< Previous20 Food & Drink Internationalwww.fdiforum.netCONTAINERS & PALLETS© Goplasticpallets.compallets market is battling withtwo different and seeminglycontradictory requirements. It’scertainly the case that, as thesupply chain moves faster, palletsneed to benefit from simpleconstruction that can allow themto be stacked and picked up in afairly simple fashion, and from adecent capacity that ensures asfew are required as possible. Yet atthe same time security is paramountand the load has to be securedincredibly firmly, with theintroduction of anti-slip intermediatelayers, wrapping in plastic or bystrapping which, you would expect,provide additional complexity.Generally plastic pallets – with theiradvantages of precision dimensions andincreased hygiene – are becoming moreand more popular throughout thesupply chain, making huge inroads intosectors which previously relied entirelyon wooden pallets. Their durability hasalso been illustrated with companieslooking to returnable transit packagingas opposed to single trip packaging.The benefits of this kind of packaginginclude reduced product damage,security and easier handling, while thereare also obvious environmental benefitsfrom using packaging on severaloccasions – after ahygienic wash down.Another benefit ofplastic containers andpallets is also theirrecyclability. An ever-increasingconcern given the stringentrequirements and expectations placedon food anddrinkcompanies –and those whowork alongside them. With the requirementsregarding environmental efficiency andhealth and safety in mind, it’s becomingincreasingly the case that companiesare making use of pallet networks,meaning they can be assured that thepallets are of the highest quality, andproviding exceptional flexibility withoutextensive capital expenditure.Consolidation in the sector nowmeans that making use of largernetworks such as these will likely offergreater flexibility. The obvious counterargument is that a company whichoversees all its own deliveries in-houseshould be better prepared for this, butit’s highly likely that adding a new drop© shutterstock/Gts19-21_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:54 Page 2Food & Drink International 21www.fdiforum.netCONTAINERS & PALLETSor route into a networkcomprising just tenjourneys mightrepresent significantpotential for disruption.With traceability andenergy efficiency nowdominating thinkingacross the supply chain,making use of higherquality containers andpallets – whether purchasedoutright or rented from oneof the many high qualitysuppliers – is bound toensure an exceptional returnon investment.It’s not all about the content andmaterial used in the manufacturingprocess however. As manufacturersand warehouses make strides towardshigher levels of automation, there is anecessity for containers and palletcompanies to offer flexibility in design– in order to meet the needs of theautomating machinery. It may seem asimple task at first; adding somespecific grooves or ridges that arobotised system can grip onto. Butthe bespoke nature of the additionscould mean vast delays or alterationsbeing made to a manufacturer’s line. goplasticpallets.com+44 (0)1323 744057Consistent, not once, but every timeTemperature controlled environmentsHygienic, smooth and easy to cleanRecyclable, again and againLEAVE THE WOOD. GO PLASTICWith over 270 different types of plasticpallets and boxes in stock, available forimmediate delivery, we have developed the product range to suit your needs.$3%3RRO3HUIRUDWHG%OXH5Demand for increasedflexibility fuels growth atGoplasticpalletsGoplasticpallets, the UK-based independent distributor of returnable plastic transitpackaging (RPTP), has responded to increasing customer demand for branded totes and traysand invested in a new thermal transfer machine. Traditionally, printed containers have only been available in very large quantities and as a result,come with a long lead time. Thanks to the new Coditherm H-PAD, Goplasticpallets can now offer customers even more flexibility, printingin batches as small as a few hundred units, within two or three working days. Based at Goplasticpallets’ main warehouse in Eastbourne, operatives can now accurately print logos and identificationmarkings such as part product numbers, barcodes, SKU and QR codes, onsite immediately from orderprocessing.The Coditherm H-PAD, a pneumatic printing machine, uses high-power, thermal transference to print ontorecessed areas of structured plastic containers, such as Automotive KLTs, Euro containers, food-grade boxesand bail-arm crates. The advantage of this machine is its ability to imprint on diverse materials, including PE (Polyethelene) andPP (Polyproplene) and within very small margins.19-21_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:54 Page 322 Food & Drink Internationalwww.fdiforum.netFROZEN & CHILLED FOODSTo give some context, frozen foodhas long garnered the reputation ofbeing economic and, ultimately,unhealthy food brought forconvenience and affordability and notfor nutrition. This was despite thenumerous producers working within thefrozen foods arena offering a variety ofhealthy options. There’s also thepersisting notion that freezingnegatively affects product integrity,meaning that frozen meals are inferiorto their chilled or freshly preparedcounterparts. In reality, the freezer aislehas undergone a radical change overthe last decade, and is now acornucopia of nutritional productsalongside more traditional fare. The drivers behind this shift arelargely