Food Mar 2021

MARCH 2021

MARCH 2021

Why SPC’s CEO Robert Giles is optimistic about the company’s future

PLUS: Specialty Beverages | Taking advantage of master data | Exports

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R

obert Giles is a man on a mission.

Having being given the task of helming of one of Australia’s most well-known brands almost 18 months ago, the CEO of SPC knew he was in for a challenge. For a company that was sold for $850 million, only to be on-sold 14 years later for $50 million, you didn’t have to be a chartered accountant to work out that the brand was in trouble.

Hard work and good luck often intertwine, and so was the case for SPC. The good luck started when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the amount of food production from all quarters ramped up. This saw sales of core products such as spaghetti and baked beans soar by 100 per cent. The hard work starts now as the company rebrands and starts to piggy-back on the success of its recent sales.

Confidence is in high supply too, as the company is in expansion mode and recently purchased diversified brands, such as Pomlife and Kuisine. Now it is just a matter of building on the momentum that has been created. Giles has every right to be proud of where the company has come over the past two years. There was a time when it looked like its cannery might close down, and it would become a shell of its former self. Now, with a little TLC, a determined board, and a workforce that has brought into the idea that the now Australian-owned entity is back in the game, Giles believes it won’t be long before the company is a $1 billion enterprise.

Also in this issue, we talk to GS1 about master data, which provides essential information

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4 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

to a range of stakeholders in the food and beverage space. The thing about master data, is that GS1 – as well as other stakeholders – believes it has been underutilised and it is time to unlock its full potential. In an era where discerning consumers no longer take the word of the manufacturer about the provenance of ingredients – or even the make-up of the ingredients in a product – it is important to get the information right. This is for several reasons. Not even going into how some lessthen-reputable suppliers don’t tell the full truth about where their products are sourced, it also helps all those involved in the food industry make the right decisions about everything for ingredients to the supply chain. Unfortunately, there is no standardised way of presenting master data. GS1’s Andrew Steele gives us the upshot of why this should change.

Finally, this month, our feature is on specialty beverages. It was a feature that the Food & Beverage Industry News team first put together last year, and it’s interesting to see how much interest in the sector has grown. There seems to be a distillery or brewery popping up, just not in the main cities and their surrounding suburbs, but throughout regional Australia, too.

It is an eclectic community that pulls together when times are tough, and in the feature we have gathered together an array of companies that offer up a bevy of services and products that will help the industry grow.

Have a great month.

CONTENTS INSIDE

6 NEWS

14

16 MEET THE MANUFACTURER

SPC is ready to take on all comers as it shakes off its past and looks for new markets.

18 CONSUMER

Making the most of your master data.

20 SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

20

An overview of some of the latest products and services that help this expanding industry keep on the go.

32 WASTEWATER

How a complicated wastewater problem was solved.

34 EXPORTS

AusTrade’s advice on exporting to Asia.

36 NEW TECHNOLOGY

SICK’s Trispector1000 has an impact on production lines.

38 SENSORS

28

36

Getting the level of chocolate holding tanks right.

40 COOKING EQUIPMENT

Gold Peg spreads its wings into the batch cooking market.

42 LUBRICATION

The Alemlube central lubrication system is highlighted.

44

44 AIP

Thinking new about packaging design.

46 AFCCC

The humble thermometer and how to use it correctly.

48 AFGC 49 NEW PRODUCTS

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 5

NEWS

Australia’s largest PET recycling plant under construction C onstruction is underway on a recycling facility in AlburyWodonga that will see the equivalent of around 1 billion PET plastic bottles recycled each year.

Environment Minister and Federal Member for Farrer, the Hon. Sussan Ley, marked the official start of construction by turning the first sod on-site at the project, which is being delivered in a joint venture between Asahi Beverages, Pact Group Holdings and Cleanaway Waste Management.

The $45 million plant – in the Nexus Precinct 10km outside the Albury CBD in NSW – is set to be operational by October, two months earlier than expected owing to Albury Council approving the project ahead of schedule. The facility will trade as Circular Plastics Australia PET. Excavation of the site has already started, sheds to house more than a dozen diggers have been eerected and dozens of jobs will be created as

State Member for Albury Justin Clancy, Asahi Beverage CEO Robert Iervasi, Cleanaway CEO Vik Bansal, Federal Environment Minister and Federal Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley, Pact CEO Sanjay Dayal and Albury Mayor Kevin Mack. construction ramps up.

The raw plastic material that the new plant will recycle each year is equivalent to 1 billion 600 ml PET plastic bottles and will be used to produce more than 20,000 tonnes of new recycled PET bottles and food packaging, making it the largest end-to-end rPet plant in Australia. It will increase the amount of locally

sourced and recycled PET produced in Australia by two thirds – from around 30,000 tonnes currently to over 50,000 tonnes per annum according to Pact Group.

The plant will also reduce Australia’s reliance on virgin plastic and the amount of recycled plastic Australia imports. Solar energy will power part of the facility.

The project was made possible with the assistance of almost $5 million from the Environmental Trust as part of the NSW Government’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative funded from the waste levy, with the support of the Department of Regional NSW and the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund.

“Asahi Beverages is excited to be partnering with Pact and Cleanaway to make this investment and create more jobs for the Albury-Wodonga region,” Asahi Beverage’s Group CEO, Robert Iervasi, said.

“This will be a world-class facility that helps transform Australia’s recycling capacity and the AlburyWodonga region should be proud of its contribution to manufacturing and recycling in Australia.

“Along with our beverage manufacturing plant in Albury, the new plant is part of our long-term commitment to the region.”

Putting bugs on the menu, safely T he thought of eating insects is stomach turning for many, but new Edith Cowan University ECU research is shedding light on allergy causing proteins that could pose serious health risks for those suffering from shellfish allergy.

The research, published in the journal Food Chemistry, identified 20 proteins found in cricket food products that could cause serious allergic reactions in some people. The project was led by Professor Michelle Colgrave from ECU’s School of Science and the CSIRO. Colgrave said crickets and other insects could be the key to feeding for the estimated 9.7 billion people on Earth in 2050.

“More than 2 billion people around the world already eat insects on a daily basis and they could be a sustainable solution, providing protein that complements traditional animalbased protein sources,” she said.

“Crickets are high in protein, nutrient dense and considered environmentally

friendly. Numerous studies have shown eating insects provide benefits to gut health, lowering blood pressure while being high in antioxidants.”

Insects might have a strong reaction While insects show promise as an alternative protein source, and are identified by Agrifutures as a high potential emerging industry, their allergenic properties are a concern. As the world searches for novel and more sustainable forms of food, consideration must also be paid to those with allergenic properties and that is where Colgrave’s research fits in.

“This research showed a significant overlap in allergenic proteins found in cricket food products and those found in shellfish like crabs and prawns,” she said.

“That’s because crickets, mealworms and other insects are closely related to crustaceans. Shellfish allergies

6 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

More than 2 billion people eat insects as part of their everyday diet. affect up to three per cent of people globally, but varies according to age and region, and there’s a good chance that people allergic to shellfish will also react to insects.”

Being an allergen does not prevent insects being used as a food source. However, it does mean that insect-based foods need to be tested and labelled correctly to ensure people with allergies don’t unwittingly eat them.

Breaking down the bugs The research team from ECU, CSIRO, James Cook University and Singapore’s Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) compared proteins from whole crickets, roasted whole crickets and roasted cricket powder products to known allergens.

Their results can now be used to detect cricket-derived allergens in food products that can support allergen labelling and safe food manufacture.

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NEWS

Global Lifetime Achievement Award for AIP stalwart T he Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP) education coordinator, Ralph Moyle FAIP, CPP, has been recognised as the only international Lifetime Achievement in Packaging Awardee for the 2021 WorldStar Packaging Awards.

The judges, from all over the world, elected Moyle as the sole 2021 WPO Lifetime Achievement in Packaging Awardee.

“Being recognised with a WPO Lifetime Achievement Award is such an honour for me. I have been very fortunate to have been able to

share my expertise with others and expand training into various parts of Australasia. We have been able to take our knowledge and expertise in Sustainable Packaging Design to Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and New Zealand and I hope to continue this work in a post COVID world. These programs have brought together people from all professions within the packaging industry for a common goal of knowledge sharing and learning,” Moyle said.

“I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank the AIP education team for their fantastic

support for all of the training, seminars and workshops that I run across Australasia. In this role I have met thousands of peoples over the years and I learn as much from them as they do from me.”

Moyle continues to mentor students and team members and is always there to help. In his spare time he is the education coordinator for the Diploma in Packaging technology and Certificate in Packaging courses and is responsible for over 30 students at any one time. Since Moyle took over this role, the student graduation rate has been higher.

Ralph Moyle has mentored many students.

Smart move by Nestlé sees them with world first N estlé has announced that its Smarties brand is now using recyclable paper packaging for its confectionery products worldwide.

This represents a transition of 90 per cent of the Smarties range, as 10 per cent was previously already packed in recyclable paper packaging. Smarties is

the first global confectionery brand to switch to recyclable paper packaging, removing approximately 250 million plastic packs sold globally every year.

“Shifting Smarties packaging to recyclable paper is one of our key sustainable packaging initiatives in the confectionery category. It is a further

step in realising Nestlé’s ambition to make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and to reduce its use of virgin plastics by one third in the same period,” Alexander von Maillot, global head of confectionery at Nestlé, said.

The new Smarties paper packaging Smarties confectionary is getting new paper packaging.

8 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

is sourced sustainably and is made of a coated paper, paper labels or carton board. Information about how to properly dispose of Smarties paper packaging is also included on its labels to raise consumer awareness.

“Developing safe and convenient paper-based solutions for Smarties has required the pioneering of new materials and testing by Nestlé packaging experts at our R&D Center for confectionery in York, UK and the Swiss-based Institute of Packaging Sciences. We adapted our existing manufacturing lines to allow for the careful handling that is required for paper, while also ensuring recyclability across all new formats,” said Louise Barrett, head of the Nestlé Confectionery Product Technology Centre in York.

Nestlé invested to upgrade its factories globally, including in Hamburg, Germany, one of the company’s largest factories for confectionery products.

The transformation of the Smarties packaging is only one of the brands’ “SMART Initiatives”, which aim to support sustainability and enhance the overall product experience.

