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Industry News

Food Engineering exclusive: Gray acquires Anderson Dahlen

Purchase of equipment manufacturer expands Gray’s array of products and services

Wayne Labs, Senior Contributing Technical Editor

September 14, 2020

Gray, a global leader in engineering, design, construction, and automation, has purchased Anderson Dahlen, a major manufacturer and fabricator of specialty and stainless steel equipment for the food and beverage, pharma, and vacuum technology industries.

Brandon Ellis, owner and president of elliTek at his shop

Securing OT/IT networks

Keeping machines, OT networks and IT safe from cyberattacks

Sometimes all you need is a knowledgeable system integrator or machine builder who’s “been there—done that,” when it comes to securing networks from cyberattacks

Wayne Labs

September 11, 2020

Even when you think you've taken all precautions on cybersecurity, there's always a "gotcha."

Meat Industry Hall of Fame announces Class of 2020

September 10, 2020

Induction of the new Meat Industry Hall of Fame members will take place in January 2021 in a virtual format.

Food Safety

Peaches in salmonella recall reached 14 other countries

Major grocery chains across U.S. already pulled bagged and loose peaches supplied by Wawona

Rose Shilling

August 31, 2020

Peaches recalled across the U.S. for potential salmonella contamination went to 14 other countries.

Cybersecurity and OT

Industrial control systems risk shutdowns and other dangerous outcomes due to cybersecurity attacks

No doubt a ransomware or malware attack can shut down enterprise business systems, but cybersecurity attacks can do a lot more damage on manufacturing systems

Wayne Labs

August 31, 2020

Of late, several companies have taken hits on their worldwide IT and Web based systems. Perhaps the most recent, Canon, suffered a global ransomware attack, taking down many Canon websites and systems - also with a threat of making their private business data public. But can these IT/enterprise attacks threaten and/or damage OT systems? And what can they do to food and beverage products? Make them unsafe by altering a critical kill step or omitting preservatives? What else? I asked Barak Pereleman, VP of OT Security at Tenable, what attack vectors may pose danger to OT-based systems.

Food Safety

Milk allergy alert: Frito-Lay recalls chip bags filled with wrong flavor

Incorrect chips inside barbecue packages may contain milk ingredients that aren’t noted on labels

Rose Shilling

August 25, 2020

Frito-Lay recalled a variety of sizes of Lay’s Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips because the bags were filled with another flavor of chips that contain milk, an allergen for some people.

Food Safety

FDA looks for source of salmonella that sickened people who ate Aldi peaches

Aldi recalls potentially contaminated peaches from Wawona Packing Co.

Rose Shilling

August 21, 2020

Peaches sold in plastic bags at Aldi likely made about 70 people sick from salmonella, an outbreak spanning nine states, the FDA says.

Cleaning Technologies Group partners with Unitech Washing Systems to serve U.S. food/beverage customers

Sharon Spielman

August 19, 2020

Cleaning Technologies Group, LLC (CTG) has partnered with U.K.-based Unitech Washing Systems Ltd. to distribute specialty washers to the United States for the food and beverage industry.

Packaging and Supply Chains

Food processors cope with supply chains, pandemic and changing customer needs

PMMI’s Jorge Izquierdo, vice president of market development, sheds light on the state of industry trends including automation, OEE, omnichannel and blockchain

Wayne Labs

August 10, 2020

Food packaging (and consumer goods packaging in general) are seeing some stiff demands. While PMMI is predicting that the global food packaging market in itself will reach $400 billion by 2025, with a CAGR nearly 5%, there are some real challenges to overcome, both in packaging and the supply chain. For example, processors struggle to keep up with new customer demands, while product and packaging changeovers occur frequently to meet consumer needs. In addition, OSHA has been cracking down on unsafe machines, and the need to clean is more important than ever.

Food Safety

Avoid these prepared foods with onions recalled in salmonella outbreak

Expanded warnings issued against variety of salads and fresh packaged items at Giant Eagle, Kroger, Walmart

Rose Shilling

August 6, 2020

Recalls and health alerts about onions likely linked to a salmonella outbreak are expanding to include various fresh salads, snack packs and diced vegetables.