Food and drink manufacturers are under relentless pressure from consumers to produce products that can not only deliver exciting textures and tastes, but can also be healthy and shelf-life stable. This is then reflected in the challenge posed to the hydrocolloid suppliers and manufacturers, who must deliver thickeners, stabilising agents and gelling agents with specific functionalities that can meet consumer demand.

Figures suggest that since the start of the 21st century, there has been a three-fold increase in the use of automation and robots in the global food sector. However, many food and beverage producers in the UK appear reluctant to adopt this technological advance.

Drying processes in the food industry often operate at a suboptimal level. The most important reason for this is that to obtain optimal drying, a complex balance must be found among variables such as energy costs, product quality, dryer design and safety. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic approach and concrete solutions. NIZO food research has developed a step-by-step optimisation approach that not only makes use of process and product scans, but simulation techniques such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics).

Nestlé Chocolate Processing Research and Development has a long 100 year history, and is an important part of Nestlé’s rich innovation heritage. The ‘grandfathers’ of Nestlé’s chocolate history were François-Louis Cailler, Charles-Amédée Kohler and Daniel Peter. The history of Swiss innovation in chocolate started in the 19th century with Daniel Peter’s invention of milk chocolate in 1875. The Nestlé label was used for the first time in 1904, following the merging of Kohler’s and Peter’s companies. Cailler’s company was subsequently added in 1911. We have come a long way since then.

Today, consumers are demanding high quality, fresh tasting foods free from additives, microbiologically safe and with an extended shelf-life. The most commonly used preservation method has been thermal processing, such as pasteurisation and sterilisation. However, these processes entail considerable organoleptic and nutritional quality losses. Food scientists and the food industry are therefore continuously searching for novel, less degradative processing technologies.

Food processing can be considered as a set of practices – using defined technologies and techniques, either individually or in combination, to transform raw foods / food ingredients into food ready for consumption. Some basic techniques of food processing are for example drying, curing, smoking, fermentation, canning, pasteurisation (by heat or irradiation), freezing/lyophilization and aseptic filling. Many of these processes are practiced in a domestic environment, i.e. in our everyday preparation of food in the home, or by the food manufacturing industry with the goal towards the production of foods that are nutritional, safe, tasty, and of consistently high quality.

In 2006, at the Institute for Food and Biotechnology, SIK, in Gothenburg, a research project was started as a part of NovelQ1. The focus of this project is to develop a robot workstation with high flexibility and hygiene that can handle soft, variable and fragile products; in other words, to handle non packaged food products.

In 2002, Swedish researchers discovered that within certain foods, significant levels of acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen formed during heating processes such as frying, roasting or baking. Free asparagine and reducing sugars were indicated as the most important precursors. Over the past few years, significant progress has been made to reduce acrylamide formation.

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf) is a tetraploid wheat that is believed to have arisen from ancient emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) in the Mediterranean areas of Asia, Africa and Europe (Abdel-Aal et al, 1998) in approximately 300 B.C. Durum wheat has hard kernels and is usually milled into coarse flour, known as semolina, primarily for the manufacture of pasta (Feillet and Dexter, 1996). Durum wheat is also used for couscous, bulgur and specialty bread products, particularly in Mediterranean countries (Quaglia, 1988). There is an advantage in having developed alternative uses for durum wheat to increase its marketability in years of high production. Most previous efforts to increase durum’s marketability have centred on its bread making capabilities (Edwards et al., 2007 and references therein).

As food safety rises to the top of the agenda of food and beverage manufacturers, regulatory bodies and governments again and again, Eduard Stempfel, Shell’s Food Sector Product Application Specialist discusses the lubricants industry’s response to these trends for food grade lubricants and the need for the new ISO 21469 certification.

Increasingly, food safety regulators worldwide are increasing the enforcement of safety and hygiene requirements at the processor level. In recent years, food contaminations occurring at processing facilities have heightened public concerns about widespread foodborne illness outbreaks resulting from a single contamination incident.

Conveying is a unit operation of food process engineering that aims at carrying raw materials, intermediate products or end products. This operation is therefore largely used in the food processing industry.

