< Previous© Shutterstock /nevodka 30 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net MICROBIOLOGY AND TESTING Seward launch world’s first paddle blender bag that can be autoclaved Seward, the world leaders in sample preparation for microbiological analyses, has launched the first paddle blender bag that can also be autoclaved. Trials have shown that the new bags can reduce plastic waste by up to 50%, as well as saving time and cost. Seward developed the bag in response to a request by a global food giant customer, to produce a blender bag that would help solve several problems faced in their food testing processes. Extensive evaluation showed that the Stomacher® bag reduced processing times and labour costs by eliminating the need to double-bag samples before autoclaving. The company estimates that using the new Stomacher bag in one site will save almost $31k annually, due to reduced need for materials, a saving of over two hrs a day in processing time, and also use 1,100 Kg less plastic each year (based on 2020 volumes). For more information, visit www.seward.co.uk. Image is for illustrative purposes only been forced to rely on it could mean fresh meat that comes to major manufacturers has a risk of contamination. As a result, the microbiology industry will need to be particularly focused in the coming months, and the importance of having a good microbiology team or lab working for a manufacturer is greater than ever. Food poisoning can be much harder to identify and catch wind of, with recalls usually initiated after consumers have already fallen ill. But food manufacturers aren’t defenceless against microbial threats such as E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter. A thorough washdown routine is a must, but it isn’t a silver bullet. Instead, companies can turn to laboratory testing facilities that can assess food and beverage products and production lines for any sign of infection. Although this isn’t mandatory, manufacturers can rest assured that their products are free from contaminates and that their production environment is hygienic. Or, should any microbial threats be detected, they can take steps to ensure consumers stay safe and spare themselves any reputational damage or litigious action. One recent development in combatting food poisoning via microbiology has been against Salmonella. A collab project by AB Agri and the University of Leicester have been testing whether bacteriophages – the bacteria’s equivalent of a virus – can be introduced to chicken feed as a means of fighting Salmonella in poultry. Results so far have been touted as “promising”. AB Agri’s Director of Innovation, Nell Masey O’Neill, said: “Foodborne diseases, including Salmonellosis in humans, are a significant world health challenge. According to the World Health Organisation almost 1 in 10 people fall ill and 33 million of healthy life years are lost every year. This study shows that phage may be a useful weapon against this challenge, helping our industry produce safer food.” Laboratory testing can also be utilised in the authentication of food products, ensuring that what’s on the ingredients list corresponds with what consumers are putting into their mouths. This safeguard can also be used in the ongoing battle against counterfeit food products, which still flood the marketplace. Testing works by taking controlled amounts of food products either from a single batch or from a selection. 29-31.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:22 Page 2BOTTTLED & BBAGGGED MMEDIIA Manufacturer of prepared culture media and associated products for microbiology. Find out more at www.sglab.com BESSPOKKE MEEDIA MANNUFAACTUURE PLAATE MMEDIAA CONVENIENCE YOU CAN TRUST. Food & Drink International 31 www.fdiforum.net MICROBIOLOGY AND TESTING Astell’s Compact Top-loading Autoclave now features in the Astell BioSink range The release of the Astell BioSink & Autoclave Combo sees the new BioSink – a washbasin that thermally sterilises wastewater – combined with a food and drink sector firm favourite, the Astell Compact Top Loading autoclave. Hugely popular with quality control and assurance departments, the Compact Toploaders are a range of capable, convenient, and cost-effective steam sterilisers, available in two models – AMA240 Ecofill and AMA440 Classic. Both the AMA240 and AMA440 are easy to install and operate; simply wheel into location, plug into the electrics, fill with water, and they are ready to go. The AMA240 Ecofill makes laboratory life simpler still, only requiring refilling with water once every 15 cycles – this helps the autoclave to save water too. “Food & Beverage QC labs are rushing to buy these compact top loaders as fast as we can build them – especially in the current climate,” said Astell’s Sales and Marketing Director, Paul Birchmore. The AMA Compact combined with the BioSink (left) and as a standalone unit (right). Samples are then rendered down into a uniform slurry, ensuring that results are consistent and precise. The slurries are analysed and processed, ready to return to the results to the respective food company. Testing products is one step of the equation, as knowing contamination exists doesn’t solve the issue of eradicating it. Although hygiene is critical in this regard, preventative and defensive measures are coming along in leaps and bounds. It goes without saying that COVID-19 has placed the hygiene of food in the public eye – testing of just about every aspect of our lives is more prevalent than ever before. Food and beverage testing has accounted for the highest CAGR in 2020, particularly segments testing food and beverage products for infectious diseases. The Asia Pacific region was the fastest growing region in terms of microbiological testing, which does make some sense considering the population density and the origins of COVID-19. The industry is expected to reach over $6 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 9.4 per cent. It falls on researchers to identify and battle against microbial issues in the supply chain, enlightening the food industry and consumers alike. Developments elsewhere are providing greater power and safety levels among consumers and ensuring food producers are tooled up to manufacture food that is free from microbial contaminates. 