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NEWS

Victorian company looks to patent popcorn flour I

Popcorn flour is gluten-free and is said to have high levels of antioxidants.

t has been a tough year for some small businesses, yet there is one North Eastern Victorian business has been making strides. Putting the many ups and downs of 2020 behind it, Glenrowan-based business King Valley Popcorn is preparing to secure an international patent for an invention that could change the gluten-free world forever; popcorn flour.

A subspecies of corn noted for its health benefits, popcorn is said to offer three times the levels of antioxidants than fruit and vegetables and is also gluten free.

“No one really understands what popcorn is, they think it’s just a snack food or a junk food. It’s actually a whole grain, and the healthiest of all the whole grains,” said Sharyn Carlesso, owner of King Valley Popcorn.

Looking at what many see as movie food in a different light, Carlesso began experimenting with popcorn in an attempt to make an effective gluten-free

flour alternative.

“I thought, ‘why is it not treated like a whole grain?’ and I wondered whether you could make a cake out of it,” she said.

A healthy, gluten-free flour that acts like regular flour, popcorn flour could be popular with gluten-free people everywhere, as it contain no additives, in comparison to other gluten-free products, which often contain xanthan gums or guar gums. After some tweaking, Carlesso was able to produce a flour that makes light, fluffy and moist cakes, something many glutenfree flours aren’t capable of.

The Rural City of Wangaratta commends the team at King Valley Popcorn for their creativity and innovation during what has been a difficult time for many small businesses in the community.

“It is fantastic to see so many of our wonderful local businesses making strides and leading the way

Soulfresh appoints CMO S oulfresh has appointed Michael Davies as chief marketing officer, tasked with crafting and spearheading Soulfresh’s international growth as it continues to make inroads into food markets across ANZ and Europe.

Davies joins Soulfresh from Mars, where he held roles as marketing director UK, then director of Mars Wrigley M&A and Ventures based out of Chicago. Davies’s global perspective and brand building experience will be instrumental as Soulfresh continue a path of Global expansion throughout Europe and Asia Pacific.

Davies is relocating to Melbourne to take up the role stating.

“Soulfresh’s incredible success is being fuelled by great brands that are genuinely changing the way consumers eat and drink for the better,” he said.

“Soulfresh is not a company, it’s a movement and the opportunity to join such a talented and inspiring group of people is very exciting.”

Soulfresh is a force for positive change in consumer-packaged goods, with a vision and drive to change the way people eat and drink for the better.

The Soulfresh portfolio features brands such as Lo Bros Kombucha, Nutty Bruce Plant Milk, Wildly

Michael Davies is the new CMO for Soulfresh.

10 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

Good and Pico, all featuring a heavy focus on sustainability and a lighter environmental footprint.

Currently recruiting more than 50 new roles across all key functions, Soulfresh is making major investments in people to support their rapid growth in the Australian, New Zealand, and

in innovative food production,” said Janine Rolles, economic development and tourism coordinator for the Rural City of Wangaratta. “When life gives you lemons, why not try and create your very own flour?”

Available in store and on the company website, King Valley Popcorn has successfully made cakes, pancakes, slices, biscuits, brownies, puddings and pasta out of the popcorn flour, proving the product’s potential as an across-theboard flour alternative for gluten-free consumers.

Despite some setbacks in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, King Valley Popcorn are slowly building a network of stockists throughout regional Victoria and metro Melbourne, as well as expanding their online store.

With the patent pending, Carlesso is hopeful she can turn her small business in regional Victoria into an international exporter.

UK markets.

Befitting their fresh approach, Soulfresh have shaken things up with an open recruitment policy, encouraging outstanding and likeminded talent with FMCG experience to come forward and present themselves, even if a role doesn’t exist.

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NEWS

Australian soup market to reach $588 million mark by 2024 T he Australian soups sector is projected to grow from $509.9 million in 2019 to $588 m in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.9 per cent, according to data analytics company GlobalData.

GlobalData’s report, Australia Soups – Market Assessment and Forecasts to 2024, reveals that the sector is driven by the frozen soup category, which is forecast to register the fastest value CAGR of 6.3 per cent during 2019-2024. The category is followed by UHT soup, which is expected to record a CAGR of 5.7 per cent during the next five years.

“The Australian soups sector is being driven by the rising disposable incomes and busy consumers who seek convenient yet healthy products to match their fast-paced lifestyles.

Additionally, young consumers with experiential palates are driving innovation in the sector,” said Sanchi Agarwal, consumer analyst at GlobalData.

Hypermarkets and supermarkets was the leading distribution channel in the Australian soups sector in 2019. It was followed by convenience stores and e-retailers.

Consumers with disposable incomes are driving the soup sector.

In volume terms, the share of Australia in the global soups sector is expected to decrease from 1.5 per cent in 2019 to 1.4 per cent in 2024. Similarly, the country’s share at the regional level is expected to decrease from 17.1 per cent in 2019 to 15.6 per cent in 2024.

Unilever, Campbells Soup Company and The Kraft Heinz Co were the top three companies in the Australian soups sector.

Continental and Campbells were the leading brands in value terms in 2019.

Australian consumers are becoming

increasingly health conscious and are paying attention to their diets as well as ingredients in their food products.

This is encouraging the manufacturers to launch ‘better-for-you’ products with healthier ingredients and ‘freefrom’ claims to appeal to these consumers,” said Agarwal.

The Arnott’s Group buys majority share in Diver Foods T he Arnott’s Group has signed an agreement to acquire cereal and snacks business Diver Foods as part of plans to launch a new business division, Good Food Partners.

While the Group’s portfolio is famous for its iconic biscuits, soups and juices, the acquisition is part of a growth strategy that involves entering new products categories.

Under the agreement, The Arnott’s Group will acquire 75 per cent of Diver Foods. The purchase is expected to complete later this month. Chris Diver, the current owner and managing director of Diver Foods, will continue

to own 25 per cent of the business.

The acquisition complements The Arnott’s Group’s purchase of the cereal and snacks operations of Freedom Foods, which was agreed in December and is expected to complete in March.

“The Arnott’s Group has become the custodian of a 150 plus year legacy of Australian food manufacturing and we have made no secret of our desire to build on that legacy by expanding our operations locally,” The Arnott’s Group CEO George Zoghbi said.

“Diver Foods presents a fantastic strategic growth opportunity for us,

12 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

with products and capability that will complement our existing brands while helping to diversify our iconic product portfolio and drive our entry into new categories.

“Our intention is to create a new cereal and snacks division that will bring the Diver Foods and Freedom Foods businesses together when the transactions are complete. We are currently working closely with Chris on how best to integrate their operations into The Arnott’s Group family and look forward to sharing more detail about these exciting plans when they are finalised,” said Zoghbi.

“Over the past 18 years, Diver Foods has successfully partnered with an array of leading brands and retailers to become one of Australia’s largest cereal and snacking manufacturers,” Diver said.

“We see huge potential for the future and are excited at the prospect of joining with a business like The Arnott’s Group that has similar values and strong Australian heritage.

Together, we will remain focused on quality, local ingredients, investing in sustainable supply chains and partnering with the communities in which we operate.

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MEET THE MANUFACTURER

SPC CEO Robert Giles believes that SPC will soon be a billion dollar company.

Bright future for iconic brand SPC is back after many years in the wilderness. Mike Wheeler talks to CEO Robert Giles about how the company is set to make a big splash not only in the domestic market, but overseas, too.

S

even years ago SPC was in trouble. It was losing money hand over fist as it bled market share, asked for bailout money from both the federal and Victorian governments, and had other issues with some customers.

It was a long way down for a company that could rightfully call itself an iconic brand of not only Victoria, but Australia. Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) bought the company for $840 million in 2005, only to sell it for a mere $50 m 14 years later to Shepperton Partners Collective, which is a joint venture between

Perma Funds Management and The Eights, a private equity firm.

CCA had also spent $250 m on infrastructure.

Fast-forward 18 months, not only is current CEO Robert Giles excited about the company’s progress, but he is confident that it will become a $1 billion venture in the near future.

It would be true to say that he is cautiously optimistic – cautious because, well, why wouldn’t you be after the company’s history of the past two decades; and optimistic because of the drive, determination, and consumer reaction to the

14 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

company’s products – not just domestically but internationally, too.

After 20 plus years at Simplot, Giles joined SPC as sales manager as it was going through its transition phase. He was instrumental in readying the company for sale with its eventual buyers. Once that goal was achieved, he put his hand up for the top job, and was duly given it, which is when the real work began.

“The past 12-18 months has been a learning experience for everybody,” he said. “We had challenges like everybody had to live through, like working from

home, keeping the factory safe and operating in Shepperton, while keeping everybody engaged in their home offices. I think as a business, we really pulled together. We had the added benefit and challenge of getting people back to the products they knew and love, our brand – they were consuming at home. We saw a massive drive towards our products, which is a great problem to have, and one our staff handled very well.”

COVID-19 has been both a help and hindrance. As with many food and beverage manufacturers, churning out product has been key

MEET THE MANUFACTURER

to keep up with demand, which is good for the business in terms of the financial bottom line, however that put pressure on the supply chain and farmers.

“Every time there was an outbreak, our baked beans and spaghetti flew off the shelf. Then there was our fruit produce. In March, our fruit was coming off the trees and tomatoes were coming off the vines, demand was huge.

You can’t ask the farmers for more, because they’ve only got what they’ve got. You have to make the best of what is coming in,” said Giles. “With our tomato range, we made the decision in March to produce diced tomatoes only. We had to put back our whole-peeled ranges because there just wasn’t the product available. Our supply chain has continued to hold up well, but it is about prioritisation.”

It’s also good to have understanding retailers, who themselves have had issues with supply, and had to bend the rules on occasion when it came to what was being stocked in their shelves.

“We have worked really closely with the retailers, so I can only praise them in terms of the way they

SPC has worked hard with retailers to keep the supply chain going through COVID-19. approached us,” said Giles. “By allowing us to go to a tighter range – sometimes out of necessity because we ran out of packaging in the supply chain – they were understanding.

For example, we had our four-pack of baked beans and spaghetti – 220g – but we couldn’t get the overlaps in

time, so we went to single cans. The retailers allowed that to happen even though they lost the efficiency of having a four pack.

