A controlled atmosphere packaging system (CAPS) ostensibly was the what's-new element in the Ecolean Group booth at Cologne, Germany's Anuga FoodTec show in April, though for many West European liquid food and beverage processors, the company's entire line is new. Ecolean entered the commercial packaging market seven years ago, beginning in Russia and China and expanding westward into eastern and central Europe. Food companies in Spain, the UK and elsewhere are beginning to use the packaging system.
Koelnmesse's triennial Anuga FoodTec show in Cologne, Germany, spotlights Europe's latest equipment innovations. Among the technologies taking a bow in March was Shaka, the trade name for a reciprocating retort process that significantly reduces processing and cool-down times, particularly for high-viscous foods. Rapid agitation turns the container into a heat exchanger, evening out thermal distribution to the contents. In a comparison to static retort, vegetable soup in a #10 can was sterilized and cooled in 18 minutes instead of 7 hours.
Now is the time of year when Food Engineering begins to evaluate what our readers will want to read in the next 8 to 16 months. In fact, our publishing company was founded on this principle: helping people succeed in business with superior information.
A shiny shrink sleeve delivers shelf appeal for a new polypropylene soup cup from Huhtamaki Oyj, but the engineering underneath the sleeve is what appeals to European food manufacturers.
Creativity and brainstorming are synonymous with innovation in many people's minds. Engineers and manufacturing professionals have a different view: innovation is linked with risk, and minimizing the effects of risk is the key to successful innovation.
The connection between food companies and NASCAR usually only goes as deep as a decal on a car. A notable exception a few years ago was General Mills Inc.'s work with a Winston Cup pit crew to help improve line changeovers. The Minneapolis-based food company sent a team to work with a pit crew to gain insights into how they might improve changeover performance in their own plants.
Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) is a worldwide organization whose members provide more than $1 billion annually in integrated control and information systems service, translating the promise of technology into performance on the plant floor for companies in all the major manufacturing sectors.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues in the food and beverage industry for finally bringing to market a group of products I have been requesting for more than a decade: single-serve packs of food & beverage, the latest of which are the popular 100-calorie packs.
In today's world of food and beverage manufacturing, more product variations, more packaging changes equal more profit-or at least that's what manufacturers and processors hope. The market is moving rapidly from a supply driven to an increasingly regulated demand- and service-driven market.
Have you ever ordered a meal or purchased a food product and not been satisfied with it? Did you make your feelings known? As a member of the food industry, I certainly hope you did. Food processors establish customer service departments for just that reason.
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