29-31.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:23 Page 332 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net POUCH PACKAGING © Shutterstock /ZikG The booming popularity of pouches 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:25 Page 1Food & Drink International 33 www.fdiforum.net POUCH PACKAGING One need only peruse the aisles at a supermarket for a short while to see the growing popularity of flexible pouch packaging. Containing a wide breadth of products from popcorn to rice to spices and soups, pouches are available in various styles and formats, such as stand up and shaped, and a range of closure formats, from spouts for drinks to minimise spills, to tear notches and zippers. As an easily portable, lightweight, but tough packaging option, they are a prime response to the boom in convenience culture, seeing more busy consumers desire on-the-go goods. In addition, resealable pouches are providing an ideal solution to a rise in snacking, keeping goods fresh and secure, attracting consumers looking to dip in and out of products, and for similar reasons are growing in health food packaging, including for protein powder. Food and drink firms are also selecting pouches, particularly stand-up pouches, for enhancing marketing, featuring a generous, 360-degree surface area on which to print branding and high-quality graphics to draw consumer attention in supermarkets, as well as providing room for increased consumer communication, 34 Á As the popularity of pouches continues to grow in food packaging, innovation is responding to consumer desire for sustainable solutions, seeing new recyclable pouches hit supermarket shelves. 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:25 Page 234 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net POUCH PACKAGING BAG SEALING MACHINES RM Sealers remain a leading British manufacturer and supplier of high quality Bag Sealing Machines, also known as Rotary Band Sealers and Impulse Sealers. Call 01442 843387 to speak to a member of our team SEALERS © www.rmsealers.co.uk nutritional and product information, ingredients lists, preparation details, expiration dates, disposal information etcetera, directly on the surface of the packaging. Furthermore, opting for a design with clear windows can present transparency for consumers into what they are buying. Pouches are also a beneficial option for food brands as they take up less space in vehicles as a compact choice, allowing more goods per delivery. Additionally, being lightweight they reduce costs associated with transportation/shipping and hold the potential to minimise the carbon footprint of a product and brand, as a more efficient to ship option. They further use less packaging material and energy in their production and take over less space on retail shelves. Though there are numerous benefits to utilising pouches in the food and drink industry, they are renowned for being tough to recycle. Indeed retort pouches, used for microwavable rice, ready meals, soups, baby food, et al., are pinpointed as one of the more difficult forms of packaging to make recyclable, and for taking over a thousand years to fully break down in a landfill, though they do use up less space than other packaging. A combination of plastics and often aluminium are employed, with the outer layer of the pouch made with PET, which while heat resistant and a great material for production machines, unfortunately does not have access to the same recycling stream as PET bottles. Moreover, the use of aluminium between layers of plastics creates problems in recycling, even though aluminium is alone recyclable. Stimulating change for pouches, then, is the fact that recyclable packaging is now a key demand from consumers, as well as brand owners. Responding to this, there have been a plethora of recent innovations and new pouches brought to market, ready to make this form of packaging a more environmentally-friendly choice, overcoming the challenges in making retort packaging recyclable whilst being able to perform as required when heated and in terms of offering a long shelf life. Mars Food for example has this year (2021) revealed new mono polypropylene plastic which is being used for Uncle Ben’s Ready to Heat Wholegrain rice. The high performing mono-PP material, developed with Amcor, allows the shape, shelf life, functionality, convenience, and safety standards of the packaging to be retained while it can now be recycled where the recycling and collection infrastructure is available, accepting flexible plastic - primarily at shops Similarly, recent moves have seen ProAmpac now offer a fully recyclable, mono-material retort pouch, supporting a circular economy, and FEI Foods and J M Packaging have worked to introduce an advanced mono-material stand-up pouch to replace a non- recyclable multilayer retort pouch. Such new packaging, following a wider range of sustainable improvements in flexible packaging, is