Processing - Articles and news items

What changes occur in chocolate during conching?

Issue 1 2006, Past issues / 9 March 2006 / Mike Gray, Manufacturing Support Advisor, Nestle Product Technology Centre

Chocolate conching is not a precisely defined process and there are still elements of skill in producing a good flavoursome chocolate with the right viscosity for making sweets.

This article is an introduction to what goes on in the conche and demonstrates how complex a process conching is. A conche, so named because early versions were similar in shape to the seashell, is a mixer specifically designed for making chocolate.

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Troubleshooting chocolate problems

Issue 1 2006, Past issues / 9 March 2006 / Eric Schmoyer, R&D Laboratory Manager, R.M. Palmer

Determining the cause of line problems and correcting them without creating excessive down time can be a trying experience. This article will cover some of the more common problems found in chocolate and coating production of hollow, solid, one shot, and enrobed items from pre-molding considerations to demolding of finished product.

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Innovative packaging for UHT

Issue 4 2005, Past issues / 21 November 2005 / Paulo Bonometti, Technical Director, Centrale del Latte di Brescia Spa

In the field of food packaging it is particularly important to guarantee correct preservation of the product. This means that the food product, during its shelf life and prior to consumption, must retain its nutritional properties and organoleptic characteristics.

Also, consumers prefer practical packaging. When considering liquid food, for example juice and milk, consumers favour a light pack with a large opening so that the product pours easily without splashing. Methods that enable the package to be re-sealed when a product is not to be consumed at once are also preferred.

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Pasta: strength and structure

Issue 3 2005, Past issues / 29 July 2005 / Martin G. Scanlon, Nancy M. Edwards and Jim E. Dexter

Every year, in various educational institutions across the globe, students compete to design and build bridges made from spaghetti strands. In most competitions, the winner is that student team whose bridge can sustain the highest load (Johns Hopkins, 2005). Clearly some elaborate design work goes into the creation of these food engineering masterpieces (Figure 1).

However, bridge building is not the only use for pasta! Many nutritious and appetising dishes can be made from various pasta structures, such as spaghetti, lasagna, gnocchetti, manicotti, capellini, fettuccine, etc. For all pasta products, the preferred primary ingredient is semolina – coarse flour made from durum wheat. Pasta can be made from common wheat (bread-making and confectionery wheat), but is perceived as inferior to durum wheat pasta and, in some countries, legislation prohibits the addition of common wheat ingredients beyond a specified small percentage in pasta. Durum wheat was originally cultivated in the Mediterranean where, today, semolina is also used for the manufacture of specialty breads and products such as couscous, bulgar and frekeh. In recent years the proportion of durum wheat used for bread-making has been increasing.

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Adding to the mix

Issue 3 2005, Past issues / 29 July 2005 / Bogdan Dobraszczyk, Senior Research Fellow, School of Food Biosciences, University of Reading

Various ingredients have long been known to have a beneficial effect on baked loaf volume and texture. Ingredients such as fats and lipids, surfactants, oxidants and enzymes are frequently added to bread formulations to give improved product quality by giving better tolerance during processing; improving texture and volume; increasing shelf life or by minimising the natural variability in quality and the effects of different types of milling amongst different wheat flours. Combinations of these ingredients are sold to the baking industry as bread improvers.

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Cleaner greener production at Tayto Ireland

Issue 3 2005, Past issues / 29 July 2005 / John Donnelly, Technical Director, Tayto Limited

Tayto, Ireland’s leading snack food company, participated in a scheme led by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the impact of manufacturing companies on the environment. Tayto improved environmental performance and reduced manufacturing costs as a result of success with a number of projects.

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The evolution of ice cream technology

Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 3 May 2005 / Sabina Burmester, Andrew Russell and Deryck Cebula, Ice Cream Global Technology Centre, Unilever R&D Colworth, U.K.

The process used for commercial ice cream manufacture has changed little in the past 75 years – since the first continuous scraped surface freezer was introduced in the 1930s. In recent years, however, several key technological developments have taken place in the way ice cream is manufactured and these are finding increasing industrial use.

These advances have been largely driven by ‘consumer’ factors such as the desire for healthy products (low fat, low calorie or additive-free), which retain the excellent eating quality associated with ice cream, as well as the continuous need for product innovation to facilitate new interest and differentiation in the market place. In this article, the traditional method of ice cream manufacture is outlined and some of the most significant of the recent process innovations are described.