reactionary, responding toindustry happenings and changes inconsumer taste and productpreferences. The 2013 horse meatscandal dealt a damaging blow to thefrozen food industry, as it was frozenpies, lasagnes and other ready-madeproducts that bore the brunt of thescandal. It left consumer confidence intatters, and drove others towards freshfood with organic food sales spiking inthe immediate aftermath. Some fouryears later, equilibrium has returned. Farfrom returning to the pre-scandal days,the industry has evidently evolved, witha greater emphasis on traceabilitybetween suppliers, producers andstockists. What that means now is thatthe stigma attached to frozen foods isdissipating, revealing a sector that iscontinuing to grow and connect withconsumers. Freezing food grew out of necessity,but quickly became a means of offeringseasonal fruits and vegetables all yearround where beforehand consumerswere reliant on growing seasons andtraditional preserving techniques. Theother major driving force was, ofcourse, convenience. Like themicrowave, the home freezer offeredthe kitchen a sense of space agedwonder, allowing consumers for the firsttime to take something out from thefreezer, defrost or heat it up and enjoyit irrespective of previous limitations. Italso allowed home cooks to batch cookand freeze meals for the weeks andmonths ahead. It’s interesting to notethat the freezer is being utilised in thearsenal against food waste, withconsumers encouraged to get savvywith their cooking and smartly use theirfreezers to curb the rising tide ofwasted food. One of the persisting fallaciesregarding frozen foods is the highlevels of preservatives. Althoughbudget ready meals still contain highlevels of sugar, salt, saturated fat andother additives, that’s not to say thatproducts need preservatives in order tobe frozen. The freezing process itselfoften bypasses the need for suchadditives altogether, meaning thesefoods can often be a healthieralternative to some other choices, be ittinned or ambient. In the case of freshproduce, quick freezing often occursshortly after picking, preserving theintegrity and texture of the fruits andvegetables, but also locking innutrients. Studies have shown that foodfrozen immediately after it was pickedand processed boasted more nutrientsthan their fresher counterparts after aslittle as three days. For this reason,many producers use this promisedfreshness and nutritional profile asunique selling points. Quick freezingalso helps to sidestep freezer burns, aboon when it comes to specifictextures and visual properties of, say,meat and fish. Ultimately, it comesOn iceThe frozen food sector has undergonea renaissance of late, with publicperceptions shifting and industryapplications growing. 22-25_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:55 Page 1Food & Drink International 23www.fdiforum.netFROZEN & CHILLED FOODSdown to re-contextualizing what ‘fresh’ foodmeans and doing away with the idea thatfreshness pertains only to what has just beenpicked. Aesthetics will assist in facilitating themarket shift, as consumers begin theirrelationship with food and beverage productsat a visual level – either with an advertisementor the packaging itself. In all honestly, frozenfoods, locked in icy suspension, don’t lookparticularly appealing, meaning they are relianton packaging and design. Though fruits andvegetables are still packed and sold in PETbags – as is also commonplace for ice cubesand fried potato products – it is becomingmore commonplace for fruit pieces to bepackaged in plastic or even card boxes. Thebest canvas for producers to conveynutritional information and appealing graphics,however, is through cartoning and sleeving© shutterstock/Adisa24 Á22-25_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:56 Page 224 Food & Drink Internationalwww.fdiforum.netFROZEN & CHILLED FOODSapplications, namely a plastic tray,topped with a film and sleeved in card.The difficulty lies in packaging andsleeving these products quickly so thatthe nutritional benefit of the foodsinside is preserved. Automated andefficient cartoning and sleevingmachines are incredibly advantageousfor frozen food producers, withLincolnshire-based machine supplier TFreemantle having recently sold anumber of machines to frozen foodproducers and garnered plenty ofinterest at trade shows and exhibitions.To that end, conveying applications area must in applications which are literallyworking against the clock. The frozen food industry is also afertile ground for new productinnovation. Given the freezer is twinnedwith the history of consumerconvenience, it makes sense thatconvenience itself is still a major sellingpoint. Convenience, however, isn’tsynonymous with high salt and fat fare,and can instead be applied to healthieroptions. Supermarkets in the UK, forexample, have started selling pre-peeled and –sliced avocados to tap intothe persistent trend, while Tesco hasrecently launched a bag ofpomegranate seeds, meaningconsumers can take advantage of thefruit’s nutritional profile withoutneeding to peel and de-seed itthemselves. In the UK, frozen food retailchain Iceland is reinventing itself not asthe preserve of budget consciousshoppers, but as a bastion of qualityfood products with a growing emphasison premium frozen food. The nature of frozen foods is thatthey are caught in time, preserving theirfreshness and sensory profiles. That’snot to say that the frozen food industryitself is static, far from it. They areamong some of the most market savvyand