< Previous20 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net PROCESSING SPOTLIGHT frozen food retains more of its nutrients than ‘fresh’ produce which has been sorted and transported, sometimes over several days, before arriving in stores. The benefits of vitamin and mineral preservation are the same for frozen meat, fish and poultry, as protein and vitamins A and D are resistant to freezing. Pasteurisation Pasteurisation, the use of mild heat to kill harmful bacteria and diseases like salmonella, is implemented for similar reasons to freezing. It preserves with minimal losses to nutritional value, but with the added benefit of adding shelf life to chilled and ambient products. It’s most widely known as the preservative of choice for cow’s milk, and true enough has all but removed the risk of tuberculosis infection from milk. But pasteurisation is currently used to process a wide variety of food and drink — including juice, beer, almonds, acidic canned foods like tomatoes, and other dairy products such as cheese, eggs and butter — assuring they are safe for consumption and stay that way for longer. It also decreases enzymatic activity which can cause some foods to brown or otherwise begin to look unsightly. One drawback of pasteurisation is that the taste of foods processed by this method can be altered. There is research being carried out into food processing technologies which don’t require heat, such as using irradiation, in order to eliminate this effect. For now, pasteurisation is continuing its long-standing history as a preserving method, since scientist Louis Pasteur discovered in the 1860s that heating wine and beer to 57 °C for a few short minutes could prevent abnormal fermentation. Today, the temperature and time applied to this process depends on the food or drink product, and the pathogen being killed. A low temperature, long time treatment uses, as you might guess, lower temperatures over a long period of time. The other method uses high temperature for a short time, which is the case when pasteurising ice cream. After being heated up to a temperature no lower than 79.4°C, it stabilises for 15 seconds and is then cooled to 7.2°C or lower within 1 1 ⁄ 2 hours. It’s then kept this way until it can be frozen, safely packaged and shipped out to shelves. There are a variety of pasteurization technologies that can be used. Foods can be pasteurized before or after packaging. To give but two examples, raw milk or juice can flow through a heat exchanger prior to being packaged in containers, or solid foods can be heated after being placed into jars using a batch pasteurizer or retort. Processing can just as easily be used as an umbrella term for a food product’s journey from field to leaving the factory. At the granular level, however, there’s a wide array of different processes – from washing raw ingredients, to techniques such as pasteurisation and freezing to preserve product shelf life and freshness. Achieving any of them to high levels of efficiency requires the best machinery and equipment available, so manufacturers must be dutiful, savvy and ensure they have the best supplier to meet their needs. © stock.adobe.com/Grispb 16-21.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:47 Page 5Food & Drink International 21 www.fdiforum.net PROCESSING SPOTLIGHT Shady Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham, B44 9EU England Tel: +44 (0)121 360 0155 Fax: +44 (0)121 325 1079 For all your Power Transmission Solutions • Roller Chain • Gears & Sprockets • Timing Belt Drives • Clamping Elements • Inverted Tooth Chain • Inverted Tooth Sprockets • Sealmaster Bearings • Shaft Couplings • Freewheel Clutches • Torque Limiters • Overload Clutches • Sheargard Clutches The Driving Force In Power Transmission sales@crossmorse.com www.crossmorse.com Power Transmission Solutions Cross+Morse is a Birmingham-based manufacturer of power transmission products and solutions with over 100 years of history. The company operate in a 5000m 2 fully integrated factory with a dedicated and loyal staff who have amassed a depth of technical expertise and engineering experience over their many years of continued service. Innovation is highly valued at Cross+Morse, which is why the company constantly invests in new machinery and technology as well as training programmes and apprenticeships to maintain the highest standards of quality and service it is well known for. With its in-house team of application and design engineers at your disposal Cross+Morse can provide bespoke technical solutions to your power transmission problems in the most cost-effective way. Cross+Morse have a comprehensive line of corrosion resistant power transmission products. These products are engineered to perform in corrosive and contaminated environments and to help extend the life of the product and cut down on nuisance maintenance. Cross+Morse offer the following products which are suitable for washdown environments:- Stainless steel roller chain and attachments, Stainless steel sprockets, taper bushes, shaft clamping elements, McGill ® cam followers, Sealmaster ® bearings and gearboxes. Chain and attachments also available with nickel plating and aquaproof. Cross+Morse – serving the industry for a century 16-21.