Intercontinental Brands (ICB) produces 20 million bottles every year at its Middlesbrough plant.. Shipping to countries worldwide, the company’s first aim was to establish a single version of the truth by ripping out and replacing a number of disparate, aging systems. Its investment in software applications has given it room to grow, and dispensing its spreadsheets and filing cabinets for good.
Using IFS Applications™, Globus has gone from a bespoke, manual legacy system to a sensitive automated planning tool. All business areas are now fully integrated, providing enhanced inventory control as well as service delivery capacity. The result is significant savings in time, resources and costs.
Tulip, one of Denmark’s leading producers of processed food for the domestic and export market, produces around 90 tons of sausages each day. A large proportion of these – about 60 tons a day – is packaged under a modified atmosphere of carbon dioxide and nitrogen to keep the product fresh and improve its shelf life. This case study shows how the company improved its efficiency by installing a Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) system.
Bye-bye manual testing: Replaced by new on-line gas analyzer. This case study examines how a meat processing company made the switch from manually and randomly testing of its packages five times each day to an on-line headspace analyzer for its Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) products.
In 2004, Mariscos Linamar, a Spanish seafood company, began to investigate the innovative idea of packaging a proportion of its product in a modified atmosphere, with the aim to extend the product shelf life and improve its appearance. Years of research followed. After extensive research and trials, the optimal gas mixture, comprising oxygen and carbon dioxide blended in a ratio that depends on the product and the format of the package, had been decided upon as well as the best packaging approach. This case study illustrates the process the company used to implement Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) with thermosealed trays.
Hellenic Quality Foods (HQF) is a leading food company in Greece, packaged its products on trays with stretch film until early 2014. This case study shows how the company made the move to Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) to improve its products shelf and extend its customer reach.
There are many aspects of resource allocation to consider when developing a food safety management system (FSMS) for a business and there are efficiencies to be gained in almost every area of an FSMS. Technology and software can provide your team with the tools to monitor production targets and deviations in real-time and more efficiently than visual inspection.
To understand why food and flavor trends are born, or step into the spotlight in any given year, it is important to understand their surrounding couriers and influencers. A courier acts to shuttle a trend in from a neighboring focus, while an influencer can be seen as an ally to a trend. For the coming year, I have examined food and beverage drivers for patterns.
Many stakeholders - raw ingredient suppliers, nutrition labeling software vendors, graphics design and packaging companies, food manufacturers, and private label brand owners - are involved in implementing the new nutrition label requirements. For a successful implementation, it is imperative these stakeholders develop a comprehensive knowledge of the new requirements.
Product information transparency is top of mind among consumers. A recent survey from Label Insights reveals a whopping 94 percent of respondents are likely to be loyal to a brand offering complete product information. This confirms what many in the food industry have known to be true: consumer culture is driving forward an important revolution in the way brands communicate to their customers.
The food manufacturing and processing industry has changed since I began my career 35 years ago, but the persistent problem of food waste has remained a constant challenge. The statistics are quite staggering. According to the USDA, an estimated 12.7 billion pounds of meat, poultry and fish are thrown out by consumers each year. Even before food can reach consumers, an estimated 2.7 billion pounds of meat, poultry and fish — valued at $8.8 billion, or about 5 percent of all such inventory — are thrown out by retailers each year. Food waste is an intimidating challenge and one that processors, retailers, and consumers all play a part in tackling.
What makes coffee great? As with most food products, we “experience” them using a combination of aroma and taste. Fresh coffee is great coffee! That being said, “aromas” are good and “odors” are bad. You want to keep the aromas in and the odors out… so how can you ensure this happens? Aroma & Flavor testing can make all the difference in ensuring a great product with the best possible aroma and flavor!
VeriPac systems can be easily integrated into the packaging process to improve quality, reduce waste, and provide operators with a clear understanding of package quality. VeriPac test systems are non-destructive, non-subjective and require no sample preparation. Test fixtures are designed to inspect flexible and rigid packaging. Tests can be performed in any sequence and even repeatedly on a single sample. VeriPac’s inspection method is more reliable, cost effective and efficient than destructive methods, plus it eliminates subjective, misleading results that vary from operator to operator.
Umbra manufactures bag filling and sealing machinery for all sorts of dry products in the food, pharmaceutical, chemical, and agricultural industries. A single Umbra packaging machine can fill bags from 2lbs to 55lbs with a variety of pouch materials and closure techniques, providing an extremely versatile solution to customers looking for high flexibility. Umbra specializes in the filling and sealing of dry pet food and pet care products, providing a full range of equipment from basic filling and sealing machines to fully automated lines, including multi-head weighers, case loading systems, palletizing and stretch wrapping systems. Umbra's expertise in the design and development of fill technologies allows for filling of powdery and granular products, as well as longer and stickier products that tend to bunch or bridge in the filling chutes.