forward thinking in the food andbeverage sector, riding the changingwaves of consumer taste andlegislation. A case in point is theutilisation of the freezer and frozenfoods as a means to circumvent thefood waste crisis both here in the UKand globally. It also means big businessfor suppliers and manufacturers ofsleeving and conveying machines, asproducers look to increase efficiency inthe frozen food chain. Goddard’s Pies fill up with sevenawards at the British Pie Awards Goddard’s Pies have scooped seven awards at the prestigious annual British PieAwards this year, cementing their place as the go-to providers of authentic anddelicious handmade pies for catering businesses, wholesalers and sports stadiums.The company beat off competition from nearly 900 other pies to win 6 Silverawards and one Bronze award in the following categories:• Steak & Kidney pie - Silver• Steak & Ale pie - Silver• Steak & Potato pie - Silver• Cheese Potato & Onion Pie - Silver• Steak & Ale pie (Sports Pie) - Silver• Chicken Balti pie (Sports Pie) – Silver• Chicken & Ham pie - BronzeSean Horton, who co-owns the business with Jeff and Kane Goddard, said:“Goddard’s is a family-run and owned business with roots that go back to 1890. Just asthey were when we started out, all our pies are still handmade, using only Britishingredients, and family methods and techniques.” For more information, visit www.goddardspies.com.© shutterstock/gvictoria22-25_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:56 Page 3T. Freemantle Ltd is the UK Market Leading manufacturer of Cartoning and Sleeving equipment. The equipment is simple, robust and reliable and proven to be easy to operate, simple to maintain with a fast unskilled size change. From simple manually operated machinery through to fully automac high speed systems, we have a machine to suit almost every cartoning and sleeving applicaon. We have the full range of equipment on show at our UK demonstraon facility and invite you to try the machines out for yourself. The UK Market LeaderSpecialists in Sleeving Experts in Cartoning Call us on 01724 276908 Email the sales team at sales@tfreemantle.com 22-25_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:56 Page 426 Food & Drink Internationalwww.fdiforum.netINGREDIENTS SPOTLIGHTManufacturers are now often keen totalk up the functional and enrichingqualities of their products. This hascome about as consumers are generallyturning away from products thatappear to be particularly unhealthy, butthey don’t wish to compromise ontaste. The challenge for manufacturersis therefore to incorporate newingredients into their products thatoffer the same flexibility and quality asexisting ingredients, but with additionalhealth benefits.As consumers we are moreknowledgeable than ever when itcomes to what is included in the thingswe eat. Packaging now requiresingredients to be clearly listed, and it isnow not an unusual sight to seesomeone in a supermarket islestudiously inspecting the labelling onvarious cans or packets. There is no doubt this has createdsome difficulties for the industry,forcing companies to be careful onwhat they allow into their food lest it beperceived as undesirable. However, ithas also created many newopportunities for the food and drinkindustry. One particular sector that is provingvaluable is that of gluten-free food. Inits recent report, Technavio reportedstrong growth in the global gluten-freemarket, with an expected CAGR of11.6% by 2021. Similar research byNester predicted the gluten-free foodsector will be worth $8.1 billion by 2023.This shows an enormous, growth, farabove what many other food sectorsare able to report. A driving force forthis is changing lifestyles, but alsohigher awareness on the digestivewellness of a gluten-free diet. Another market growing in power isof course the weight loss, weight-control or diet industry. With currentfigures showing 60% of UK adults asoverweight or obese, it is perhapsobvious why for many companies,having calorific or weight-loss benefitsis the quick way to gain pounds, ratherthan lose them. In many cases, themore scientific or specific the benefit,the better, as unlike with vitamins andminerals, consumers still struggle tounderstand the nuances of what helpsthem lose weight.Developing and including ingredientslike this in food products enablesbusinesses to market themselvestowards specific consumer groups, aswell as draw attention fromorganizations or collectives that canpromote their goods, such as largeweight-loss forums and groups. The trick in the industry is to pushthe weight-loss aspect of the product,while maintaining the taste and textureof the original offering. Even healthconscious consumers have been foundto move away from healthy productsthat are not palatable to them, and inan industry so competitive businessescannot afford to have any weaknesses. In terms of markets, the US and EUremain profitable for the weight lossindustry, due to the high levels ofobesity in key countries, particularly theUS, UK and some Western Europeancountries. These markets are, however,saturated with products on offer – sothe rapidly increasing middle class inChina might be a growing opportunity. Functional foods comprise a little ofthe health and weight loss benefits,but do so not by reducing calories, butmore through the addition offunctional ingredients such asprobiotics, prebiotics or stanols andsterols. These are most commonly used infood and drink products designedspecifically for the health market, forinstance probiotic drinks that aconsumer takes once to twice a day,while the more common healthingredients could be taken as often asdesired. Popular examples of these kindTheingredientto successNiche markets are proving attractive for many in thefood and drink industry, boasting returns far above andbeyond their traditional cousins. 