacturing.A.M.P Rose received an enterprise-level awardfor its companywide focus on safety. Thecompany, which specialises in flexible packagingand flow-wrap machinery, takes a proactiveapproach to adding contemporary safetysolutions onto its machines. “We’ve found that more clients are asking forsafer machines to better protect theiremployees,” said Lee Clayton, safety assessmentanalyst, A.M.P Rose. “We’ve always focused onmaking safe machines, but with this industryshift, we’ve been finding new ways to makemachines more user-friendly to help preventworkers from bypassing safeguards.”The 2017 Manufacturing Safety ExcellenceAward recipients join a distinguished list of pastwinners, including Bevcorp, General Motors, TheGoodyear Tire & Rubber Company, PepsiCodivisions of Walkers Crisps and Pepsi Flavors,and Procter & Gamble.Food Safety Europe returns to London in February BRC Global Standard’s annual Food SafetyEurope conference returns to London on 22February 2018. The one-day conferencefeatures food safety experts from across theindustry speaking on the themes of ‘Peoplefirst’, ‘Managing the supply chain’ and‘Confronting contamination’.BRC Global Standards are pleased towelcome Rod Ainsworth, Director ofRegulatory and Legal at the Food StandardsAgency, as the conference’s opening keynoteaddress on building a stronger and saferfood industry post-Brexit. The closing keynote speaker will be announced shortly.Designed specifically to improve European food safety management in retail, food serviceand manufacturing environments, Food Safety Europe 2018 will deliver key insights, casestudies and practical solutions. A CPD-accredited event, the conference will offer those workingin the food industry a prime opportunity to hear from a strong line-up of speakers; discusschallenges to the industry; and network with their peers.Hidrostal appointsAxFlow a UKdistributor for foodand bev sectorsHidrostal has appointed AxFlowLimited as a key UK distributor fordistributing their range of screwcentrifugal pumps into the foodprocessing and beveragesmanufacturing sectors.AxFlow is the UK’s largestdistributor of process pumps with ahigh presence in these areas, along witha network of well-established servicesupport facilities throughout the UK. Hidrostalbelieve that AxFlow’s process expertise will open up new opportunitiesand applications for their pumps within the marketplace.The addition of Hidrostal’s screw centrifugal pumps to AxFlow’sproduct portfolio is an important development that allows AxFlow tooffer a well-engineered, low shear pump design capable of handlingliquids with high solid contents for medium to large transfer volumesand in situations with low NPSHa. NiceLabel named premier techprovider to food supply chainNiceLabel hasbeen named to theFL 100+, FoodLogistics magazine’sannual list of the top100-plus softwareand technologyproviders for thefood and beverageindustry. “We are honouredto have beenselected among the100 leading technology companies supporting the global food andbeverage supply chain,” said Ken Moir, VP Marketing at NiceLabel. He added: “NiceLabel’s next generation technology and professionalservices help F&B suppliers of any size digitize their labelling, reducedirect and indirect costs and avoid missed opportunities. “Small businesses benefit from our easy-to-use label design andprinting solutions, while large F&B manufacturers can standardize theirlabelling and marking processes and use a single software platform forall direct marking, packaging and shipping.” 04-11_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:32 Page 1The most important date in the industry’s calendar, The Health & Safety Event is where the communitycomes to meet and discuss key challenges facing the sector today.Join the debates, hear from industry experts, receive 1-to-1 advice from leadingsuppliers and experience the very latest technology all for free!Combine a year’s worth of work into just three days.Three days to save a lifeCo-located withEducational partnerShow PartnerSponsorRegister at www.healthandsafetyevents.co.uk04-11_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:32 Page 2newsFood industry starts here !INGREDIENTS EQUIPEMENTS & PROCESSES PACKING & PACKAGINGSHOW FULL !Order your free badge onwww.cfiaexpo.comLanemark CombustionEngineering toasts brewerycustomer’s national awardLanemarkCombustionEngineering istoasting one of itsmicro-brewerycustomers – and isvery happy to havemade acontribution to theaward of a majornational brewingaccolade. ‘Goat’s Milk’ alefrom Church EndBrewery in Nuneaton, Warwickshire has been officially recognised asthe ‘Supreme Champion Beer of Britain’ by the