allowing brands to reinforce that they care for the environment, scoring points with consumers, and help combat the large quantities of plastic waste being generated by pouches all over the world. Food brands are also getting more involved in the collection and recycling of their pouches post-consumption to reduce waste. TerraCycle, Ella’s Kitchen, and Danone have partnered to ensure baby food pouches, yoghurt pouches, pouch caps, and snack packets can be recycled in a programme consisting of a combined network of public drop off locations in the UK that collect waste in a © Shutterstock /davide bonaldo 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:25 Page 3Food & Drink International 35 www.fdiforum.net POUCH PACKAGING BENCHTOP BAG SEALING MACHINE IMPULSE BAG SEALING MACHINE HORIZONTAL BAG SEALING MACHINE VERTICAL BAG SEALING MACHINE community, to be sent for recycling. Meanwhile, consumers of Yeo Valley Organic’s Little Yeos yoghurt pouches can now request free recycling kits from the company, enabling them to send the pouch, without lid, in a pre- paid envelope, for recycling. Innovation is also coming as firms create pouches with advanced atmosphere technology to expand the shelf life of fresh goods, slow ripening, and reduce waste, and brands enhance their manufacturing facilities to cut energy use in producing pouch- packaged goods. Concurrently, pouches are being used in more applications, including for alcohol, where recyclable single-shot sachets are being introduced for travel and at festivals. © Shutterstock /lighthunteralp KM’s shaped pouches have stand-up shelf appeal Global flexible packaging and lidding films supplier KM Packaging has added pre-made stand-up shaped pouches to its product range. KM most recently provided a customer in the US with pouches for confectionery products featuring thematic designs for Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. The key features of the pouches, that are suitable for dried snacks and pet treats as well as confectionery, include: • Gusseted at the bottom, allowing the pouch to stand upright on retail display. • Pre-made, shaped and printed with heat sealable opening. • Clear windows so the product can be seen by consumers or solid white finish. • High quality Roto-Gravure print. • Available with zip-lock reclosure. • Can be supplied in mono polymer structures (PE/PE and PP/PP) for better recyclability and using compostable materials. • Strong shelf appeal. • Ideal for seasonal sales. • Excellent packaging for gifts. To find out more, visit www.kmpackaging.com. 32-35.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:25 Page 436 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net KITE PACKAGING Q&A possible is always at the core of our practices. In terms of carbon emissions, we are extremely proud to announce our status as a carbon neutral business following our efforts to reduce and offset our truck fuels, gas and electric output. We achieved this through transitioning to renewable energy sources; we will only be accepting renewable energy tariffs moving forward and offsetting our fuel at source. Our carbon neutrality has been independently verified by Carbon Neutral Britain. Regarding eco-conscious packaging solutions, we are consistently providing Q&A Kite Packaging We spoke to Kite Packaging, an online supplier of superior packaging materials, about growth, environmentally-friendly packing options, and what the future holds. Kite Packaging has seen incredible growth over the past few years; what has been the key to your success? We were founded in 2001 with a strong growth philosophy centred around employee share-ownership and the collective belief that “customer satisfaction matters so much more when you own the business”. Partnership is inherent in every good long-term relationship, and we consider all of our employees, suppliers and customers to be included within this. In order to grow as a company, it is Kite’s ethos that we must grow as individuals, nurturing and developing talent to strengthen our partnership; this is why we began our first graduate programme and apprentice scheme when our company was merely one year old with both these enterprises continuing to run today. Obviously, carbon emissions are a major concern in the logistics and distribution industry right now. You’ve released a broad range of eco-conscious packaging solutions. Can you tell us more about this? Being as environmentally-friendly as 36-37.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:27 Page 1Food & Drink International 37 www.fdiforum.net KITE PACKAGING Q&A To find out more about Kite and browse its ecommerce store, visit www.kitepackaging.co.uk, email enquiries@kitepackaging.co.uk, or call +44(0) 2476 420065. conveniently to pack benches, whether you are working at a small order level right up to high capacities. We’ve seen time and again the versatility and recyclability of card and paperboard packaging. Will it continue to reign supreme where eco- conscious packaging is concerned, or will you incorporate other materials – such as bioplastics and those produced from waste streams? Card and paperboard are highly versatile and technically proficient forms of eco-packaging, hence its current dominion over the market. It is economically viable to recycle, with consumers sending these materials to recycling centres on average more than five times more than plastics. Moreover, paper or cardboard does not pose the same threat as plastic should it end up in the ocean or waterways. However, we are certainly investigating bioplastics with our introduction of mailing bags made from