26-29_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:57 Page 1Food & Drink International 27www.fdiforum.netINGREDIENTS SPOTLIGHTSilverson release ‘how to’ video series Silverson Machines have recently released a series of ‘How to’ videosdemonstrating how to get the best results from various key ingredients in the foodindustry.The series includes information on applications such as Mixing Xanthan Gum andHigh speed sugar dissolving at ambient temperature. With more people turning to video for information, the intention is to focus onsome of the most challenging tasks in the food industry, and highlight how Silversonmixing technology can help customers improve their processes and get the bestyield from their ingredients. Harold Rothman, Managing Director of Silverson, said: “Videos are demonstrationfriendly, allowing the viewer to quickly understand the benefits of Silverson Mixers.”More ‘How to’ videos are currently in production, including one on preparation of emulsions such as sauces and creams. For more information and to view the videos, visit www.youtube.com/silversonmachines. Don’t forget to subscribe tobe alerted when new videos are released.of ingredients in use consist of Benecol,Yakult, and the other one-a-daybreakfast drinks, or cholesterol-loweringspreads. Typically these contain stanols andsterols, plant extracts which occurnaturally in the world and that arethought to have a cholesterol loweringeffect. Probiotics, on the other hand,refers to the bacteria which can confera health benefit when taken in sufficientquantities. Whereas prebiotics promotethe growth of bacteria in the largeintestine that are beneficial to intestinalhealth. There has been a recent movehowever towards what is known asclean-label health ingredients, mostoften considered botanicals and bio-actives with natural extracts. This is astep away from the more chemical andpharmaceutical-based ingredients28 Á© shutterstock/wavebreakmedia26-29_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:58 Page 2mixing is necessary –particularly with liquid,viscous or yoghurt-type foods. It’simportant to ensure ahomogenous blend ofingredients, hence whycompanies such asAdvanced Engineeringadvocate a bespokeapproach to the matter. Noone solution can fit all needs,and something built to a designwill yield results far above somethingbought to fit. As a whole, the ingredients industryremains as strong as it has ever been,though the emphasis has shiftedslightly towards food products whichoffer more than just taste orsatisfaction. This is not only reflected inconsumer trends, but also in world-wide politics, as the US FDA havedetermined that all trans fats must beremoved from US food products by theyear 2018. which can achievesimilar effects, andshould be kept inmind for the future. When it comes tofunctional ingredientsit’s worth looking atwhat markets areperforming well for them,and which have alreadybeen established for sometime. In terms of CAGR(Compound Annual GrowthRate), the US and Europe isexpected to only increase between 1-2%in the coming year, which makes it asteady market, but not one attractive tonew entrants. There are however, fivemarkets which have been predictedover 10% CAGR in the coming years,including Turkey, Vietnam and India.The Middle-East is also a growingmarket which could be attractive tomany in the industry. When it comes to functional foods ona production line, small changes might28 Food & Drink Internationalwww.fdiforum.netINGREDIENTS SPOTLIGHT© Advanced Engineering© shutterstock/xamnesiacxneed to be made to automated systems– particularly when it comes tomeasurement, weighing and mixing.Many products with probiotic benefitscan be troublesome if ingested in toohigh a concentration, and the old maxim“too much of a good thing” holds truehere. Similarly, even with the correctamount added, thorough and equal26-29_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:58 Page 314th & 15th JUNE 2017Lille – FranceSAVE THE DATEINNOVATE TO DEVELOP PEOPLE DEMAND FOR PLANT-BASED PROTEINS PRODUCTSBy 2050, the Earth will have to feed some 9 billion people. Global proteins demand is expected to soar 40% as early as 2030.PartnersIn partnership withWith the support of With the expert support of“ In order to meet associated food security, nutritional and environmental challenges in a sustainable way, the development of new products, processes and services around plant-based proteins appears to be critical.”EUROPEAN CALL FOR APPLICATIONSFrom 28th February to 19th May, 2017ApplyBe selected19th May, 2017FIND ALL INFORMATION ON THE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS HERE: https://www.agorize.com/village-by-ca-nord-de-france Pitch14th and 15th June, 2017 in Lille, France duringEDITION5th14 - 15 June 2017 - FRANCE th th50%International actorsParticipants600+2,500Meeting requestsThe European meeting place for business and innovation in FOOD, NUTRITION and HEALTHwww.nutrevent.com@NutrEventOrganised byContactB to B meetingsConferencesCall for applications:Plant-based proteinsExhibitionRémi VERSTRAETEMarketing Manager+33 (0) 328 559 078rverstraete@eurasante.com26-29_Layout 1 27/03/2017 08:58 Page 4Next >