Issue 4 2006

Making food efficient

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / David Bryant, Managing Director, Major International

An efficient manufacturing process is the cornerstone of any food company’s profitability. However, once that cornerstone is in place, improving it is the key to long term progress. Here, David Bryant, managing director of Major International discusses the company’s continuing development practice in both automation and process improvement. He believes that the company’s future lies in automating processes to improve profitability, customer focus and the company’s positive environmental stance.

(more…)

Tagged with: David Bryant, Major International

Spreading the word

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Ellen Moens-Go Yanko, Office Manager, EHEDG

With 2006 drawing to a close, the EHEDG has managed to find time to fit in an extra course in Denmark, as well as a seminar in Barcelona. Ellen Moens provides the final quarterly update for 2006…

Training Course in Denmark (DTU, Copenhagen)

Advanced Course on Basic Hygienic Design in the Food Industry.

Due to the fully booked course in October, an additional course has been added. Maximum number of participants: 20

When: 18-20 December 2006

Who should attend:

Mechanical engineers, construction workers, draughtsmen, project managers and technical sales engineers who are active in building equipment for the food industry, as well as technical and quality assurance personnel.

(more…)

Tagged with: EHEDG, Ellen Moens-Go Yanko

An Achilles’ heel for hygiene

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Bo Knudsen, Segment Manager, Alfa Laval Tank Equipment A/S

When deciding which tank cleaning equipment to purchase, it is important to consider hygiene along with criteria such as effectiveness and price. The very first EHEDG-certified rotary jet head is now on the market.

Cleaning-in-place (CIP) based on tank cleaning equipment is finding its way into increasing numbers of reactors, tanks and processing vessels all over the world, in the food and dairy industries, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

(more…)

Tagged with: Alfa Laval Tank Equipment A/S, Bo Knudsen, EHEDG, Hygiene

Trends in brewing technology – wort boiling

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / David De Schutter, PhD Fellow, Centre for Malting & Brewing Science, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering – KULeuven

Being one of the oldest industries in the world, the brewing industry still experiences many technological improvements. These innovations are mainly driven by the continuous quest for energy savings and therefore cost-reduction, while keeping one eye on the quality of the finished product.

Beer brewing is a highly energy-dependent process. The majority of thermal energy is consumed in the brewhouse, the place where the raw materials of beer are converted into wort. First barley malt is milled and added to warm water (mashing-in), after which this mash is subjected to a highly regulated temperature program in order to activate specific enzymes, which will degrade the malt into fermentable substrates. Proteases are activated at 55°C, while β- and α-amylases will be activated at 63°C and 72°C, respectively. This enzymatic activity leads to the solubilisation of glucose, maltose, maltotriose, co-factors, proteins and amino acids. After the mashing process the temperature is raised to 78°C in order to inactivate the enzymes, before the mash is transferred to the lauter tun. During filtration the water-soluble substances (the wort extract) are separated from the spent grains and these spent grains will be washed with hot water until a maximum efficiency of extraction is reached. The resulting sweet wort is then heated to boiling temperature in the boiling kettle and hops are added. After approximately one hour of boiling, the wort is transferred to a whirlpool, where solid particles (hop rests and coagulated proteins) are separated from the bitter wort. Finally, the wort will be cooled down through a plate heat exchanger, oxygenated and transported to the fermentation cellar, where yeast is added to start the fermentation.

(more…)

Tagged with: Brewing Technology, David De Schutter, Processing

When are chocolates really finished?

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Julia Strassburg, Nestle Research Center, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, Gottfried Ziegleder, Fraunhofer Institut Verfahrenstechnik und Verpackung and Steve Beckett, Nestle R&D Centre York

Unfinished crystallisation in freshly produced chocolates is one of the major reasons for fat bloom, especially for filled products. Chocolate shells, if insufficiently crystallised, show reduced resistance to oil-migration of fillings. The influence of two production parameters, cooling tunnel time and storage temperature, on the finished state of chocolates is investigated. It is found that the crystallisation in the chocolates is not finished when the products leave the cooling tunnel.

Many confectioners believe the production process of chocolate and confectionery products to be completed once a good temper has been achieved and a product with a shiny gloss and hard finish has been produced. However, this is not the case; many changes continue to occur during the post cooling tunnel time. Seven to twelve minutes in a controlled, low temperature are sufficient to give the majority of the cocoa butter an opportunity to crystallise, but significant liquid fat still remains. A common misconception is that keeping the chocolate at the lowest temperature possible accelerates the crystallisation of the remaining liquid cocoa butter. On the contrary, warmer temperatures in fact support crystallisation – cold temperatures actually decrease diffusion. Diffusion is the basic principle of transport for liquid cocoa butter throughout the already partially solidified chocolate. If diffusion is not possible, the molecules align themselves rather than move. Therefore, just as much attention must be paid to the confectionery after the tunnel as before (Seguine, 1995).

(more…)

Tagged with: Fraunhofer Institut Verfahrenstechnik und Verpackung, Gottfried Ziegleder, Julia Strassburg, Nestle Research Center, Processing, Steve Beckett

Reinforcing innovation clusters in the European food industr­y

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Bert Vermeire, Xavier Gellynck, Ghent University and Joep Koene, Development Agency East Netherlands NV

Until recently, the food industry was considered to be a traditional industrial sector with a low capacity for innovation, mainly due to the ‘basic’ character of food products. However, the globalisation of the food market in addition to changing consumer preferences profoundly affects the food sector. Nowadays, innovation is put forward as the main instrument to generate added value and to stay competitive within the fast evolving global food market. Innovation also plays a central role in European policy, put forward in the Lisbon Agenda (2000) setting the objective of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, with innovation as the key instrument.