sugarcane. This material is proving popular in the market due to it being a reclaimed resource from the harvesting of sugarcane since this element is inedible. Through the growing process of the plant, carbon innovative products to support businesses striving for a similar claim to sustainability. One of our particularly successful products is our bestselling hivewrap. Due to its success, we have since expanded the range to include a white variety that boasts the same one hundred per cent recyclability, biodegradability and excellent level of performance. This paper wrap acts as a sustainable alternative to bubble wrap that also offers superior flexibility, the ability to interlock into itself due to the hive-inspired cells and exceptional space conservation. No tape is required because of the self-adhering quality and objects are reliably protected by the structural strength of the hexagon. Providing quality product protection while exhibiting great green credentials, hivewrap is the ideal product for growing businesses. For companies wishing to deliver a more personalised experience, Kite has recently introduced tissue paper rolls that grant packages a luxurious quality without sacrificing the efficiency of a packing process. By being configured as rolls rather than sheets, this paper can be loaded onto our multi-dispenser alongside hivewrap for an integrated solution. Not to mention, this tissue is fully recyclable and biodegradable with an FSC certification to testify to its ethical sourcing. This new product exemplifies the intersection of our priorities to provide optimal packing productivity, personable business branding and eco-friendly alternatives to industry standards. The dispenser operates with a pull and tear technique that delivers these qualities rapidly and dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere, hence offsetting the emissions from transporting the packaging and establishing the product as carbon neutral. What does the future hold for Kite Packaging? Inherent within our ethos of investment for growth is a dynamic and entrepreneurial mindset that drives our business to constantly evolve. The latest step in our evolution is the confirmed plans to move all Kites Coventry-based operations, currently located at Torrington Avenue, into a new site at Ansty Park, Coventry in 2022. This site will be 300,900 square feet in size and will allow us to continue our ambitions for growth while simultaneously having a new space to learn and be creative. By incorporating the latest environmental technology, we will be able to marry sustainability with industrial development. The open plan design of the new offices will welcome a continuation of the innovation we have demonstrated thus far founded on collaboration and team spirit. With exciting plans for new packaging ranges already underway, we have no intention of slowing down. 36-37.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:27 Page 2Handle with care Handle with care 38 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net MATERIALS HANDLING PALLET TO PALLET TRANSFER SOLUTIONS With 5000 machines supplied to 65 countries across the world, Premier can call on over 45 years’ manufacturing experience of Pallet Inverter manufacturing.. Gressenhall | Dereham | Norfolk | NR20 4DT | +44 (0)1362 861066 | www.premierpalletinverter.co.uk 38-43.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:29 Page 1Food & Drink International 39 www.fdiforum.net MATERIALS HANDLING • Plain / Printed Labels • Thermal Transfer Ribbons • Lasersheets • Fanfolded Labels • Barcode Labels Self adhesive labels and labelling Tel: 01482 506560 • Email: sales@datamarkuk.com • Website: www.datamarkuk.com Materials handling ensures the quick and efficient flow of products in manufacturing processes, warehousing and distribution. Whether one is considering trolleys, conveyors or forklifts, materials handling equipment, and the wider facilities themselves, are continuously evolving to allow greater levels of efficiency and flexibility all while promising to save costs in the long term. Vital to business operations, especially those involving the movement of heavy parts and goods through a workplace and to delivery channels, one must ensure that the handling of materials is completed safely. A safe environment is usually achieved by making employees aware of typical hazards, such as exceeding load limits, and teaching them how to prevent these though clear training programmes on operating materials handling equipment and risky situations. Meanwhile, supervisors must exercise due diligence to prevent injury and keep facilities safe. With such a high level of on the job danger, health and safety hazards surpass more obvious instances of collision and trapping. Workers, repeatedly bending, reaching and lifting heavy objects, put serious strain on the body, causing immediate and long-term injuries such as repetitive stress injuries. Ergonomics has therefore become a key focus in materials handling. Equipment that is ergonomically designed can minimise the strains associated with twisting, excessive stretching, pulling and pushing. One common piece of materials handling equipment that can be improved with ergonomics is the forklift, whose operators frequently develop repetitive strain and 40 Á © Shutterstock /Mr . Amarin Jitnathum Given the important and irreplaceability of materials handlings, it’s no surprise that this is the sector that evolves quickest. Food and Drink International explores the challenges currently faced by operators and how they continue to develop. 38-43.qxp_Layout 1 26/07/2021 08:29 Page 2Next >