Campaign for Real Aleat the Great British Beer Festival in Olympia, London.The facility uses a Lanemark TX25E burner system to heat the hotliquor tank to between 63°C and 68°C for the preparation of the mashtun. Once transformed into wort, a volume equivalent to 20 barrels isthen transferred into an adjacent copper where a second LanemarkTX30 burner system operates into a 3 inch helical coil heat exchanger. “Overall, the installation achieves efficiency of typically 82% – some20% higher than Church End Brewery’s original steam heating system– while significant environmental benefits have also been achieved,”said Adrian Langford, General Manager at Lanemark CombustionEngineering.Packaging Automation takeshome two Golds atmanufacturing awardsPackagingAutomation, aKnutsford-basedmanufacturer oftray sealing andpot fillingequipment, haswon regionalrecognition atthe latest EEFFutureManufacturingAwards.The company,which employs116 staff, won the ‘Business Growth Award’, given in recognition of acompany delivering dynamic business growth through a consistentgrowth strategy.The company also won the ‘Developing People Award’, recognisingthe manufacturer that has done the most to build skills, harness talentand develop its employees.Packaging Automation was up against stiff competition from arange of innovative businesses - small and large - from across theregion. It was selected by a panel of judges drawn from businessleaders, industry experts and academics.Commercial Director Sam Ashton said: “These awards are testamentto our hard working team who have been essential to delivering ourgrowth plans and ensuring we go from strength-to-strength.”04-11_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:32 Page 3newsFood & Drink International 7www.fdiforum.netTo cap it allLooking for a caps and closures manufacturer with ranges toinspire you and to make your product stand out and give shelfappeal? Then look no further, Measom Freer manufacture andstock 16 different closure ranges in all varieties and sizes to suityour chosen bottle, in neck sizes from 15mm through to 31mm. Choose from general screw, disc and flip caps to more preciseapplication from nozzle, dropper, plugseal and luer caps or moredirectional application from spray, trigger, gel and lotion pumps, allavailable in a range of colours to order. Minimum order of just a single box, next day delivery fromstock.The Needham Group announces25% growthThe Needham Group, whichcomprises Needham Coding,Needham Coding Ireland, NeedhamCoding Distribution and NeedhamInks, has announced 25% growthover the past 12 months. It attributesthe success to investment in a seriesof exciting initiatives during 2017which are designed to provide thespringboard to further significantexpansion.Last year’s highlights include: * Needham Coding launching itsfirst-ever own brand range of highperformance continuous ink jet (CIJ)printers;* The Needham Group investing in excess of £550,000 to establishNeedham Coding Distribution Limited for the worldwide distribution of the‘N’ CIJ series;* The Needham Group merging with long-standing Irish distributorAdvanced Coding Solutions (ACS) to create Needham Coding IrelandLimited;* Needham Inks continuing to use its in-house R&D expertise to furtherdevelop digital ink technology. Managing Director Aled Ellis said: “We are now perfectly positioned forthe year ahead with the focus on digital inks development and globaldistribution of our CIJ hardware.”04-11_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:32 Page 4Guide reveals opportunities for improveprofits for poultry processors A new white paper from Ishida Europeexplains how increased automation and in-lineprocessing can help poultry suppliers improveprofitability at a time when margins arecontinually being squeezed and quality andsafety standards further tightened.The Poultry Processing Blueprint highlightsthe increased pressures on the food supplychain fuelled by global population growth, inparticular the emergence of a new middleclass in developing economies. This is leadingto further demand for poultry products, with one of America’s largest poultry producers,Pilgrim’s Pride, estimating a 1.2% annual growth rate in chicken production worldwide.However, although this offers opportunities for the poultry sector, both consumers andretailers are also seeking more responsible and sustainable practices throughout the food chainwhile not expecting this to have a significant impact on the final shelf price. Poultry processorstherefore have to balance cost increases in meeting new standards with further efficiencieselsewhere in their operations.newsHolchem launchesnew generationexpress