Umbra Packaging specializes in the filling and sealing of dry, powdered dairy products, providing a full range of equipment from basic filling and sealing machines to fully automated lines, including palletizing and stretch wrapping systems. Umbra’s expertise in the design and development of fill technologies allows for filling of powdery products, granular products, as well as dusty products. Special features for these applications include dust suppression and minimal dust generation, de-aeration and bag compaction for ultra clean handling, filling, and sealing of fine powders.
For more than one hundred years, Waldner has provided extraordinary high performance machinery for filling and sealing ready meals into cups, trays, pouches and portion packs. Waldner DOSOMAT Rotary and Inline systems offer solutions for low output filling and high productivity, high-volume filling and sealing applications.
WALDNER Filling and Sealing Equipment offers a full line of high performance solutions for cups, trays, portion packs and pre-made pouches. DOSOMAT “ultra clean” filling systems are available in both rotary and inline configurations for hot fill, semi-aseptic, MAP and retort applications. WALDNER also offers the latest sterilization technologies for packaging materials. All machines are complete wash-down (rated IP-65), CIP capable, and have USDA / 3A dairy environment construction. Applications include yogurt, cheeses, butter/margarine, pudding, spreads, and many other dairy based products. Sales, service and support provided by Waldner North America.
Waldner’s High Speed Pouch Filling Machine made its debut in January 2010 at the Waldner factory in Wangen, Germany. Customers visited Waldner to see high speed pouch filling in action.
Chelsea Milling Co., maker of Jiffy Mix baking mixes, is moving ahead with plans to spend $35 million as part of an expansion that includes the addition of a new mixing tower, according to an article in The Ann Arbor News.
This podcast features Steve Smith, processing specialist at Purdue University, addresses aseptic processing and packaging. Smith runs Purdue’s Science Pilot Plant Laboratory, which runs tests for the food industry in the areas of aseptic and traditional thermal processing. Aseptic processing is a thermal processing method that allows food products to be commercially sterilized separately from the food packaging material. Smith offers overview of recent advancements in aseptic processing, such as particulate validation, hold tube flow control laminar or turbulent flow, pumping methods, heat exchangers, non-thermal processing and aseptic dosing.
In this podcast, Scott Reed, VP of sales, marketing and customer service with Adco Manufacturing, addresses automation and robotics in secondary packaging. Major reasons for the rapid growth of robotics in packaging include the fact that the automation has become less expensive and offers increased precision, speed and flexibility. Reed also discusses how cartons and cases play a role in the protection of food products, while helping to build product brands.
Rick Gessler, marketing director of Delkor Systems, updates the industry on developments in retail-ready packaging (RRP). It’s a matter of getting products from shipping configuration onto the retail shelf in an attractive display. Designing RRP incorporates many factors, depending on market channel, protection in transit and ease of stocking and shopping. Growth in the use of stand-up pouches is providing an impetus for further development of RRP, and equipment advances are speeding the packaging process.
Primary Food and Beverage Packaging serves several functions. Physical protection of the product from vibration, compression, and temperature is one function. Packaging offers Barrier Protection from things like oxygen, water, dust, etc. Some packages contain desiccants or oxygen absorbers to help keep contents fresh, safe, and extend shelf life. Packaging also allows for Containment or Agglomeration, which means packaging small items typically grouped together such as liquids, powders, and granular materials. Packages and labels also provide Information Transmission, helping users obtain information on opening, use, recycle, or disposal of the packaging or product. Packaging materials also provide space for Marketing Messages. Tamper resistance packaging helps maintain product Security. Innovations in packaging also add to Customer Convenience and Portion Control.
Primary packaging is the term used to define the layer of packaging in immediate contact with the product. The most obvious and important function of primary packaging is to keep the product absolutely sealed off from its environment. Primary packaging is designed to protect and preserve the product from damage, external contamination, spoiling and chemical imbalances.
Examples of primary packaging include blister packs, strip packs, clamshell packaging, shrink wrapping, paperboard packaging, unit dose packs, stand-up pouches, glass bottles and jars, gable-top cartons, aluminum trays, metal bottles, and more. Primary packaging materials include metal, cardboard, glass, ridged plastics, which include high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and jars.
A critical component in food and beverage packaging is Aseptic packaging. Aseptic packaging is the process by which a sterile food or beverage product is packaged in a sterile container in a way to maintain the sterility. Aseptic packaging allows food and beverages to be stored for long periods of time without preservatives, as long as the packages aren't opened.