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Prolonged shelf life of MAP fish

Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 3 May 2005 / Anlaug Ådland Hansen, Dept. of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences and Thomas Eie, Dept. Of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Matforsk AS, Norwegian Food Research Institute, Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) of fish extends the shelf life of high quality products at low temperatures by inhibiting bacterial growth, oxidative reactions and unwanted components such as TMA (trimethylamine). CO2 is the most important gas used in MAP because of its negative effect on bacterial growth.

An initial alteration of the gaseous environment surrounding the product, modified from its initial condition, is defined as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) (Brody, 1989). Different forms of MAP have been used for several decades (Coyne, 1933) and MAP fish is now a popular product in many markets making fresh skinned and boned fishfillets convenient for consumers.

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Understanding the needs, meeting the challenge

Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 3 May 2005 / Mandy Drabwell, Commissioning Editor, New Food

Pressure from consumers has forced manufacturers to take greater care and be even more accountable for their products. This requires assurance at every level of the supply chain and particularly within the factory. Mandy Drabwell investigates how food grade lubricant manufacturers are playing their part in meeting the challenge.

All food and beverage processing equipment requires lubrication in order to work reliably and effectively and should be designed in such a way that contamination of food product by lubricants is kept to an absolute minimum. However, while equipment suppliers make every effort to prevent such contamination, incidental contact can occur – especially when maintenance is carried out or when technical failures occur. It is essential, in the event of such circumstances, that the lubricant will not impart taste or odour, or cause harm when consumed. This can only be ensured through the use of food grade lubricants.

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Global listing program

Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 31 January 2005 / Kenji Yano, Ph. D., Business Unit Manager, Nonfood Compounds Registration Program, NSF International

With increased interest from food manufacturers to apply sanitary equipment design principles to their processes, many food processing equip- ment manufacturers now design and construct equipment with food safety in mind.

Some of these considerations include the following:

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Microbiological standards in cocoa bean processing

Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 31 January 2005 / Andrew Snelson, Site Microbiologist, Cadbury Trebor Bassett

In a food processing environment, microbiology is an essential focus to ensure the safety of the end food product. In this article Andrew Snelson explains the processes that ensure microbiological safety during cocoa bean processing.

Cocoa butter and cocoa liquor are extracted from the seed of the Theobroma cocoa tree. Cocoa trees begin to bear fruit when they are 3-4 years old when, unusually, pink and white flowers (and then pods) grow straight out of the trunk and main branches of the tree. Flowers are present throughout the year but appear in abundance before the rain begins. Only a small proportion of all the flowers develop into fruit during a period of about five months and each tree will yield between 20 and 30 pods. In West Africa the peak time for harvesting is between September and December – and in this period, the crop from one tree will produce 450 grams of chocolate. Owing to the fact that cocoa trees grow well in humid tropical climates with regular rains, in a short dry season most of the world’s cocoa is grown in a narrow belt ten degrees either side of the equator. The main producers of cocoa are West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast), South America (Brazil and Equador) and Asia (Malaysia and Indonesia).

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Conveying the truth

Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 31 January 2005 / Tim Lloyd, New Food

Conveyor belts are the arteries of all food processing sites. They support products from a raw material stage to final packaging and endure all the processes in between. They must be able to work safely and effectively with all manner of different product characteristics, from viscous ingredients to raw meats. But how do conveyor belt manufacturers match the fast-paced development of food products, with belts that are up to the task? And what changes do they foresee for tomorrow’s manufacturing environment? New Food met with six leading conveyor belt manufacturers to find out.

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Effects of packaging on dairy products

Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 31 January 2005 / Grith Mortensen, Torben L. Friis and Henrik Skou Pedersen, Arla Foods, Innovation Center Brabrand, Denmark

Many food producers underestimate the effects of packaging on quality deterioration. In order to preserve product quality, it is of paramount importance to thoroughly understand and focus on the interactions taking place between the packaging and the product. It is only by applying this knowledge to tailor packaging to individual product types that producers will secure, or even boost, their cutting edge positions.

At present, choices of packaging materials and methods are primarily based on practical experience and/or empirical methods. However, it is crucial to commercial viability to focus R&D activity on interactions between packaging, the surrounding headspace and the product. Different foods call for different packaging concepts, hence in-depth knowledge is required about the most important quality changes taking place in the various products, in order to individually tailor the packaging solutions. Figure 1 reviews how packaging and storage can affect product quality. Due to the dynamic interplay between product, packaging and its surroundings, it is vitally important to incorporate both packaging and product expertise from the beginning of the R&D process.

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