foam cleanerHolchem, the UK leader in hygienetechnology solutions, has launched a newgeneration alkaline Express Foam cleaner,designed for use in open plant cleaning in food,dairy and beverage plants. Express Foam is a long cling foam productfor extended contact of detergent with soiling,but is fast dispersing when rinsed, reducingrinse time, giving faster hygiene shiftturnarounds and reduced water consumption.In factory use, Express Foam breaks downunder wellington boots and dissolves easily inrinse water, thus saving rinse time and rinsewater.Jim Taylour, Head of Products, Research andDevelopment at Holchem, said: “Foam cleaninghas been the method of choice for large scalecleaning for decades in food, beverage anddairy production plants, and Holchem’s rangeof products has extended and improved overthe past 15 years. “Our new generation Express Foam cleaneraddresses the issues around Long Cling foam,in that it is easy rinsing and is free flowing toprevent solid re-deposition.” Croxsons tackle the wine industry’s supplychain imbalance As a result of customer feedbackconcerning the lack of bottle choice inthe global wine supply chain, Croxsonshas taken over a glass furnace at one ofthe largest glass manufacturers in Chinato produce antique-green wine bottles. Aimed specifically at the Australia, NewZealand and US wine markets, whilstcomplementing their existing Europeanoffering, the move will see Croxsonsprovide their customers with a collection of new bottles that meet their brands’ needs.Croxsons argue that whilst industry trends have seen the reduction in weight of wine bottles,to numerous environmental benefits, every bottle and brand has a right weight. It appears,however, that there are concerns amongst some of Croxsons’ customers that the industry hasmoved some bottles away from being super-premium, or even premium, to a lighter weightbottle. Clearly the risk to brands using a wrong-weight bottle is that consumers will feel adisconnection between price point and aesthetics that the bottle delivers.Nestlé sells US confectioneryarm to Ferrero in $2.8bn dealNestlé has agreed to sell its US confectionery arm, which includesButterfinger, Crunch and BabyRuth, to Ferrero for $2.8 billion.Nestlé’s US confectionery business represents about 3% of U.S.Nestlé Group sales. In 2016, Nestlé’s confection sales reachedapproximately $900 million.“With Ferrero we have found an exceptional home for our U.S.confectionery business where it will thrive,” said Nestlé CEO MarkSchneider.“At the same time, this move allows Nestlé to invest and innovateacross a range of categories where we see strong future growthand hold leadership positions, such as pet care, bottled water,coffee, frozen meals and infant nutrition.”The deal covers the US-focused confectionery brands only anddoes not include Nestlé’s Toll House baking products, a strategicgrowth brand which the company will continue to develop.MPs call for ‘lattelevy’ on disposablecoffee cupsBritain is mulling a potential “latte levy”after the Environmental Audit Committeeproposed a 25p tax on disposable coffeecups.The Committee also called onGovernment to ensure all coffee cups arerecycled by 2023.Environmental Audit Committee Chair,Mary Creagh MP said: “We’re calling foraction to reduce the number of single usecups, promote reusable cups over disposable cups and to recycle allcoffee cups by 2023.”If approved, the 25p levy will be introduced on all disposable coffeecups sold in cafés, restaurants and coffee shops.The Committee added that the money raised will be used to improvethe UK’s recycling ‘binfrastructure’ and reprocessing facilities.It added that if disposable coffee cups aren’t all fully recyclable by 2023,they should be banned.This, the Committee said, will be achieved by a two-pronged approach –by making produces pay more for difficult-to-recycle packaging, and byimproving labelling.© Shutterstock/Mr.Whiskey8 Food & Drink Internationalwww.fdiforum.net© Shutterstock/chrisdorney04-11_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:32 Page 5on lineFood & Drink International 9www.fdiforum.netMulti-pack line for popcorn bags givessavings in use of filmAn automatic multi-packing line for 20gpopcorn bags that uses flow-wrapping toreduce film consumption and a verticalracetrack collator to counter productfragility, lightness and irregular shape hasbeen developed by Italian manufacturerPFM.Based on a PFM Compact horizontalmultipacker, the line has been delivered toa major snack food manufacturer in the Far East, replacing a manual bagging operation. Ithandles 30 primary packs a minute, ten in each multipack. Film savings are in excess of 