Food and Beverage Manufacturing Top Stories

Temperature Monitoring and Control

Make the move from analog to digital temperature measurements

Plan temperature measurement strategies with business needs and future upgrades in mind

Wayne Labs, Senior Contributing Technical Editor

July 20, 2020

Moving from an all-analog means of keeping track of process and storage temperatures can provide numerous benefits—for example, getting more robust measurements with higher stability, reliability and accuracy. In addition, you get better diagnostic information from the sensors themselves, and this information—coupled with temperature and other process variables—can help you get a better grip on your process and on maintenance, too.

Pandemic is changing layout and design of food plants

Rose Shilling

July 20, 2020

Processors and builders trying to slow the spread of COVID-19 and prepare for future potential contagions are rethinking many aspects of plant design.

Engineering R&D

Separate fats, oils and grease at your facility

Device generates saleable biofuel and water clean enough to go to the local POTW

Wayne Labs

July 17, 2020

Downey Ridge Environmental Co., developer of Greasezilla, has come up with a FOG separation system that can be implemented at food plants. I asked Ron Crosier, president of Downey Ridge, to fill us in on who might use Greasezilla and how it works.

Endress+Hauser's iTHERM line of temperature sensors

Tech Update

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

Wayne Labs

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.