(more…)

Tagged with: Bert Vermeire, Development Agency East Netherlands NV, Ghent University, Joep Koene, Xavier Gellynck

Monitoring the shelf life of dairy products

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Nicoletta Sinelli, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Milano

The evaluation of shelf life of perishable foods is a key aspect of modern production and distribution. Food ‘freshness’ is one of the most required attributes by consumers and is strongly influenced by storage conditions – temperature abuse being one of the main factors affecting the shelf life (Labuza, 1982; Singh, 1994).

Fresh dairy products are ‘living’ products that continue to ripen during marketing, with a shift in chemical and sensory properties. An important commercial goal for soft and un-ripened dairy products is to keep them fresh i.e. to maintain some peculiar sensory characteristics such as a white and ‘brilliant’ colour, creamy visual texture and spreadability, milky aroma and flavour and low acidity. All these characteristics undergo slight changes during the early phases of the lipolytic and proteolytic processes caused by the natural microflora.

(more…)

Tagged with: Analysis & control, Nicoletta Sinelli, University of Milano

ISO 22000 – around the world

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Jacob Færgemand and Jørn Jensen, Bureau Veritas Certification Denmark A/S

The global food safety standard ISO 22000 was launched in September 2005. Since then the standard has been extended to more than 50 countries around the world, and in this way it is the first global standard of food safety. This article outlines some industry experiences from the first year of the standard.

Food safety hazards may be introduced at any stage of the food chain. ISO 22000 covers it all to encourage harmonisation throughout the chain – on a global level – that minimises the risks.

(more…)

Tagged with: Bureau Veritas Certification Denmark A/S, Jacob Færgemand, Jørn Jensen

Solubility of carbon dioxide in meat

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Marianne Jakobsen, Department of Food Science, Food Chemistry, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark

Marianne Jakobsen, Department of Food Science, Food Chemistry, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is widely used for the packaging of meat. In MAP, carbon dioxide (CO2) is primarily used due to its ability to inhibit the growth of a wide range of microorganisms (Farber 1991) and thereby extend the storage life of fresh meat. When high CO2 levels are applied, the concentration of CO2 in package headspace will decline during the first days of storage due to absorption of CO2 in the meat. CO2 dissolves in both muscle and fat tissue (Gill 1988), until saturation or equilibrium is reached.

(more…)

Tagged with: Marianne Jakobsen, QA/QC, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Titration

Measuring meat colour

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Bruce W. Moss, Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, Northern Ireland

When fresh food is purchased it may be possible to obtain a small sample for tasting, for example, cheese at a dairy counter. In the majority of cases, however, the only indicator of final eating quality is the appearance of the food. Consumers have associations based on previous experience, for example red apples tend to be soft textured and sweet whereas green apples tend to be crisp and sour. The consumer may also be aware of blemishes or other marks which give an indication of freshness. If the food supplier could obtain an indicator of quality from appearance this would be highly desirable.

(more…)

Tagged with: Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute, Analysis & control, Bruce W. Moss, Colour Analysis

Global harmonisation of food regulations

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Huub Lelieveld, Larry Keener and Christine Boisrobert

Scientists have decided that the time has come to put an end to disparities in food regulations between countries. There is no reason why food safety should be different depending on where a person lives. The following article provides an explanation on the why and – most importantly – the how.

During a meeting between a number of food scientists at the occasion of the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), representatives of the International Division of IFT and of the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) discussed the adverse consequences of the differences in food laws and regulations between countries. On the one hand almost a billion people suffer malnutrition or hunger, while at the same time in the same world, governments presume to protect their populations by destroying huge amounts of food they deem unsafe. When a food is indeed unfit for consumption, this is an acceptable and necessary response. However, food is also sometimes destroyed because it contains or might contain minute amounts, e.g. parts per billion and even on occasion parts per trillion, of certain chemicals. Regulations may require the total absence of certain chemicals, the so-called ‘zero-tolerance’ requirement. While in the 16th century it was already well-known that “All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy” (Paracelsus, before 1541), scientific data show that very many ‘toxic’ substances are essential for the human body to survive. Examples include vitamins and metals such as iron, selenium and molybdenum. Here, precisely is the crux of the matter. What is a safe food and what is food safety? The literature on the subject has exploded in the past decade, however, if one were pressed to positing a universally accepted definition of food safety, one would find this an exceedingly difficult if not impossible challenge. Simply stated, judging food safety is judging acceptability of risks; a normative, qualitative, or frequently a political activity.

(more…)

Tagged with: Christine Boisrobert, Huub Lelieveld, Larry Keener

Conveyors unite

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Olaf Heide, EHEDG Conveyors subgroup member

On June 21 2006 the new European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG) subgroup ‘Conveyors’ was chartered in Amsterdam. The initial meeting was led by Jacques Kastelein, EHEDG Executive Committee member and chairman of the Equipment and Components group. Team members are delegates from different companies which are each involved with some aspect of designing machines, systems, components or cleaning issues for food processing equipment and conveyors.

(more…)

Tagged with: Conveyors, EHEDG, Olaf Heide, Processing

A prime example

Issue 4 2006 / 6 November 2006 / Graeme Jardine, Microbiology Laboratory Manager, RHM Group Ltd

Technological advances in the field of food microbiology are a common occurrence. A great deal of research and validation is put into improving established methodologies and utilising new rapid approaches to isolation and detection. However, established ‘conventional testing’ is still the main stay of most food microbiology laboratories with the age old traditions of putting samples on petri dishes. RHM Technology is one of a small number of UK labs that have employed a high-tech approach to this area of testing, in order to bring improved service level and cost benefit.

(more…)

Tagged with: Analysis & control, Graeme Jardine, Microbiology, QA/QC, RHM Group Ltd