30%. Primary packs are fed flat to the racetrack collator, which accumulates five and indexesthrough 90deg to present the row on edge to a pusher. This guides the bags through thewrapper’s forming box and a repeat cycle completes the 2 x 5 collation, then sealed in film.Multipacks are wrapped with a block bottom seal, allowing stand-up on-shelf presentation.Savings in packaging materials come from the tightness of this form of multipack andoptimisation of pack dimensions.Ishida solution helpsmaximise poultryyieldsThree Ishida Flex Graders, supported by thecompany’s recently-launched Sentineladvanced remote monitoring system, arehelping to deliver improved accuracy andenhanced efficiencies at a leading Dutchpoultry processor.Van Miert slaughters and cuts up birds foronward supply for further processing. Two FlexGraders at the company’s factory in Breukelenand one at its Hunsel facility are weighing andgrading breast caps into 14.5 kg crates,handling up to 135 products every minute.The breast caps are packed in various weightranges, from any weight below 300g up to850g to 999g. The excellent accuracy of theIshida Flex Graders ensures that products areconsistently graded and sorted into theappropriate category. This enables Van Miert tomaximise yields and the value of eachproduction run. Double weights (which canoccur if two breast caps arrive on the weighbelt at the same time) have also beenminimised and the Flex Graders are operatingat around 99.3% efficiency.New ERP system improves productivity andefficiency Factory ERP software from CSB-System ishelping to deliver higher speed and efficiencyand full traceability both up- and downstreamat the new meat processing facility of leadingBelgium producer the Colruyt Group.The Factory ERP solution from CSBprovides centralised control of all theprocesses at the plant in Halle while alsoproviding full connectivity to Colruyt’s GroupERP system (SAP). This provides a morehomogeneous and easy-to-manage IT landscape, where stand-alone solutions are eliminatedand the number of interfaces minimised. Equally important, all processes and resources at thefactory can be controlled consistently in accordance with industry-specific requirements. The result is a system that enables company groups to manage their various factories in adecentralised manner, without having to make time-consuming, complex and expensiveadaptations in the Group ERP.“Today, our overall productivity is much higher,” confirms Colruyt’s Project Manager Bart Boelen.New service delivers for WaveGrip’sgrowing network of customersWaveGrip, manufacturer of innovativebeverage multi-packaging solutions, haslaunched a dedicated machinemanufacturing and engineering supportservice. Combining all its automation,engineering and global servicingcapabilities – including its OEM partners– the new WaveTec service will ensureWaveGrip Applicators continue to deliverthe best performance to supportcompanies’ multi-packing needs.WaveTec will also give all its customersaccess to a network of technical supportacross both North America and Europefrom two international WaveTec Centres– one in Rochester, MI, USA and another at the WaveGrip head office inGreenock, UK. Established automation operation Letica Corporation,part of WaveGrip’s parent company the RPC Group, will provideautomation solutions for all large customers in North America. James Griffin Letica’s Manager, Automation & Technical Services, said:“Our custom engineering technologies take each project from inceptionto reality in house and this experience will ensure every WaveGripcustomer is provided with the support they require for their multi-packing needs.” Key Technology introduces newprecision size grader for green beansKey Technology has expanded its familyof rotary sizing and grading systemsfor green beans, which includestheir popular Sliver SizerRemover (SSR), Precision SizeGrader (PSG) and Rotary SizeGrader (RSG). With the introduction of anew 14-roller PSG, Key enablesprocessors to replace drumgraders with minimal impact tosurrounding equipment. The 14-rollerPSG provides four rollers more thanprevious systems to improve gradingperformance. The PSG separates beans by diameter, maintainingaccuracy over time to help processors make grade while maximizingyield.Ideal for grading snipped and unsnipped whole and cut green beansfor fresh pack, frozen and canned product applications, Key’s rotarysizing and grading systems are available in widths of 2, 3, 4 or 5 feet(0.6 to 1.5 meters). Compared to drum graders, which are complicated machines withmany moving parts, Key’s new 14-roller PSGs are simple and robust. 04-11_Layout 1 01/02/2018 10:32 Page 6Next >