“Another example was SPC going to diced tomatoes instead of the full range. Not only could we get more product happening we could

get it out faster. That allowed us to simplify the range and try and keep product on the shelf. By May, we had caught back up and we worked to get back to the range of all the normal flavours back out on the shelf.”

A key to the success, according to Giles, has been the ability for the

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MEET THE MANUFACTURER

SPC is all about better food for the future, said Giles. company to rebrand and to let go of some of the negative aspects of the past, but also having the ability to build on its 103-year history because he knew that Australians have an affinity with SPC. “SPC itself has got a fantastic heritage – it is one of these brands that gets peoples’ attention and one Australian consumers feel really attached to,” he said. “But it has also had this overlying view that it is struggling with some asking ‘will they close the cannery?’ We thought it was really important to signal to everybody, including our staff, that there is new ownership, we have a new purpose, and we’re all about better food for the future. We’ve acquired three extra companies in the past 12 months. It tells our stakeholders, and the government, that we are doing great. It emphasises that we have put a line in the sand that SPC has got a purpose behind it now. It is about bringing into the fold those new companies that we have purchased – the Pomlife business, the Kuisine business and just recently Helping Humans beverage business.”

And it seems to be paying off.

Sales around March/April 2020 were up 100 per cent. Since then, SPC has had about 20 per cent growth over

the previous year and as it went into November/December it saw a lot of its SKUs run out of stock on shelf, especially apricots and peaches.

Cynics might argue that COVID-19 helped in that regard, but Giles also knows it’s about momentum, putting great products out there, and being able to capitalise on the amount of SPC product being consumed. It helps that, both from a domestic and international angle, SPC products are manufactured locally.

“We have noticed a real shift in people wanting to know where their food products are manufactured.

I think that because we are now 100 per cent Australian owned, we’ll see some ongoing interest in our products,” he said. “A big part of our strategy is to take our products into the South-East Asian, European, Middle Eastern and North African markets. We are focussed on growing those markets. We had meetings for our products to be stocked in Egypt and Bahrain just before COVID-19 and we see this big opportunity to take Australian produce to the world. We also think there is a big opportunity for Australian manufacturers here as well because, while it is true that Australia produces a huge amount of food, it is heavily weighted to the commodity end.”

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And while Giles is upbeat, he does give caution when it comes to the processing and manufacturing of food and beverages in terms of having skilled staff to carry out the tasks. He does point out, that Government is coming to the party.

“On the processing side, Australian manufacturing is continuing to lose skills and investment,” he said. “However, the government is really interested in the sector at the moment. They see post-COVID food manufacturing as one of those platforms that will help with the recovery of the country.

The $1.5 billion grant announcement last year will help. They’ve really been engaged with us to see how they can help.

“On the one hand, yes we need to take a lot of our produce overseas but we still have a lot to do to make sure we have the breadth of processing ability in Australia.

When I was at Simplot I noticed that a lot of the manufacturers were offshoring their facilities to Asia or New Zealand. There has been a lot of offshoring in the processing stage. I think there is a really strong opportunity for us to be more competitive there.

“People cite the high energy costs and high labour costs in Australia, but I don’t think that

is an excuse why we can’t have a very vibrant food industry. One of the benefits of making food in Australia is that people trust our brands and manufacturing. We have

"I think as a business, we really pulled together. We had the added benefit and challenge of getting people back to the products they knew and love, our brand – they were consuming at home. We saw a massive drive towards our products, which is a great problem to have, and one our staff handled very well." a reputation for quality. We’ve got to continue to work hard.”

And just to prove that it is indeed well and truly back, SPC will be taking 40 per cent more tonnage out of this year’s crop from the Goulburn Valley than it took in the previous season.

“That gives you an indication of how much demand is coming down the pipeline. That is an extra 20,000 tonnes of fruit,” said Giles. “One of the biggest growing categories for us is the tomato category. But because of the supply chain and extra demand, the pipeline is empty at the moment. We need to full up our peach, pear and apricot suppliers to counter the extra demand for those categories.”

Yet, due to COVID-19, there could be another issue on the immediate horizon that will

affect supply – lack of pickers.

“Remember last year, we were coming off the end of a drought and it was a big crop anyway,” said Giles.

“Now we have this extra demand that is why we require the new volume.

And we have all our apricots and peaches coming in now, but we now need pickers.

“There is a massive shortage of pickers so there will be a price move in the market. We’re still working through that at the moment. The new pickers the state government just announced are still months away.”

Despite all its current challenges, there is no place Giles would rather be.

“I love the industry,” he said. “I like the ag business and manufacturing in Australia. That is what we do at SPC and it is what I am passionate about.” F

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www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 17

CONSUMER

Quality of information is key for master data to be of use.

How master data can allow retailers to thrive Master data can be the life blood of suppliers and retailers, if only they would use it consistently and correctly. Mike Wheeler explains.

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aster data has been around for a long time, but is something that can be taken for granted if not utilised properly. A recent report by KPMG titled Unlocking the Value of Tomorrow’s Retail stated that master data “defines the attributes of an organisation’s products, customers and suppliers, is and always has been a core component of business operations, providing essential

information, and serving as an enabler of efficiency across many aspects of business”. This is all true.

However, a company’s master data is only as good the information that is being input.

Suppliers to the food and beverage industry are key components in making sure that the information available is correct, to the point and offers consumers/business partners all they need to know about a

Master data is integral for retailers and wholesalers to make sure their products have integrity.

18 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

specific item. This is especially so over the past decade as consumers become more circumspect about not only what ingredients make up a certain product, but where it was manufactured, where the aforementioned ingredients were sourced, and whether there are any potential allergens in the product.

GS1 director of retail, Andrew Steele, knows that quality information is the key, and has been around long enough to know that there was a time when collecting data was not given the attention it deserved. That cannot be the case though in today’s environment with increased regulatory and consumer demands.

“When I was working for a supplier to retail many years ago, there was the Universal Item Submission (UBF) Form which was the standardised master data form that suppliers used for the major supermarket retailers,” he said. “This was where you included such information as the product description, order unit, barcode

number, product dimensions, price etc. The fundamentals of master data have always been there. What has evolved over the years is the channel of how the supplier can share that master data. It has evolved from paper-based forms to be shared via electronic means.

“Today, there are more advanced systems in place, but there is still an underlying issue around data integrity. If your data is not good quality or incorrect, it doesn’t matter how efficient the mechanism is that you have to receive it, incorrect data is going to cause issues for everyone in downstream processes.”

Quality control of products is becoming more important as the number of data fields a supplier provides to retailers has grown significantly, according to Steele. There is no better driver of this data being important than the current COVID-19 situation.

People spent a lot of time online, which offers up a good example of why quality master data is important because consumers are not physically in the store and they

CONSUMER "The fundamentals of master data have always been there. What has evolved over the years is the channel of how the supplier can share that master data. It has evolved from paper based forms to be shared via electronic means." cannot hold the product in their hand and cannot read the product description, nutritional data, allergen declarations, and other relevant product information.

“In the online world, you are relying on that to be on your screen.

That is where if the retailer doesn’t have that accurate, quality data supplied by the supplier it makes it really hard,” Steele said.

Steele sees GS1 having a couple of roles in making sure that master data is kept intact and giving retailers, suppliers and consumers the right information to make informed decisions. They see master data as being complete and standards based.

“The role of GS1, as we see it, to provide open global data standards that can be used by all industry stakeholders. One person might call it a barcode number and somebody

else a product number. You need to bring standardisation to the mainly conventional data fields to make it easier for people to look at. It needs to be consistent.”

Then there are the practical applications of master data and how it is utilised. Ingredients, places of origin and similar information is important, but there is also a whole range of other data that has to be part of the data set – safety issues for example.

“If you don’t get things like a carton’s dimensions correct, and subsequently the pallet Ti Hi configurations and weight, then it can result in OH&S issues,” said Steele.

For Steele, a key takeaway for him is that master data is a fundamental requirement that will feed into and drive online, automation and technology

For help finding the right ingredients for your beverages, contact the Wilmar BioEthanol team.

People are wanting to know more information about what is in the food they buy. processes and solutions.

GS1’s Australia’s National Product Catalogue can be an ideal starting point for a company trying to get its master data on track.

“It’s an electronic catalogue that suppliers can populate their master data, have it validated before it is pushed through to the appropriate retailer,” said Steele. F

1800 819 618 bioethanol@wilmar.com.au www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 19

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

Turn-key solution from company specialising in Green and Brownfield plant installation 3D scanning technology and VR are key components when it comes to Automation Mechatronics installing new plant and machinery. Here’s why.

Starward Whiskey called on the experience of Automation Mechatronics when it needed to upgrade its plant and machinery.

S

tarted by founder Philip McLean in 1985, Automation Mechatronics is a liquid processing and engineering specialist company that believes new technologies mixed with oldfashioned know-how can offer a range of solutions for those who are looking to install new plant and machinery, or upgrade their current factory.

When the company first started it was mainly specialising in electrical automation projects for the likes of Spring Valley Beverages. In the intervening years, McLean realised offering a total turn key solution was the best way ahead, which meant expanding the types of services it offered.

“We now have a multi-disciplinary team including chemical engineers, instrumentation engineers, mechanical engineers, automation engineers, electrical engineers and MES engineers,” he said.

“We can provide clients with everything that they need for liquid processing. This includes the soft drink, brewing, dairy and other related industries.”

One of the company’s key offerings is the ability to do 3D scanning when scoping a job, and using Virtual Reality (VR) goggles that can put its engineers, and clients, right in the space of how the project will look once it is finished.

“We find most of our companies

20 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

that we work with are very open to new technologies,” said McLean. “Using 3D imagery, we create a point cloud from which we create a 3D model that can then be looked at through VR goggles.”

The company’s national business development manager, Jason Jurgens, said that such a practical step not only impresses a new client, but gives the company’s engineers excellent information on how the build can proceed.

“The 3D scanning allows us to scan the existing operation to make sure there is enough clearances to fit in all the new stuff,” he said.

“There’s nothing worse than making a new piece of equipment and then finding you can’t fit it in because there is not enough room due to wrong measurements. VR also allows a client to walk through their new plant and see details such as handrails, manual valves, and things like that.

We eliminate health and safety risks in terms of low ceilings or other obstacles, too.”

Automation Mechatronics has many clients in the specialty beverage space that have utilised the technology the company is providing.

