Food Material Handling White Papers & Articles

11. Automation Essential To Sustainable Success 4/28/2017

    Continued advances in automation and robotics are making the global food manufacturing and processing industries safer, more efficient and able to deliver higher profits. By Steven Van Geel, Sales Director China at TOMRA Sorting Food

12. Food Irradiation Technologies: Principles, Commercial Advantages, And Limitations 12/15/2016

    Food irradiation has proven to be a safe and effective non-thermal process for enhancing food safety and extending shelf life of a wide variety of foods. Nearly 50 countries have approved or allow food irradiation, although the foods and doses can differ by country. Gamma irradiation technology was patented more than a century ago (in 1906) and has been one of the first non-thermal technologies thoroughly tested, validated, and adopted by medical and food industry over the past 60 years. Despite this, there is a lot of misunderstanding and concerns associated with the consumer acceptance, transport, storage, occupational hazards, and disposal of radiation sources.

13. Weighing In On F&B Industry Checkweighers 11/29/2016

    Food inspection systems using state-of-the-art technologies are most successful when they are designed with many support methods and principles. I’ve written articles on how this is true with metal detection technology, X-Ray inspection machines, and vision inspection systems. This article will explore checkweighing systems, how they add support to food safety methods and principles, and the benefits implementing them can provide food manufacturers.

     

14. Ingredient Optimization Unlocks Profitability & Savings 11/3/2016

    In an effort to ensure F&B products meet the required product label claims, manufacturers often overuse expensive raw materials. This results in higher costs and reduced margins. However, measuring and tracking key ingredient contents and using precision formulation can reduce giveaway of expensive raw materials while ensuring accurate product contents. The results: savings are directly linked to your bottom line.

15. FSMA's Sanitary Transportation Rule: Compliance Guidelines For Shippers & Brokers 10/27/2016

    In spring 2016, the FDA released its long-awaited Final Rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food (the Rule). The regulation, which constitutes one of seven final rules implementing FSMA, was closely watched by many throughout the industry — and for good reason. Based on the earlier proposed version of the Rule, many commentators feared the Rule, in its final form, would be an inflexible regulation with the potential to impact the very way that food transporters operate — and not always in ways that made sense.

16. Under Pressure: Novel Technologies Are Preserving Food & Extending Shelf Life 10/24/2016

    The key advantages of elevated pressures present an attractive and powerful tool to implement processing of food products and beverages at mild and ambient temperatures. However, many food processors don’t necessarily know that different types of pressure specifications and applications may lead to different microbial inactivation effects. In addition to well-known pressure homogenization and hydrostatic pressure processing, there are a few other pressure-based techniques that can be used for different categories of products in food preservation operations. Do you want to pasteurize or sterilize? Do you simply want to extend shelf life? What about added value? Here’s what you need to know about food preservation under elevated pressures.

17. Managing Profitability When Raising Your Prices Is Not An Option 7/29/2016

    From the merging of grocers to the decreasing options of food distribution channels, industry consolidation puts downward pricing pressure on food manufacturers. The recent trend has been consistent and shows no sign of slowing down. When faced with decreasing profits due to pricing pressure, it’s common for food processors to turn to internal costs and processes looking for efficiencies that may restore lost margins.

18. FSMA's Sanitary Transportation Rule: Compliance Guidelines And Avoiding Criminal Liability 7/28/2016

    FSMA has ushered in new rules governing virtually all aspects of food handling. While we may be aware of the rules for safe handling in our fields and processing facilities, what about the rules for safely handling food in in our trucks?  There are new rules governing the safe transportation of food and, like other FSMA rules, ignorance of the rules is no excuse. What you don’t know can hurt you, in the form of criminal penalties.

19. How Laser And Optical Sorting Are Crossing Out Contamination 6/28/2016

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 600 million people — almost 10 percent of the global population — fall ill after eating contaminated food. With safety regulations and global demand for food on the rise, optical and sensor-based sorting has become a necessity rather than a luxury for many producers who have previously relied upon manual sorting and inspection.

20. FSMA's Final Sanitary Transportation Rule Provides Greater Flexibility 5/23/2016

    With the publication of the Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food rule, the food industry now has six of the seven foundational rules that establish a modern, risk-based framework for food safety. When compared with the original proposed rule, this final rule is flexible and takes into account the transportation industry’s existing best practices that prevent food safety risks. Taking into account comments from approximately 240 submissions from individuals, some of the major revisions address efforts to protect food from contamination during transportation.