Unitherm Unveils Test Kitchen
By Isaac Fletcher, contributing writer, Food Online
European manufacturer of food processing solutions has debuted a test kitchen, enabling manufacturers and processors to view and test new technologies
A provider of thermal cooking, pasteurization, and chilling/freezing solutions, Unitherm Food Systems has equipped a test kitchen in the Dutch city of Maastricht with cutting edge thermal technology. Conveniently located near two major European capital cities — 55 minutes from Dusseldorf and Cologne, Germany — the test kitchen is an easy day-trip for food processors seeking productivity and/or quality improvements.
The test kitchen was set up with the goal of addressing the common concerns of European food processors: product yields, boosted labor and energy efficiency, food safety, and diversity of consumer preferences. Firms seeking possible answers to these concerns can visit the test kitchen to experience Unitherm’s latest technology for cooking proteins, vegetables, and baking products. Bartosz Psiuch, director of food processing equipment distributor Alimp of Mysłowice, Poland says, “The facility creates a highly promising opportunity for large and small processors to try out systems that have never been seen before in Europe, and can enable them to better service their markets, whether ready-to-eat, food services, or institutional.”
The equipment in the test kitchen is set up in an inline configuration that demonstrates how the continuous systems function together as a whole. Some food processing system demonstrations include: smoking and browning, small-footprint spiral ovens, continuous pasteurization, and grilling of vegetables. Guest companies that visit the kitchen are able to test their own products in the facility to understand how the equipment performs and determine how it can make their production processes more efficient before any financial investment is made.
One visitor to the facility test-cooked approximately 1,100 pounds of chicken wings using one of Unitherm’s spiral ovens. Cooking chicken wings with a traditional “batch” method could take up to 50 minutes per batch due to the tedious nature of loading individual trays. Using a continuous cooking line, however, can cut that time down to around 20 minutes for the same yield, a dramatic improvement in productivity and labor costs. In another case, the facility demonstrated its infrared inline smoking and browning process. Francisco Sierra, a Unitherm spokesman, says, “This will be a breakthrough to European companies that use a traditional process for smoking ham. We can literally say, ‘What is taking you five hours, you can now do in 60 seconds,’ through inline smoking and browning.”
David Howard, CEO of Unitherm, explains that the kitchen has been set up to provide processors with the opportunity to view thermal cooking technologies in a convenient way so that food manufacturers may gain hands-on experience and see how the equipment could possibly improve their productivity, quality, and cost-saving. Howard also stresses that this is the future of food processing machinery — a future where the consumer can actually try the equipment prior to purchase and feel confident about their decision to make an investment.