“We did an upgrade for Starward Whiskey in Melbourne in 2020,” said McLean. “They are a boutique distillery where they improved their process to increase volume.

“It was an old factory, and we stripped everything out, scanned it, drew it all up, put in the new gear and used VR goggles to see how it all fitted.”

As well as having offices in Melbourne and Perth, Automation Mechatronics has an international footprint and has helped scope and build several projects overseas. One such project was for Fiji Water, which

is a major exporter of bottled water from the Pacific island, being one of the largest importers of premium spring water into the US. “We took 30 engineers and trades people over there for a three-week shutdown. It was quite a complex job,” said McLean. “We built the filtration plant in Australia and took it over there. We then took out the old and put in the new, which was a difficult job under difficult circumstances.”

Another recent project for Fiji Water during these COVID 19 times was the Clean in Place (CIP) of the spring water bores that are onsite.

Automation Mechatronics 3D-scanned the bore rooms then built the bespoke equipment in Australia for the four different rooms. Due to the pandemic, Automation Mechatronics has no site access for scoping or installation.

“Because of COVID-19 we weren’t able to go over and install it,” said McLean. “We built the equipment in Australia, shipped it over there and we’re undertaking all the software commissioning from Australia. And we are continually supporting them from Australia. We used local trades for the install, however we did all the commissioning remotely. The project started from a 3D scan/modelling and then our trades built the bespoke plant here in Australia for shipping across to Fiji.”

There were lots of complexities.

When there was a large downpour in Fiji – and this time of year in the tropics there is a lot of torrential rain – that rain descends through the soil and contaminated the aquifer. Fiji Water had to pump an enormous volume of spring water through the bore system to clean it so that it can get back on line again. What Automation Mechatronics had been doing was automating the

CIP process to enable Fiji Water to get back on line and reduce spring water usage. Fiji Water got charged a lot per litre by the Fijian government and it was expensive for the company when it utilises enormous amounts of spring water to clean the bores.

“It is a real environmental saving because the torrential rain has contaminants” said Jurgens. “The rain picks up these contaminants and it leaches into the aquifers underground where they draw the water from. They need to get rid of these contaminants before they get into the filtration plant. It was really important to get the facility up and running quickly and efficiently. The system also has a positive environmental impact as it is saving the environment by making sure they use less spring water with each CIP.” Other international work they are involved with include Irish ingredient specialists Kerry. This includes projects in Poland, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, China, the US and the UK. Which brings up another facet to the company’s operations – the ability to scope and help plants remotely. This has been especially important over the past 12 months due to COVID-19.

Besides the mechanical aspect, like welding, piping and tank manufacture, everything else is brought to bear

by McLean and his team, from the scoping through to proprietary software it produces. McLean said one of the things the company prides itself

in is its back-up service and the quality of the products it supplies. And he has noticed that some companies will go for cheaper imports, which in the short term seem an ideal solution, but in the longer term can be costly.

“Sometimes companies will purchase equipment, and only when it comes to the commissioning stage do they realise that it is not going to work,” he said.

“We had a situation where I went overseas to check out a piece of equipment for a client. I advised them not to buy it, but they did so anyway.

They then paid us the best part of $100,000 to bring it up to standard.

“One of the manufacturer’s engineers came out to commission the equipment, three weeks later they sent him home and it still wasn’t operational.

“We rebuilt part of the equipment and rewrote the software and got it working for the client.”

Overall, McLean and his team are positive about the future, despite COVID-19 and its impact on business last year.

“The technology that we use to execute our projects – includes 3D scanning for the initial scope and VR for the final check prior to installation – is top notch,” said McLean. “Take along with that our ability to work remotely due to faster internet connections and upgraded networks, I think we have a lot of offer the food and beverage industry.” F

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www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 21

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

Unique bearing helps solve contamination issues SKF has come up with a solution that not only stops bearings from potentially contaminating production lines, while still offering great performance. Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

Keeping food safe from contamination is a key feature of SKF bearings.

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ood safety is a key ingredient when manufacturing food and beverages. Contamination can occur from many unconsidered sources.

Stringent standards are set by the manufacturers, the industry and government, but even these processes don’t guarantee a contaminate-free product rolling off the production line. It is incumbent on all food and beverage manufacturers and processors to make sure they do all they can to make sure the facilities meet hygiene standards.

One issue, unconsidered by many, which has arisen from bearings is that they can contaminate the production lines, albeit accidentally.

It was a problem that bothered Eva Otel, who is the global marketing and sustainability manager – food and beverage, for Swedish-based bearing specialist SKF. While watching her daughter playing a football match Otel struck up a conversation with a microbiologist HACCP inspector.

One thing led to another and he ended up giving a presentation to the food industry group within SKF, which led Otel to thinking about how bearings

"I formulated this hypothesis of ‘what if bearings can contaminate food?’ I made contact with the hygiene and microbiology department at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE). We set out a project to measure the amount of bacteria, with a focus on listeria." can impact on the hygiene of a food or beverage production line.

“We understood that with highpressure washdowns, bacteria can spread in the air, and I was very surprised by this. Our bearings are so close to the food line – if you have the conveyor, the bearing is very near that,” she said. “I formulated this hypothesis of ‘what if bearings can contaminate food?’ I made contact with the hygiene and microbiology department at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE). We set out a project to measure the amount of bacteria, with a focus on listeria.”

Otel and a few of her team went out to a couple of plants and watched the washdown process, which was thorough. They took some swab tests and bacteria samples before and after washdown. This included in and

22 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

around the bearings as well as inside the bearings. They delivered the samples to the microbiological institute who did a bacteria count.

“It was very surprising,” said Otel.

“In a fish plant they found listeria, which has a mortality rate of 30 per cent for people with lowered immune systems. That is not something anybody wants to find. And, interestingly, the number of bacteria was even higher after washdown in some of the samples.”

What Otel and her team discovered is that while the food zone is washed down hard, open bearings units are not cleaned specifically.

“I can understand why, all the excess grease from re-lubrication of bearings would only make it more difficult,” said Otel.

In addition, cleaning behind the

bearing units is not even possible, especially for units that are flash mounted. During the processing time, there are a lot of liquids entering behind the bearing housings – a surface area that never really dries.

And wherever there is moisture and residue, the area becomes a ripe environment for bacteria to grow.

“We observed other phenomena that explains why the number of bacteria increased even after washdown.

Imagine a conveyor, where there is a gap between the shaft on which the bearing is mounted and the fabric,” said Otel. “When they pressure wash from the other side, you can imagine all those food residues and everything is washed towards the bearing.

It’s really a lot of emphasis on the washdown of the plant, but bearings were not given attention, because you go in a plant, after hygienic cleaning – and I have done this – it looks very clean. So you don’t even think about the bearings that often are hidden behind protecting guards.”

These results were instrumental in bringing about the development of the hygienically designed SKF Food Line ball bearing units. The design of these ball bearing units means the back seal

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

of the bearing housing prevents the migration of food particles or liquid, entering into the bearing from the back of the unit. Another feature of the bearing’s back seal – in combination with the base rubber – is that it seals the shaft access point for flanged units completely. This sealability means that food residues do not come in from behind and you don’t have all the liquid draining behind the bearing housing.

Then there is an end cover that is securely locked to make the unit completely enclosed. The bearing unit has the ability to self-drain leaving no water regardless of its orientation.

This is because all the surfaces are skewed and have a very smooth surface finish.

And not only that. SKF would not be SKF if not striving for continuously improved performance of its products. In food and beverage, securing the reliability of the bearings – despite the harsh equipment washdowns – is the key for the uptime of the equipment that does all the hard yards; the filling lines, conveyor belts and packing machines.

A young Italian product development manager, Fabio Falaschi, came up with the solution. It was one thing to create a bearing that is fully enclosed, but another to figure out

how to stop cleaning media entering the bearing cavity, which sooner or later emulsifies the grease inside and is often the root cause of failures.

“Traditionally, designers put more lips on the bearing seals for extra protection against high-pressure washdowns, but this still isn’t effective in time, considering the re-greasing to purge maintenance practices. What Fabio said was, ‘why are we trying to fight what we cannot fight?’,” said Otel. “He said, let’s work with the cleaning fluids and not against it. He saw a rain gutter and he got a concept, which also encompassed using gravity.”

“Just like a rain gutter can collect water why not collect cleaning media and allow it to exit securely?” said Falaschi. “There is an upper lip on the casing that stops most of the cleaning media entering the bearing.

However, some of the cleaning media will get in. The other gutter lips within the bearing casing allow the other media to exit the bearing at the bottom of the housing due to gravity. This removes all risk of water and detergent getting near the sealing lip and protects the integrity of the bearing grease, which means increased bearing life.”

Since these new bearing units are revolutionary in providing

"Operation and maintenance are often ‘fighting’ over the availability of a line. Maintenance wants more time for maintenance, and operations want to use it more. The more time saved from not needing to re-grease the bearings or change them to prevent unplanned downtime, the more time operations have to increase production output." increased reliability in typical industry processing and cleaning environments, maintenance managers are impressed.

They also appreciate that they do not need to re-lubricate them, saving time and cost.

However, what SKF has seen is that food safety and quality managers love them even more. When they understand the risks to food safety that conventional bearing units pose, they push for implementing the SKF unit in their production facility.

In addition to the fact that these hygienically designed units are better cleaned, they can also save up to 33 per cent in cleaning water, with the additional benefit of no bacteria contaminated excess grease washed away into the wastewater stream.

“Even if maintenance is not responsible for the environment and

Smart Media

sustainability, they have cascaded KPIs so they need to prove energy and water savings,” said Otel.

“Maintenance people are after reliability. Operation and maintenance are often ‘fighting’ over the availability of a line. Maintenance wants more time for maintenance, and operations want to use it more. The more time saved from not needing to re-grease the bearings, or change them to prevent unplanned downtime, the more time operations have to increase production output.”

Otel knows that at the end of the day, what’s important in the food and beverage industry is food safety, line reliability and more uptime for production, while proving environmental care and sustainability.

And this is all what SKF’s new Food Line bearing units impact. F

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EMAIL: services@gs1au.org www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 23

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

Warner capping headsets help production lines run smoothly.

New capping headsets are all about smooth torque Interchangeability and ease of maintenance are just a couple of features for the Warner magnetic capping headsets. Food & Beverage Industry News talks to Altra Motion’s Gregg Booyens.

