Wayne Labs has more than 30 years of editorial experience in industrial automation. He served as senior technical editor for I&CS/Control Solutions magazine for 18 years where he covered software, control system hardware and sensors/transmitters. Labs ran his own consulting business and contributed feature articles to Electronic Design, Control, Control Design, Industrial Networking and Food Engineering magazines. Before joining Food Engineering, he served as a senior technical editor for Omega Engineering Inc. Labs also worked in wireless systems and served as a field engineer for GE’s Mobile Communications Division and as a systems engineer for Bucks County Emergency Services. In addition to writing technical feature articles, Wayne covers FE’s Engineering R&D section.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo and French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) propose a system design that even small producer stakeholders can use—FE interviews the lead researcher
Even in the U.S. an exhaustive track and trace system, which is available to all participants—including small producers and farms—and additional members in the supply chain, right up to the consumer, has been elusive. The FDA, in its recent proposed rule, "Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods," is a good starting point in defining what kind of data needs to be kept and where new data should originate, but it doesn't get to specifics in implementation.
Unfortunately for chocolate lovers, the richer the chocolate, often the heavier dose of cadmium—and a difficult challenge for farmers to decrease naturally occurring Cd levels
We all know that too much cadmium (Cd) in our bodies is just as dangerous as lead. Both are heavy metals, and while specific limits have been put on lead exposure (both in the air and orally), cadmium isn’t quite as well documented—at least in the U.S. The EPA places maximum allowable levels of cadmium in our drinking water as 5 parts per billion (ppb) with a goal of 0 ppb, but FDA has not set limits on safe levels of cadmium in food except to say that toddlers and infants should have no exposure at all.
Flexco CEO Richard A. White recently announced the appointment of three new business leaders, as well as new reporting structures designed to promote better alignment of programs and activities to bring highly-valued solutions to its customers more efficiently and quickly.
The cryptography working group within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards organization has chosen the Endress+Hauser-developed CPace protocol as a recommended method for use in internet standards.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has launched a public consultation to seek feedback on the proposed guidelines for simulated meat and simulated poultry products. The consultation opened for a 30-day period from November 3, 2020 and closes on December 3, 2020.
While not every pumping application in the food and beverage industry may equate in value to critical process points in a petroleum refinery, failure of a key pump, however, can still have a catastrophic impact on production. And, probably for many facilities, pumps may not be top of mind for most managers. However, pumps handling water recirculation in aquaculture facilities, maintaining flow in CIP systems, bringing in fresh water for use as an ingredient or handling wastewater can represent a critical stop to production should they break down.
Today, two major factors are driving the packaging industry towards greater sustainability: prospective legislation and consumer demand. Though there is little participation in the U.S. in plastic recycling (estimated under 10%), the green packaging market registered a value of $237.74 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow to 313.93 billion by 2025, according to research from Mordor Intelligence.