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:47 Page 622 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE Always evolving 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:49 Page 1Food & Drink International 23 www.fdiforum.net SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE © stock.adobe.com/sodawhiskey S oftware utilised in the food industry covers everything from quality management to sales order fulfilment and everything in between – from production planning and procurement to the management of customer relations, supply chain and warehouse. It’s therefore crucial that food companies don’t fail into the trap of using inefficient or outmoded software. Doing so not only results in inefficiencies but opens a company to security flaws that can be exploited by bad actors, as well as risking inefficiencies that will only worsen over time. Ensuring not only that software remains up to date with the latest security and operational fixes, but that software is replaced as and when required, not only serves to streamlining processes, but offers a competitive edge. One of the areas in which food and drink companies have been making strides is cloud computing. The cloud refers to software and services that run on the internet rather than locally on a single computer. As mergers and 24 Á Similar to the products they produce, the software and hardware that the food industry depends on must be constantly updated. 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:49 Page 224 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE acquisitions rise in the food and drink sector, multinationals and major players continue to widen their pool of owned companies. Cloud computing allows them to consolidate these various branches into a single enterprise platform. In practice, this offers a company the ability to oversee all infrastructure from a central location and integrate its resources more efficiently. The opportunities afforded by cloud computing are part of the wider growth in digital technologies, which also includes big data and analytics that, over the last decade, have helped to usher in incredible change within the industry – and will continue to do so in the years to come. Insights into customers and their spending habits can be ascertained like never before thanks to big data. Because of the sheer size and amount of these data streams, patterns form from which valuable and actional insights can be gleaned. Big data can also be used internally to expose operational inefficiencies and areas where both money and labour can be saved. This then allows a company to focus on areas that require improvements. So, rather than replacing an entire processing line and the massive expense that goes with it, big data may reveal that most of the inefficiencies occur because of a single unit or component. Whether cloud computing or big data, digitisation goes hand in hand with automation. Automation is by no means new in the food sector, with solutions dating back decades, but often when one thinks of automation it’s often only in a context of machinery and equipment and other physical processes along the supply chain. Yet significant cost and efficiency savings can be made by automating a myriad of processes and operations beyond the production line- such as inventory. Whether a company produces bottled soft drinks, confectionery, or food grade lubricants, doubtless it will have inventory requirements from raw ingredients to materials needed to package goods. The industry standard for replacing inventory used to be with a clipboard, pen, order forms and telephones. With the advent of desktop computers, that process took a step into the digital age, and again with smart phones and tablets. But now the process can, by and large, be automated thanks to advances in software and smart technology – such as sensors. Simply put, a manufacturer can be notified as soon as they need to order in more of any given stock. More advanced solutions will automatically order in whatever is running low as and when it’s needed. Baring supply chain issues, there’s no worry about running out of stock and, by ordering exactly the amounts needed, a manufacturer can ensure they aren’t spending more than needed on replenishing inventory. One of the most disruptive technologies to hit the food sector within the last decade is blockchain – a technology simply defined as a decentralised, distributed, and public digital ledger used to record transactions and supply chain information in a safe, secure and traceable way. Its backers claim that blockchain could be a way of ensuring transparency of transaction, gathering more accurate data and eliminating the need for intermediaries. However, the technology still suffers from an overall lack of trust, both inside and out of the food industry, and a lack of experience. Yet, with widespread deployment, it’s argued that blockchain could result in reduced prices for consumers and fairer returns for farmers. Digital disruption can also be found where hardware is concerned. The Internet of Things (IoT) continues to collate physical objects together in an interconnected network. IoT can lead to efficiency, logistics and food safety gains for manufacturers, as well as reducing waste and boosting supply chain transparency. Though there’s the initial cost to consider, manufacturers often wrongly think these solutions are difficult and disruptive to install. In fact, many smart technologies can be easily integrated thanks to their plug and play nature. Though there are definite cost savings down the line when adopting a fully automated production process, the initial investment can be a difficult hurdle for smaller producers. Therefore, a semi-automated process might be a better option, and, in the short term, human labour may prove more cost effective. But there are other options available, such as buying used and refurbished machinery. The things that manufacturers should bear in mind here is to source from a reputable supplier as they will be safety checked, quality assured and will likely have reviews from past customers that can be factored into purchasing decisions. The machines themselves will have been rigorously tested and be up to modern operational standards. As these can be easily integrated into existing lines, it’s not uncommon for manufacturers to have newer machines running alongside refurbished ones. Finding ways to boost efficiency, reduce downtime and find cost savings is a constant struggle for the food and drink industry. But by exploring and integrating automated hardware and emerging software solutions, manufacturers can take their operations to the next level. 