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aking sure your bottling production line runs smoothly is key to getting product out and one that can be a concern for production and operation managers if things start to go wrong.

One of the critical elements in a bottling line is the capping headsets.

Altra Motion engineers have invested a great deal of time and effort into R&D to ensure they have a product that makes this process more reliable.

Altra’s range of Warner Electric capping headsets has many features that benefit any bottling production line – whether it be with a multinational, or a niche player in the market. Booyens believes that there are many opportunities for beverage manufacturers to not only save time and money but get their bottlings lines running smoothly with reduced maintenance.

One benefit of the range is its ability to interchange with OEM products, allowing maintenance managers to change the capping headsets effortlessly.

“Maintenance managers have to ask themselves; if there is a replacement headset needed, are they going to find a replacement unit that is going to be fit for purpose, or left with the original unit and its underlying issues?” said Booyens.

“Our engineers have designed headsets that can fit into machines that manufacturers already have, which make the installation of the product stress-free.

“Our standard Capping Headsets

"Our engineers have designed headsets that can fit into machines that manufacturers already have, which make the installation of the product stress-free." are directly interchangeable with OEM machines, and has a quick plug and play instal. The Total Production Maintenance units (TPM) have a more slim design and lighter mass, which puts less load on the machine.

There will be a once-off reasonable modification to the capping machine when using this design.

“If you look at various soft drink bottles, they are different. Altra Motion manufacture chucks to suite the variations in bottle cap designs.

We normally ask for 6 to 12 caps and bottles to aid in the design of each chuck around the cap.”

Another advantage is that the Warner Electric devices are approximately half the OEM’s cost to similar product, said Booyens.

Ensuring customers are not only getting a longer-lasting product, but they are also saving money.”

According to Booyens, another issue that maintenance staff might face is the constant ‘torque on’, and easily removable torque. OEM machines have a basic design where they have a singular north and south magnetic pole, and that causes ‘chatter’, or vibration of the machinery. This doesn’t allow for reliable torque of the cap onto the bottle.

24 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

“This can send a shock through the system and damage the rest of the machine,” said Booyens.

An example is an unbalanced wheel on a car. The smooth torque technology stops any of these things from happening.

“Also, you know sometimes when you buy a drink, and it is easy to unscrew a lid? Then the next day, you have the same brand of drink, and it’s almost impossible to unscrew? Our system allows smooth torque on, and reliable torque off so that the capping is the same for all bottles. In other words, it offers consistency.

“It’s like when you go anywhere in the world and purchase a popular fast food franchise item. It is always going to taste the same. This enables a beverage manufacturer the same torque on every cap throughout the run.”

When it comes to downtime, these capping headsets have been designed to ensure that looking after them is easy for those maintaining the plant and machinery.

“First, we have made sure that the units have excellent sealing so that the bearings don’t get contamination ingresses and the grease doesn’t come out,” said Booyens. “We don’t

Getting the right torque can be an issue on some production lines.

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

want sugar or other ingredients going into the unit and ruining the bearing. You also don’t want grease leakage, causing bacteria growth, so we have an upgraded bearing sealing design that also has a cover over the top spring, which prevents ingress of products and stops the grease expelling.”

There is also another string to the bow of these capping headsets.

Most similar units from other suppliers have fixed setscrews.

When undergoing maintenance, engineers undo the setscrews and adjust the unit’s torque, and then tighten them up again.

“Quite a few of

these units have setscrews underneath the housing,” said Booyens. “If you have a big plant that has 16 of these units per head, and they have three or four of these heads on a machine, that is a lot of setscrews to undo at an uncomfortable angle.

Our setscrews are placed on the unit’s side, so the torque adjustment process is much more efficient.

The Total Productive Maintenance unit (TPM) – has a push-button torque setting, doing away with setscrews, streamlining the process even more.”

Booyens also said that these units have a visible torque scale, ensuring accurate torque limits.

“With our units, there is a visible

"Our parts are all made out of premiumgrade stainless steel, ensuring many years of trouble free performance." scale whereby you push a button, set the torque to a certain scale accuracy, push a button, and you are good to go,” he said. “The units are designed to operate for 7,000 continuous hours. So you only have to overhaul a unit once a year.”

Even in the off-chance that some of the lubrication does escape from the housing, the Warner range comes with food-grade lubrication.

“Our grease is a premium product that has been approved by our engineers at the Warner Electric

plant for safety and reliably with the bearing loads,” said Booyens. “If there is accidental exposure to the plant, then the lubrication will not harm the product because it is foodgrade approved. It is also halal and kosher certified.”

Finally, the construction of the units will withstand harsh washdown environments.

“Our parts are all made out of premium-grade stainless steel, ensuring many years of trouble free performance,” said Booyens. F

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 25

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

Green solution for plant wash downs Spraying Systems’ PathoSans cleaning system is easy to use and has minimal impact on the environment. Food & Beverage Industry News investigates.

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leaning down plant and machinery is a key process when it comes to making sure the end product isn’t contaminated and meets stringent Australian standards in terms of food and beverage hygiene.

There are many different types of products available, but very few offer up a clean, green solution where the residue can be washed away, and the staff carrying out the process have to wear minimal PPE gear.

PathoSans has been around for more than a decade and uses only two ingredients – salt and water – and the electrolysis process, which has been around since the 19th century.

Celio Furquim is the Queensland sales manager for Spraying Systems, the company that invented PathoSans. He said that the cleaning system is a win-win for both getting plant up to scratch from a hygiene point of view and for the environment, too.

“Sanitising high touch surfaces is just as important as sanitising your hands. We want to replace the traditional chemicals that are used in food and beverage manufacturing and processing plants,” he said.

“The idea was to replace them with something that is eco-friendly and going to cost less. Some of these chemicals are dangerous from an employee point of view. PathoSans is skin and eye safe, no risk of burns and no PPE required.”

Dr Juhi Saxena is the product specialist for Spraying Systems.

She said the key to PathoSans is the electrolysis process, which creates the liquid that is used for the washdowns.

“Although we use salt, softened water and electricity, what makes us different is that we have a dual membrane in place that helps us minimise the salt residue to a negligible level in our product,”

she said. “Since there will be no salt residue in the product, there is none left on the plant or machinery.”

This part needs to be reiterated, because when people hear the word “salt” they think corrosion.

PathoSans leaves no salt residue behind, but, as Saxena explained, the active ingredient has an interesting background.

“We are making sure the product is in a specified pH range that gives us the opportunity to explore the possibilities of a chemical that is not really a ‘chemical’ in the true sense,” she said. “It is something that the body makes when it is fighting infections called hypochlorous acid and that is the active ingredient in our sanitiser that ensures efficacy at the same level as the harsh chemicals that currently dominate the industrial market.

“The dual membrane filtration within the system ensures that the main active ingredient generated in our sanitiser – hypochlorous acid – does not contain any salt residues.

It is an advancement in the area of electrolysis and has a lot of benefits, including meeting the environmental regulations that companies and industry have to adhere to in order to prevent heavy fines.”

The basic concept of PathoSans is that the active molecule that forms is very volatile. It’s something that is generated on site and can be used straight away.

“If you are trying to market a product, consumers want a shelf life of six months or so. This places a lot of pressure on the cleaner and sanitiser generating companies, which ultimately results in the use of harsh chemicals, that although offer a long shelf life, can pose an extreme occupational hazard for the handlers due to their concentrated forms that need dilution. The on-site generation system with PathoSans, allows you to manufacture your own

26 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

cleaner and sanitiser in the amounts that you need without any further dilution,” said Saxena. “The concept of on-site generation is just slowly beginning to trickle its way into industries because a lot of companies are product oriented, whereas we are machinery and safety oriented. We see a lot of savings in transportation, storage and not having to get rid of toxic chemicals.”

Both the cleaner and sanitiser follow the same protocol of application.

Users take the solution out of the tank and spray it on the plant and machinery and then wipe it off .

They can use spray bottles or a rag with the solution on it to clean. It is also possible to apply the cleaner in a foam form, leave it for a few minutes, then wash or wipe it off.

The residue goes straight into the drain without treatment because it is 99.9 percent water.

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

“Most bacteria have good defences that can repel, reject, or destroy common sanitisers ” said Furquim.

“Over time, the bacteria become immune to them. Since our sanitiser is neutrally charged they don’t see us a threat and we are as effective or

better than other

better than other sanitisers, even at comparably low concentrations, which also eliminates the risk of chemical burns. In other words, when the bacteria notice it, it’s already too late and our molecules have already reacted with critical components of the bacteria, such as the cell wall, nucleus, and critical cell organs.

That gives no chance for bacteria to build an immunity.”

Saxena backs up that by explaining how other chemical cleaners work compares to the PathoSans system.

“Most people use a common bleach, which has a higher pH than we use,” she said. “The hypochlorite ion released from the bleach interacts with the outer lining – like the skin if you like – of the bacteria, which over time may develop resistance in the bacteria, which requires a concentrated product to achieve sanitisation. What happens with PathoSans is that our active ingredient, hypochlorous acid, has the ability to passively diffuse through the cell wall, which results in oxidative damage in the cell. In other words the destruction is from within.

“Given the current climate scenario, I think it is very important that people realise that

we are not just in business to make money, we are people that understand the needs of the world, and that we need to make the environment much more sustainable than it is today.

Even a little step like this – clean and green technology – can help us reduce the environmental damage that we cause, if not eliminate it completely. We only produce what we can use and give outstanding results that exceed the expectations of the traditional chemicals. The need of the hour is to understand the good implications of using this system in the long term. It is a sustainable technology and it can never go out of practice.

“Getting a product out there that can be used at large by anybody without any toxic fumes, and won’t give anybody any health issues, is very important. People need to be aware of the kind of benefits PathoSans offers on top of keeping plant and machinery in good shape.” F PathoSans uses on three elements water, salt and electrolysis.

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 27

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

Sweet alternative making waves in beverage industry Wilmar is known as a sugar producer, but it has a lot more to offer the food and beverage industry than enticing our collective sweet tooth. Mike Wheeler finds out more.

S

ugar and alcohol are two key ingredients for many beverages produced in Australia, and ingredient specialist Wilmar Sugar Australia (Wilmar) is one of the major players in the market.