Pasta is recognised as a family menu staple because it offers a number of unique benefits that other foods do not, such as a broad taste appeal, the versatility of usage, the convenience of preparation and being an inexpensive alternative to other main entrees.

Ready-to-eat, fresh-cut consumer products are one of the few segments within the industry that has shown consistent growth within the last few years. Cutting however, increases senescence rate and the shelf life of the products can be very limited. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), combined with a good cold chain can extend the shelf life, but challenges still exist, due to fresh-cut products containing much higher respiration rates due to the cell stress, caused by cutting.

Foods such as guacamole, whole shell oysters, salsa, ready-to-eat meats, jams and jellies, salsa, chopped onions and peppers can be found in the global marketplace and are processed to some extent using high hydrostatic pressure. Essentially, this means the products have been submersed in water and then subjected to compression pressures approximately six times greater than the highest pressures reached in the biosphere; that would be pressures found at the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean where, at 36,000 feet underwater, pressures reach 100 megaPascals (MPa) or approximately 15,000 pounds per square inch (psi). In comparison, packaged guacamole is pressure-treated at 580 MPa (100,000) psi for several minutes to preserve the product and deliver premium sensory quality.

Of primary concern to today’s food manufacturers is the threat of food contamination resulting in regulatory enforcement, product recalls and consumer litigation. Food retailers and their branded suppliers fear instances of food contamination resulting in public notices, widespread food recalls, or even worse, consumer illness. Even before causation is demonstrated in a court of law, production down time, regulatory scrutiny and litigation fees can cost a manufacturer millions in lost revenue.

Transparent plastic packaging is increasingly replacing traditional food packaging made of glass and metal. The advantages of transparent plastic packaging are; its low weight, low cost, design flexibility and the opportunity to present products in an attractive way. However, compared to traditional packaging made of glass, metal, aluminum-laminated films or metallised films, transparent plastic packaging provides less protection against light and also in many cases, a poorer barrier against oxygen.

Food production processes are continuously adapted under the pressure of marketing demands, the availability of new technologies, and to reduce production costs. However, poor awareness about critical aspects of new products and processes may lead to disappointing results. For example, spoiled or overprocessed products. “A structured process validation prevents such unwanted effects of adaptations and saves time, energy and money,” say experts at the Dutch research institute, TNO.

Chocolate, in its various forms, is the ultimate pleasure food for many customers. New chocolate flavoured products are constantly being developed such as drinks, dairy, ice-cream, and desserts with greater taste and greater convenience.

Food irradiation is gaining interest in light of the increasing incidence of foodborne diseases in the last few decades. It efficiently reduces the populations of pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, E. coli 0157:H7, and also of parasites and insects.

Canning has been a valuable form of food packaging and preservation ever since Napoleon offered a prize for the invention of a method of preserving food for military campaigns. In the UK there are 4 billion food cans sold each year and in the enlarged EU the figure is more than 30 billion. Canning is a microbiologically safe means of storing food for a number of years without refrigeration or chemical preservation and offers good, wholesome, nutritious food at affordable prices. Metal cans also have high recycling rates with large benefits of reduced consumption of energy and raw materials.

Fat and sugar are key nutrients in ice cream and very important as structural building blocks. But with consumers less keen on saturated fat and sugar in their diets, there is a greater need to utilise additional structure from the ice phase to maintain excellent sensory delivery.

Centuries ago, man observed that drying in the sun could naturally extend the shelf life of grains and other foodstuffs. Marco Polo, in the 13th century, is reported to have carried dried milk on his trips. Based on these observations man learned to commercialise this process for vegetables and later for dairy foods and ingredients.

Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) applications can be utilised to achieve disintegration of biological tissues or microbes. Various applications have been identified such as improvement of mass transfer during extraction or drying as well as gentle food preservation. The first commercial applications of the technique have been achieved. By development of equipment based on state of the semiconductor, equipment reliability and cost effectiveness of the equipment has been improved. The technology is heading for wider industrial application.

Food packaging is traditionally required to have many functions: to contain and protect the food, to provide a surface for information labels, to add a distinct brand identity and to present the food attractively so that consumers will purchase it.

In the past decade technology has provided an essential function and played an important role in the moulding and development of dairy ingredients.