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:49 Page 3Food & Drink International 25 www.fdiforum.net SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE © stock.adobe.com/Es sarawuth 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:49 Page 426 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net POUCH PACKAGING © stock.adobe.com/V O R T E X Here to stay Pouch Packaging A relatively recent innovation where the age-old art of food packaging comes into things, pouch packaging is shaking up the industry and for good reason. 26-31.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:50 Page 1Food & Drink International 27 www.fdiforum.net POUCH PACKAGING T he widespread deployment of pouch packaging demonstrates the demand for convenience, ease of use and products that align with the growing environmental agenda. Pouch packages are highly versatile, offering an impressive degree of customisation that continues to make them an attractive option to producers and consumers alike. They come in several different formats, depending on the function and market for which they’re intended. For example, baby food often makes use of the spout pouch, in which a plastic cap can be twisted off and the food inside sucked out of a plastic spout. This also has the added benefit of being resealable, helping with portion control and cutting down on food waste. For pouch packaging, the baby food market has also yielded several breakthroughs including no spill technologies. Functionality is crucial to the popularity of pouch packaging, with heat saleable and flat-bottomed varieties available. Though most commonly found paired with ambient foods, pouch packages have become increasingly common in the freezer aisle. One of the biggest motivators in the development of new packaged goods concerns the environment, and with fresh heat waves and the recent conferences on the topic, this is a timely one. Pressure groups, campaigners, consumers and government ministers have all called on food companies and packaging producers to make their products more sustainable and more easily recyclable. Pouch packaging, especially the aforementioned re-saleable pouch varieties, has an advantage here over many of its counterparts. While they’re still ultimately made from multiple layers of plastic – the primary raw material being linear polyethylene resin – these re-sealable pouches aren’t single use. Single-use plastics are rampant in the food and drink industry, especially in the food to go where packaging is discarded after a product is consumed. But with a re-sealable function on a pouch package, it encourages multiple uses by ensuring the product inside is kept fresh and improving the overall customer experience. This is particularly topical in the UK 28 Á 26-31.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:50 Page 228 Food & Drink International www.fdiforum.net POUCH PACKAGING © stock.adobe.com/Itsanan because of the introduction of EPR – Extended Producer Responsibility – which will begin in January 2023 and is a policy that makes producers responsible for the entire life cycle of the products that they introduce on the market, from their design until end of life (including waste collection and recycling). Under EPR regulations, liable companies must mitigate the environmental impacts of their products throughout the entire product life cycle. To comply with the regulations, you must: take steps to record data about the empty packaging and packaged goods you handle and supply in the UK from 1 January 2023. This involves registering goods online with the EPR by April 2023 and paying a fee to the environmental register. Given that EPR will change the landscape of packaging in a stricter manner than any consumer trends, packaging companies will be searching for the most affordable and efficient ways to reduce waste. Because of the lightweight nature and flexibility of pouch packages, producers can save on storage space and pack more product in one shipment, thereby saving fuel costs in transit. So, when it comes to logistics, pouch packaging is often a more environmentally friendly option than other more rigid forms of packaging. This also makes these packages ideal for mail orders, as their lightweight nature means producers can reduce postage costs compared to other materials. For all that, pouch packages are still a challenge when it comes to recycling. As the environmental agenda becomes of increased importance, doubtless the flexible packaging industry will continue to make gains with the recyclability of pouch packages. Although at present these packages can be optimised for recycling, they are often thrown out with domestic waste. It’s worth noting, however, that niche and speciality recyclers are now accepting these kinds of plastics for recycling. Several pouch packaging makers specialising in recyclable and eco-friendly packages 30 Á 26-31.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:50 Page 3Countdown to EPR. Are you ready? Independent | Pioneering | Expert | Ethical Find out more at www.oprl.org.uk/EPR Not a member of OPRL? Join us at oprl.org.uk/join/ Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is coming. With its introduction, the Government will require businesses to be responsible for the packaging they place on the UK market at the end of its life. The new EPR system will replace the current Packaging Waste Regulations, and implementation is due to be phased in soon. 1 As a member of OPRL, we will keep you up-to-date and give you information on what this means to you. 1 Currently anticipated to start 2024 26-31.qxp_Layout 1 22/07/2022 14:50 Page 4Next >