While sugar is a staple of the company’s products, it also has on hand a range of non-sugar sweeteners that are becoming more popular as sectors of the market look to create beverages and food for those who want to decrease their sugar intake.

Wilmar’s range includes monk fruit, stevia and erythritol, which are all used in a variety of products. It has also

taken the step to make some of them Australian Certified Organic (ACO), said the company’s product manager for specialty ingredients, Anne Price.

The certification is thorough and covers such aspects as the growing and manufacturing/processing of the product.

“The organic process covers the growing of the crop, whether it be the corn for the erythritol, or the stevia or monk fruit plant,” said Price. “There are two aspects to the organic side of things. The first is the certificate that covers the growing of the raw material.

Then there is the certificate that covers

Australia is a net producer of ethanol, which means a lot is exported.

28 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

the manufacturing of the product, which also covers the processing.

“When we get the product to Australia we get it certified with the ACO, who do an overall benchtop audit of the process including the supply chain we use to get it here. Then, they certify it,” she said.

Price has noticed the increase in interest in non-sugar sweeteners, mainly from the beverage side of industry, especially in specialty drinks like Kombucha, which is aimed at the health market. And while sugar alternatives are on the upswing, Wilmar at its heart is a

sugar-manufacturing company. Price sees the benefits of both products.

“I think sugar has had an unjustified rap over the past few years,” she said.

“Sugar is a great natural product but you’ve got to use it in moderation as part of an overall balanced diet.

“There are a lot of manufacturers who use both sugar and non-sugar sweeteners. The two sales teams within Wilmar are always referring customers to each other, and customers are always making enquiries about both options.”

One of the reasons people look at

SPECIALTY BEVERAGES

sugar replacements in their foods is that they are paying more attention to their diet, with a noticeable trend being plant-based food, said Price.

And some of those foods need sweeteners, too.

“They are moving into plantbased diets and not necessarily because they are vegetarian, but because they see it as a healthier option and maybe a better option for the environment,” said Price.

The make-up of these sugar alternatives means that they can offer the sweetness but not the calories, which is why some consumers prefer them in the products they buy.

“The monk fruit and stevia have low kilojoule/energy levels so they are providing limited calories to your diet. Because they are intense sweeteners, you use them in very small amounts compared to sugar,” said Price. “Stevia is 300 times sweeter than sugar. Even if they were high-calorie sweeteners, because you use so little of it, you are not providing any extra calories into

Wilmar’s Sarina BioEthanol Distillery plant in Queensland.

your diet. They are also different to other high-intensity sweeteners like aspartame, and those chemically produced sweeteners in that they do come from a natural extract.”

Price said most customers, not just the more well-established ones, prefer a natural plant-based product to an artificial manufactured sweetener. Most know what they are looking for, but if you are just starting out, there is help at hand, with advice from the likes of Price as well as third-parties.

“Most manufacturers have knowledge of what they are looking for, but smaller manufacturers tend to use food specialty consultants and those guys know their stuff,” she said. “Most people who are just starting up and need a product like this know a little bit about it and they know what they want to achieve, and what sort of target they are looking for.”

Another product that Wilmar is known for producing is ethanol. It is one of the two major producers in Australia, and Wilmar product manager Scott Johnstone, knows the product inside out.

In Australia, ethanol has two main purposes – as an additive to fuel, or to be used by industry – and Wilmar produces it for both. When it comes to industry supply, the beverage arena is a key market. As well as being used as the alcohol

content in spirits and other drinks, it is also used for refrigeration processes in the wine industry and in the production of flavours and fragrances.

Like other ethanol producers, Wilmar saw a spike in demand as the need for hand sanitiser and hygiene products increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, before that happened there was demand within the beverage industry as boutique distilleries took off.

“The craft and distilling boom that has happened over the past five years means you have a lot of gin and vodka distillers around Australia at the moment,” said Johnstone. “We sell a lot of our ethanol to what I call the pure distillers all around Australia.

We also sell a fully organic certified ethanol for those that want to make organic claims for their end products.”

As Australia’s largest producer of renewable energy from biomass, Wilmar has a sustainable approach to how it does business. This includes how it produces its ethanol and how it utilises the by-products that come from it.

“We transport sugarcane from the farms to our sugar milling facilities. We produce raw sugar and we take the by-product – molasses – and manufacture ethanol via a fermentation process. The by-product of our ethanol production is returned to farms as liquid fertiliser or

stockfeed thus making this a very closed-loop lifecycle.

“The way we see ourselves in the market is that we have a good quality product. We have very good technical and quality systems in place. We also offer the industry very good technical backup.”

Australia is a net exporter of ethanol, with Wilmar contributing about 60 million litres a year into local and export markets. He said that the industry is growing, and there are new applications for ethanol evolving every year.

“Many of the distillery purists want to make whisky, but in order to be a whisky maker, the product needs to be aged in a barrel for a minimum of two years,” he said. “If you have invested all that cash for two years and you’re just waiting for it to come right, and you need a cash source while your whisky develops, then they make gin because you can sell gin straight away. The uniqueness of a sugar- and molassesbased product also appeals to many of these manufacturers.

“It is a great industry to be in.

The people are nice and it is a surprisingly open industry with many producers stepping in to help each other out. It is refreshing to see because they all want the industry to succeed. I really like that attitude, and I love meeting people who are passionate about what they do.” F

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 29

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

Advanced manufacturing technology supplies the framework for innovation and business growth

150 million people a day buy a Unilever product somewhere in the world.

Meeting customers’ needs was pivotal in Unilever deciding to take on board PLM solutions from Siemens Digital Industries Software. Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

T

he pace of innovation in the food and beverage industry is constantly rising and driving a need for more flexible and collaborative tools based on best practices for project, program and lifecycle management.

Companies expect solutions to connect processes, automate tasks and be intuitive for the broad audience of roles involved in their processes.

As the future of work transforms through the uncertainty of today, it is crucial for organisations to integrate solutions that allow for collaborating and fostering intimate interactions along a product lifecycle – a must for tomorrow’s organisations Siemens long-time customer, Unilever, experienced first-hand the benefits of Siemens product lifecycle management (PLM) technology.

“PLM will provide the framework for information management in our product innovation process, supporting the common process, the common structure and the common language that we must have if we are going to create innovative products that address

unmet consumers’ needs and are deployed quickly to market,” said Huw Evans, R&D director of information technology at Unilever’s Home and Personal Care Division In a company such as Unilever, where innovation is always a high priority, PLM solutions from Siemens Digital Industries Software are providing a solid foundation for future growth.

Business initiatives • New product development.

• Knowledge and IP management.

• Production efficiency.

Business challenges • Sustainable growth.

• Rising cost of raw materials.

• Huge product portfolio.

• Employees spread across more than 100 countries.

Keys to success • 10-year partnership with Siemens.

• Global visibility of entire product portfolio and raw material

30 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

specifications.

• Knowledge re-use.

• C ommon system for packaging design.

Results • Better profit margins.

• Top-line growth.

• O rder of magnitude reduction in raw material specifications.

One hundred and fifty million times a day someone, somewhere in the world, chooses a Unilever product.

Unilever’s brand portfolio spans 14 categories of home, personal care and food products and includes favourites such as Lipton, Knorr, Dove and Omo. The company employs 179,000 people in 100 countries worldwide.

Its products are sold in the Americas, Europe and Asia/Africa in roughly equal distribution.

Innovation is critical to sustaining Unilever’s growth.

“We see product innovation as one of the key drivers of top-line growth,” said Huw Evans.

“Product innovation means providing the consumer with a product that delivers a perceivable benefit that is differentiated from those of our competitors and that differentiation drives the choice to purchase and use that product,” said Evans. “You can change products to improve their price differentials, for example, but if the consumer is not really experiencing a difference, then we wouldn’t classify that as innovation. Innovation is about consumer-perceptible benefits that drive choice.

To help achieve this, Unilever invests €1 billion every year in research and development, which includes support for five major laboratories around the world that explore new thinking and techniques to help develop our products.”

Innovation best practices For the past 10 years, Unilever has partnered with Siemens Digital Industries software to create a global specification management

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

system that serves as the first major component of its PLM system supporting its product innovation process.

“A company such as Unilever, with a global organisation and a complex product portfolio, would not be successful without some independent technologies to support it,” Evans said.

“PLM technology components are examples of such critical, independent technologies. PLM will provide the framework for information management in our product innovation process, supporting the common process, the common structure and the common language that we must have if we are going to create innovative products that address unmet consumers’ needs and are deployed quickly to market.”

Establishing a partnership with a PLM supplier, as Unilever has with Siemens, has been an important innovation best practice, according to Evans, because it supports many other innovation strategies.

“The partnership with Siemens has provided us with a cornerstone in our approach to PLM,” he said.

“Quite frankly, if we hadn’t been working with Siemens, I don’t think we’d have achieved what we have so far. Siemens has brought a lot of value.”

Siemens Digital Industries software has helped Unilever reduce raw material costs.

Specification management Specification management has been helpful to Unilever as it strives to innovate in the face of rising raw material costs. Using SIMATIC IT Interspec specification management functionality from Siemens, Unilever has achieved global visibility for all raw material specifications, allowing an order of magnitude reduction

in the number of specifications in the organisation.

Purchasing fewer materials in greater quantities gets the company better deals with suppliers. But Evans also sees a strong, and equally powerful, connection to innovation.

“We can invest the money we’re saving back into driving value for innovation,” Evans explained. “If you think about it, it takes a certain amount of R&D time to develop and manage and maintain any individual specification.

“If you’re reducing that by an order of magnitude, clearly there’s R&D time that can be reinvested elsewhere.”

Knowledge re-use

Unilever cannot afford to invent brand new products every time it tries to innovate.

Another innovation best practice that would be impossible without PLM technology is knowledge re-use. This is very important to Unilever’s strategy of driving top-line growth through innovation because, as Evans explained, “We cannot afford to invent a completely new product every time we need to innovate. The re-use of componentry in new and creative ways is as important as the inventive step itself.”

Teamcenter digital lifecycle management software from Siemens facilitates knowledge re-use by providing a single source of product information for the entire global organisation – something Unilever

is currently putting into place to support its deployment of CAD for its packaging function. Evans believes knowledge re-use will not only facilitate the innovation process, but it will also support the faster cycle times that the current competitive climate dictates.

