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Processing - Articles and news items
Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 4 September 2007 / Stefan Toepfl and Volker Heinz, German Institute of Food Technology (DIL)
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.
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Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 4 September 2007 / Phillip Tong, Dairy Products Technology Center, California Polytechnic State University
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. Nicolas Appert, in the early 1800’s, discovered that milk could be reduced to a third of its volume by evaporation. Later, Gail Borden developed a process for condensing milk by using a partial vacuum to remove moisture from milk and result in a much better flavoured product than by boiling at atmospheric pressure. Because of the perishable nature of milk products, work in the 19th century and subsequently during World War II continued to focus on preservation of this valuable food source. As a result drum drying and spray drying were developed and used extensively for production of milk powders.
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Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 4 September 2007 / Jim Crilly, Vice President Research & Development, Unilever Ice Cream Category
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.
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Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 4 September 2007 / Julian Stocker, H J Heinz Co. Ltd.
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.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 23 May 2007 / Dr. Raymond Oliver F.R. Eng., F.I.Chem.E, Director of Science and Innovation at Cenamps
‘Nano’ or small-scale technologies are an exciting area of science involving work at the nano scale; far smaller than micro-scale technology and impossible to view with the human eye. No-one yet knows the extent to which nanotechnology could transform our world, but it is generally acknowledged that the technology could be applied across a wide range of industries, and benefit quality of life. Raymond Oliver, Director of Science and Innovation at Cenamps – a centre of excellence in nano and small scale technologies, and a technical advisor to the Food Standards Agency, speculates as to how nanotechnology could transform the future of food packaging.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 23 May 2007 / M. Verschueren, J. Straatsma, M. Schutyser, C. Akkerman, P. de Jong, NIZO food research, Ede, the Netherlands
Spray drying is an essential unit operation for the manufacture of many products with specific powder properties. It is characterised by atomisation of a solution or suspension into droplets, followed by subsequent drying of these droplets by evaporation of water or other solvents. Spray drying is used for the manufacture of many consumer and industrial products such as instant food products, laundry detergents, pharmaceuticals, ceramics and agrochemicals. The best known example of an instant food product is milk powder, but instant beverages such as coffee can also be produced by spray drying.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 23 May 2007 / Eddy Stempfel, Shell Aseol AG
The food industry differs substantially from other industries in its demands for lubricants, with the emphasis not simply being on technical performance. A great deal of attention is also given to issues such as cleanliness, health, safety and preventing contamination.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 23 May 2007 / Dr Mary Moon, Bel-Ray Company, Inc
Needs unique to the food processing industry have motivated the development of food grade lubricants.1-4 These lubricants are formulated to minimise risks associated with unavoidable occasional trace contamination in food and beverages. Well-defined regulations specify standards for food grade lubricants in certain nations.1,5 A new international standard for food processing hygiene will stimulate more widespread regulation and use of these products throughout the world.6
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 23 May 2007 / NF
In the past decade technology has provided an essential function and played an important role in the moulding and development of dairy ingredients.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 23 May 2007 / Peter Wareing, Leatherhead Food International
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.
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Issue 1 2007, Past issues / 7 March 2007 / J. Broeze, R.G.M. van der Sman, H.M. Vollebregt and R.W. van den Berg, Agrotechnology and Food Sciences Group, Wageningen UR
Control of product quality and process yields in innovative food production processes can be largely improved through better understanding of the relations between process design and product quality. The effects of intensive heating processes such as frying, baking, roasting and microwave on product quality are still poorly understood. Currently, when designing new food processing lines, empirical knowledge of the effects of various process types on product quality is leading. With upcoming ‘new’ heating methods, more fundamental insight is essential.
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Issue 1 2007, Past issues / 7 March 2007 / Graham G Stewart, Professor of Brewing, The International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
During the past few decades, process optimisation and increased efficiencies have become priorities for many brewing companies worldwide. High gravity brewing is one method to achieve these objectives.
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Issue 1 2007, Past issues / 7 March 2007 / NF
Recent moves away from using partially hydrogenated fats (owing to their trans fatty acid content) have had a major impact on the use of compound coatings in confectionery products. Historically, these have fallen into two main types:
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Issue 4 2006, Past issues / 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.
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Issue 4 2006, Past issues / 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).
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