Food and Beverage Manufacturing Top Stories
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Endress+Hauser's iTHERM line of temperature sensors

Tech Update

Controlling temperature from farm to fork protects product quality, brand name

Wayne Labs, Senior Contributing Technical Editor

July 16, 2020

Temperature is that one measurement that’s dictated by governmental regulations to prove that you have a kill step in your process. Beyond that, there are rules for keeping fresh food under a certain temperature to keep it safe both in transit and storage, and—just as important—maintain its quality so you don’t have to throw it out prematurely.

Food quality plans help meet demand, maintain quality certifications

Sharon Spielman

July 15, 2020

Consumers expect their food to be safe, and there are methodologies to ensure that it is. Quality is a bit of a different story, but it's just as important when it comes to consumer expectations.

Supply chains

Food fraud is not only an economic drain but also a supply chain safety concern

Sharon Spielman

July 14, 2020

Guarding against food fraud in the supply chain can be a costly, resource-intensive effort—but the potential effects of not catching it can be disastrous.

Discussing energy management with an ABB engineer

Digitalization

Finding a digital strategy to manage electrical consumption at sugar plants

Not only do sugar plants consume a huge amount of power, their carbon footprint is generally not so enviable

Wayne Labs

July 10, 2020

No question about it, sugar plants consume vast amounts of electricity, and with a lot of aging equipment, there’s no doubt that several motors and the mechanical systems they drive are probably consuming more power than they should—due to worn bearings and a general lack of maintenance. In many instances, motors are probably not using variable speed drives, and large inrush currents place a big demand on electrical utilities.

Automation

Modularity brings flexibility in automating production lines

It also affords processors the ability to experiment with changes in batches or creating entirely new products, often with simply re-configuring lines.

Wayne Labs

July 9, 2020

Today, consumers expect to choose from a wide choice of brands and products—not just from the “center” of the store, but fresh and organic products from the periphery of the store. Sometimes new products are short lived and are designed to be that way—because consumers’ choices turn on a dime. Automation can help processors turn products around faster by increasing production.

Inspection Systems

Some pointers on choosing metal detection systems to keep food safe from adulteration

While meeting FDA, SQF, CFIA and BRC requirements is important, regulatory agencies are no longer judge and jury in this world of social media

Wayne Labs

July 6, 2020

In the engineering world, it has often been said that you can’t inspect quality into a product. Rather, you design and build quality into a product and then inspect to make sure you are delivering what you promise.

Fabulous Food Plants

Clif Bar’s visual bakery project has the company ahead of the game

Casey Laughman

June 30, 2020

Clif Bar's Twin Falls bakery was named Food Engineering’s Sustainable Plant of the Year in 2017. The Indianapolis bakery has a different—although equally successful—story to tell.

Green Plant Design

Diageo aims to go carbon-free with new whiskey distillery

Gray is partnering with the spirits industry giant on the project using electrified boilers

Rose Shilling

June 29, 2020

Diageo will try to make its new Bulleit whiskey distillery in Kentucky carbon neutral, electrifying the boilers with renewable power as a step toward the company’s climate change goals.

COVID-19

Humidity Control: Conquering frost during pandemic production levels

Dan Dettmers

June 24, 2020

Humidity control may be the last thing on your mind right now if you’re running a food processing facility, trying to execute a rapid buildout to meet increased consumer demands. But, as you race to adjust production lines, “dust off” old processing equipment and ultimately ramp up how much food you’re making and storing, dialing in your humidity control will eliminate a handful of costly issues that slow down production.

IT systems and COVID-19

Quality management software supplier updates IT system just in time for COVID-19

When a series of power outages caused systemic IT failure, moving to the cloud provided a solution and let the staff work from home or anywhere

Wayne Labs

June 23, 2020

While it’s often been said that the shoemaker has no shoes for his own children, sometimes a similar thing can happen with a software company. Only in this case, InfinityQS, a supplier of data-driven enterprise quality management software, had an aging on-premises IT system, all crammed in together in the traditional “server room.”

On Demand Kelley Rodriguez, Editor in Chief of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods, will be joined in this 60-minute webinar by industry experts to help unpack the latest research.

On Demand Driven by climate goals, business risk, client interest, and resilience considerations, food and beverage companies are increasingly turning their attention to decarbonizing their production processes.