Unilever’s innovation efforts are not limited to its products.

They extend to production design processes and package design as well. PLM software from Siemens is also being used by Unilever to support these areas.

For example, Unilever uses the NX digital product development system from Siemens to design its packaging.

“Packaging is a very large component of our product. It’s certainly the first thing that a consumer sees, so it’s a big driver of choice,” Evans said.

“Getting that right is very important. NX is underpinning our common way of working in the packaging function.”

PLM at Unilever is not an IT project, according to Evans. He refers to it “as a technology-enabled business change project that evolves with Unilever’s business priorities”. In a company such as Unilever, where innovation is always a high priority, PLM solutions from Siemens Digital Industries Software are providing a solid foundation for future growth. F

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 31

WASTEWATER

Wastewater solution perfect for multi-faceted business With several wastewater streams and a growing business, Cupitt’s Estate needed a reliable wastewater treatment system. Aerofloat had the solution.

S

et in the beautiful rolling hills of coastal southern New South Wales just outside Ulladulla, Cupitt’s Estate is an establishment that has many strings to its bow.

It is a winery, a brewery, a farm and a cheesemaking enterprise. It also has a restaurant and on-site accommodation. Having such a diverse portfolio of businesses is a boon, but there is also a downside when it comes to addressing the wastewater created by these endeavours.

Having started it up in 2007, general manager Tom Cupitt knew by 2019 he needed to address the company’s wastewater issue as the amount of effluent increased as the business grew.

“We had problems with the way it was operating as we are in a bit of an environmentally sensitive area,” he said. “We are right by a lake and we disposed of our effluent onsite, so

"The scope of the job incorporated a lot of due diligence by us at the beginning – to properly understand all the different waste streams they had.

It wasn’t straight forward at that point.

We needed to understand the actual loads from each of the streams and the volumes from those streams." we needed a better solution to help us with our environmental sustainability and responsibility.”

The old method wasn’t effective anymore. It was a trench system, whereby Cupitt’s Estate used to put the wastewater into the soil. The old system was struggling under the growth of the business. A new solution needed to be found, and quickly, because the company was still growing.

“I did some research to find the right company to solve our unique

problems,” said Cupitt.

Enter wastewater specialist Aerofloat. For the past 11 years the company has offered many solutions to the food and beverage industry, but even this one was unique for Michael Anderson, general manager at Aerofloat.

“The scope of the job incorporated a lot of due diligence by us at the beginning – to properly understand all the different waste streams they had. It wasn’t straight forward at that point. We needed to understand the

actual loads from each of the streams and the volumes from those streams,” he said. “It was a mixture of industrial wastewater and domestic municipal waste from the toilets, showers and laundry. Once we had the loads validated, from there we were able to get a total peak load, the strength of the wastewater and the flow. Then, in consultation with the council, we were able to determine what the effluent standard we needed to achieve for irrigation onsite.”

Aerofloat put in a biological treatment system designed to achieve the desired results. The process it used is called Sequence Batch Reactor (SBR), which is followed by disinfection. Before the company got the order, it did the conceptual designs and drawings, which gave Cupitt confidence that the company knew what it was doing and could solve their problem.

“When you start these plants up,

Cupitt Estate knew it needed a new wastewater system to keep its environment clean.

32 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

WASTEWATER

Aerofloat’s Michael Anderson testing the new system. you have to bring a culture in from somewhere,” said Anderson. “The biggest problem we faced was that there was a very big rain event prior to that. We had to truck a seed sludge from a long way away because the local plant got washed out in that high rain event. There was no seed sludge within miles. With seed sludge, you are basically taking the microorganisms from one treatment plant and bringing it to Cupitt Estate’s site so they can acclimatise relatively quickly, especially if you get something from similar waste. Then you are away.”

The new system is above ground, and Cupitt is very happy with the result. As well as taking care of the estate’s wastewater needs, it also has a secondary use.

“The water goes in dirty and comes out crystal clear,” said Cupitt.

“It looks like drinking water but it isn’t drinking water. If it had a bit more filtration it could be used for a lot of different uses. Which is where we want to take it in the future - we could potentially upgrade it. But for now, we reuse the water to irrigate a paddock, which we grow crops to feed cattle.”

On a practical level, Cupitt has

been pleased that the sludge tank hasn’t had to be emptied very often.

“Our sludge tank only needs to be pumped out once every two or three months. The bacteria in the system breaks down the solids. It does produce sludge but we have only had it pumped out once since commissioning near the end of 2020,” said Cupitt. “We were expecting it to happen every two weeks or four weeks, but we didn’t know until the system was up running when we would need to pump it out. It was a lot less than what we were expecting.”

Overall, Anderson was pleased at how the job went.

“With these types of builds we are focused on removing suspended solids, fats, oils and grease,” he said.

“Primarily, we were concerned about the BOD (biological oxygen demand) because while it might be low in oils and grease, it can be very high in organic loads, for instance, the whey from the cheese making or the sugar in the wine. That is what we had to take into consideration. It has a much higher load than that from the toilet waste from, say, 500 patrons at a restaurant. That is why industrial waste water is strong by volume. You have to make sure you balance all the

streams and find out what you are designing for. “ Cupitt, too, was very pleased with the end results, as well as how to utilise the system and back up service.

“This system is highly automated but easy to operate,” he said.

“They can make it as manual or as automated as you want. Service is fantastic. If anything happens in the system – say there is a high-level alarm – the team at Aerofloat will

get the alarm, and they will let us know and sort it out. If something needs doing, they tell us and walk us through it – if a valve needs opening or something like that.

“You can call them seven days a week, and with the system itself if there is any issue they can fix a lot of it over the phone, which is really good for us. It’s a huge improvement on our old system, which was unpredictable and unreliable.” F

A winery is among the many businesses at Cupitt Estate. www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 33

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EXPORTS

Keeping Australian exports on top while pandemic hits With much of the world in lockdown, Austrade is working hard to make sure our exporters don’t miss out on opportunities.

C

hris Morley has a job that a lot of people would love to have – making sure Australian exporters get the best chance to sell their wares overseas.

As the global engagement manager – premium food and beverages for government agency, Austrade, Morley has a front-row seat as to what is happening in global markets, and how they affect Australia.

He currently works closely with 14 companies who have an array of briefs within the food and beverage arena including those in horticulture, packaged foods and wine.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge, which has had a different impact on certain aspects of the industry, such as foodservice that as almost “fallen off a cliff”, through to beef, which is going great guns in China.

What always gets Australiangrown/raised food and beverage products off the ground and in the hands of eager overseas consumers are their provenance and reputation.

“If you have a country like Vietnam, Malaysia or the Philippines, as they went for a prolonged lockdown, they’re pretty keen to have a good supply of ambient food,” said Morley. “The consumer wanted to make sure that foodstuffs like cereal and pasta sauces, or snacks, are not only available, but are of good quality.”

Then there were the markets that don’t have a choice – they have to import their foodstuffs because they only make a minute amount themselves.

“Markets like Hong Kong and Singapore, and even the Middle East regions, from a government-togovernment point of view, they are reaching out to us and going, ‘Hey, we need to secure a supply of things like beef and seafood,” said Morley. “They rely heavily on imports like that

because 99.9 per cent of their food comes from the international space.”

What did help Australian exporters was the length of time the US and Europe were in lock-down. Like Australia, the food producers in those countries have reputations within developing countries of high-quality, safe food. However, there were also a couple of roadblocks along the way, caused by the pandemic.

“Their food manufacturing decreased a little bit, but other issues they had, such as the smooth process of getting documents, getting product to the port, having available ships – all the nitty gritty stuff that people take for granted – were delayed,” said Morley. “We were getting requests from a lot of retailers and foodservice companies across the region to fulfil that void for a few weeks. That was good for us.

“There have only been limited opportunities in terms of increasing market share. Generally we are not adding new clients in terms of export markets, but we are seeing an increase of around 10 per cent in some of the markets we are in, which is nice for producers.”

As with any product – whether it be perishable or not – getting product to market is only as good as the supply chain. Morley said that the supply chain is holding up pretty well, and how domestic food and beverage processors and manufacturers have held up, has been impressive.

“If you look at something like tomato paste, a lot of tomatoes are ordered 12 months in advance,” he said. “However, the way we have been able to continue on that journey has been good. People like Mars Foods who have the Dolmio brand, they’re manufacturing during COVID has been astronomical. What is a highlight for me has been the production capacity that the country is capable of when needed.”

Getting product to market is only as good as the supply chain.

There have been some issues with overseas’ shipping by both air and sea. There was also a hiccup around the time of Chinese Lunar celebrations, which was unexpected.

“A lot of the food-grade containers were held up in China after Chinese New Year,” said Morley. “Something like 60 per cent of all the food-grade shipping containers we stuck in Chinese ports around that time.

“The shipping through a country like Singapore at the moment are close the 1993 levels. Vessels transferring through Singapore gives us a good indication of how many vessels are on the water. There were a few delays, but things are sorting themselves out.”

While that has its challenges there are other parts of the food export market that are doing well, especially sending beef to China. With swine flu having an effect on the availability of pork, it has meant Chinese consumers have had to find another

source of protein. And they do love Australian beef, said Morley.

“We have a free trade agreement with them whereby we have no tariffs on beef up to a certain tonnage,” he said. “In the first year of the agreement, we met that tonnage in November. Last year, it was around August, and this year it will be around July. China is buying Australian beef in more quantities than they were in previous years.

Interestingly, under the agreement, the amount of exempt tonnage increases every year, too.”

Overall, Morley is optimistic about Australian exports.

“There are a food good news stories around that,” he said. “There are product ranges, whether it be a juice or plant-based food, and cereals – that do well overseas, especially in countries where people worry a lot about their health and are more health conscious than they were pre COVID.” F

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 35

NEW TECHNOLOGY

3D camera technology solves headache for packaging company When Jano Crema had an issue with rejects on his paper cup lid processing line, he needed a solution that would not only solve the issue, but add further value down the line.

J

ano Crema had a problem.

Over the past couple of years, some of his customers were being accidently short changed on their paper cup lids, a product that Crema’s company was producing.

It wasn’t purposeful, but it was an issue that needed addressing, and addressing quickly.

The company Crema works for specialises in making paper cups and lids for the food service industry, and it is a very competitive market. Having a customer call up and tell him that half their inventory they’ve paid for is missing is the last thing the business excellence manager wanted to hear. However, due to the nature of the production line, it was a problem that couldn’t be solved by just putting more eyes on the conveyor belts in the hope numbers would right themselves.

“The line that makes the plastic lid for the cups is a very high speed line,” said Crema. “We have a large number of machines that makes cups. However, we only have one line that makes the lids. In terms of speed it is incredibly fast and is highly

automated meaning there is little opportunity to see a problem before it is packed. Every now and then we would get a complaint about only having half, or not the complete amount, of lids in a sleeve going to the customer. It might happen only a couple of times a year, but it was annoying because it shouldn’t happen at all. We were looking for a way to automate that process so that we didn’t have to rely on the operators manually watching the line to avoid that issue.”

When Crema and his team went through and did their analysis of the issue, they identified that the sleeves were often being produced with problems or other defects around the time there were other incidents on the line. Often operators were busy trying to sort out other issues to get the line back up and running, which meant that the sleeves with the wrong amounts

SICK’s Trispector1000 is capable of measuring multiple dimensions.

36 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

were being packed. Enter the Trispector1000 3D camera from SICK. “We thought there must be some sort of technology out there that could help us,” said Crema.

“I looked at the SICK website and took a look at the various options available. Given that I have an engineering and manufacturing background, I was familiar with the processes and technologies that are out there.

“I came across the Trispector1000.

Given, the physical dimensions of what we were working with in terms of

space within the line, and the dimensions of the product, I thought, ‘this is something that might be applicable’. I called up SICK, and spoke to [SICK sales engineer] Kevin Zarczynski, and we had a conversation about the issue. He said that it was something they could help us with. He invited me to come down to their site in Castle Hill in Sydney and we ran some trials on some products. We were able to validate that the system would be able to work.”

Zarczynski said that it was all are relatively easy process that left both parties happy with the end result.

“Jano gave us some samples, we did a preliminary test in our office, and he was able to see that preliminary test and that the proof of concept was a good solution,” said Zarczynski. “He bought the Trispector1000, did the mounting and we did the programming.

Due to COVID-19, it took a bit longer because it got caught in the fact nobody from

NEW TECHNOLOGY

The Trispector1000 can be retrofitted onto production lines.

SICK could go to site, but Jano and his team did a really good job of the mounting. Our service techs programmed it, and got it to pretty much work how they wanted in a prompt timeline.”

Crema and his team see the Trispecter1000 as a great solution for the issues they had. He also likes the fact that they can adjust it to suit their purpose.

“When we first set up the system, we enabled a bypass because we needed to program each of our products as they went through,” said Crema. “We programmed the parameters for each of the products.

Initially, we were finding that the operations were having to bypass because they were getting too many false alarms. Through that finetuning process of the parameters – the length, the height and the resolution of the Trispector1000 – we were able to make that process a lot more reliable. We now have it to the point where the operators no longer need to have that bypass.”

“From our POV, the device is quite easy to set up, it is recalibrated, and it has tools on board, so you don’t have to write anything to be

able to do the measurements you want,” said Zarczynski. “You bolt it on, give it a speed, and it makes pictures. In that way, it is a very easy-to-install product. One of its biggest assets for Jano’s company was that we could retrofit it to machinery. His machinery was not designed to have this type of camera on it, but it was easy to mount it above and take a picture of places you would never be able to take pictures before.”

One of factors for installing the device was about reducing customer complaints. One of the key issues in such a market was that Crema’s company was operating in a competitive market. One of the value adds for him was that his company needed to supply a quality product compared to its competitors.

It was important to them that these avoidable defects were stopped.

“We couldn’t just let them go,” he said. “For a relatively small investment, to put a system in place that automates this – and we have the confidence it works, and we don’t have to rely on a person being there on such a high-speed line – for us it was justified to

avoid those complaints.”

And it’s not just its current use that piqued Crema’s interest in the Trispector1000. He is looking at utilising it further down the track to help the company become even more efficient.

“It’s capable of multiple dimensions, which to me was the real selling point,” he said. “At the moment we are only using one dimension – to measure length.

However, it is also capable of measuring height. By measuring a profile, it is a laser system that works over a distance that is able to generate a 3D surface profile of the products. That feature is hugely powerful and something – that now we understand the system – I’m looking for further applications where I can use that type of technology for automated fault finding. The challenge in any FMCG operation is that we are chasing outputs, higher speeds and more efficiency. If you’re doing a traditional, hand-picked sampling process, you are going to hit the limits of what you want do effectively pretty quickly.”

Zarczynski agrees – measuring

the length on a production line is just one of many features on the device.

“It has a whole bunch of inspection tools that are preloaded to the camera for measuring volumes, distances and heights and being able to identify multiple things in the one task,” said Zarczynski. “In the one pass you can measure the height in every direction, but you can also get the volume and compare the volume from one side to the other.

You can do these matches all in the one time.”

Overall, Crema is more than happy with the Trispector1000 and its ability to solve a problem that could have been ongoing and hurt the reputation of his company. He sees it as an ideal solution, even though there were others out there.

“You can go down the process control path in order to try and ensure you don’t make defects,” he said. “However, I think that this type of technology, especially with 3D profiling capability, it has huge potential to allow much greater inspection of products in real time or during manufacture. You can be sure that almost every piece you make is perfect.” F

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 37

SENSORS The unit is easy to install on tanks containing product.

Radar sensor helps with accuracy of tank levels When Robern Menz decided to upgrade its production facility, it needed an accurate way of measuring the levels of chocolate in their holding tanks.

VEGA resolved the issue.

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ocated just a 15-minute drive from the Adelaide CBD, in the suburb of Glynde, is the production facility of Robern Menz, the producer of such Aussie favourites as Violet Crumble, Crown Mints and FruChocs. Recently, it was decided to do a plant upgrade, which also proved an opportune time to give its chocolate holding tanks new radar sensors.

Robern Menz needed to make an improvement, as previously there was no way to accurately measure the level of chocolate that was in each tank.

“The only way the company could check the levels was to physically look inside the tanks,” said Nick King, South Australian, Northern Territory and Western Australian business development manager for sensor specialist VEGA. “That volume of chocolate is an expensive piece of inventory worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The company wanted to get better

"When they were upgrading the plant, they had a window of opportunity to install them. The tanks had existing connections we utilised. These were not in ideal positions, so we had to supply the radars with suitable process connections to fit the existing connections." inventory control. There was lost time, and there was no way of accurately tracking and accounting with regard to the amount of product used or stock onsite.”

Robern Menz had previous experience using VEGA products, with the VEGASPULS 61 radar devices utilised in its sucrose tanks.

This time around, the VEGAPULS 64 radar sensor was the right device for the job.

“It was a bit of a challenge because there was not a lot of clearance in the tanks to put in the sensors. It was a

38 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

fairly tight-fitting option,” said King.

“When they were upgrading the plant, they had a window of opportunity to install them.

“The tanks had existing connections we utilised. These were not in ideal positions, so we had to supply the radars with suitable process connections to fit the existing connections.”

It was decided to use 80GHz radar technology for several reasons – it is more accurate and has higher repeatability than some of the other sensor technologies in the market.

The VEGAPULS 64 has an 80GHz radar.

SENSORS "Radar, particularly the 80GHz radar, is solving problems that we couldn’t do reliably in the past... The VEGAPULS 64 is a narrow beam, 80GHz radar. This made it simple to install in this application where we were restricted for room and mounting position."

The VEGAPULS 64 accurately measures the level of chocolate in the holding tank.

measurement and national support in both stock holdings and technical backup, said King.

As well as doing the obvious, such as measuring levels in the tank, there are a plethora of other features that the unit has under its lid.

It can handle temperatures of between -40 to +150 degrees on its base model but can be optioned up to 200°C and 25 bar. Other radars in our range are rated up to 160bar and 400°C, and come with a range of process connections – from simple bracket mount, hygienic, Radar is not affected by temperature or pressure, and it can look through most foams. If there is an uneven surface, or a product that causes the tank to pressurise, technology like ultrasonics become reliable.

“Radar, particularly the 80GHz radar, is solving problems that we couldn’t do reliably in the past,” said King. “The VEGAPULS 64 is a narrow beam, 80GHz radar.

This made it simple to install in this application where we were restricted for room and mounting position. It has a function called STC, which effectively helps it cope with build-up on the face of the sensor, so when the sensor is splashed with chocolate it still measures reliably. It has a high dynamic gain and the radar copes with an agitated surface.

Even when the agitators pass in front of the radar, the setup procedure of the radar is able to tune them out.

Imagine it’s like a fan running slowly passing through the sensor beam that goes on/off every time an agitator goes past.

“With functions like focus window and false signal suppression these noise signals are ignored.”

The radar sends the level data back to a PLC controller. The information is displayed locally on large screens via SCADA software package, so any of the production team can see what is going on. VEGAPULS 64 radar level sensors were selected for this project due to their reliability, certainty of

threaded, triclover and flanged mounting options.

VEGA as a company not only prides itself on the build of this range of sensors, but also its reputation.

People who tend to invest in these VEGA products don’t think in terms of whether they will fit the bill, there is an expectation and understanding that they will.

“Clients have told us it is how easy to use our sensors, this is made very easy with our app VEGA TOOLS via Bluetooth on your smart device,” said King. F

Data on chocolate levels is sent back to a PLC controller. www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 39

COOKING EQUIPMENT

Cooking equipment specialist expands further in the domestic market Gold Peg has a reputation for making great industry cooking equipment and it is about to spread its wings wider. Food & Beverage Industry News finds out why.

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Gold Peg equipment supplies more than just continuous cookers.

40 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

ith a reputation as a provider of high-end continuous cookers, Gold Peg International is looking at extending its presence in the domestic market by offering up not only some of its top-end continuous cooking equipment but its new range of batch cooking solutions as well.

About five years ago, Gold Peg was purchased by Natec, an industrial food processing equipment manufacturer, that is part of one of Europe’s largest cheese companies, Hochland. Gold Peg and Natec then formed the “Natec Network” to provide an expanded and integrated equipment range that combines their high level of global expertise and service, not only to the Hochland Group but to customers worldwide.

Gold Peg is a company started in 1988 by Bob Smith, and has grown with a reputation, mainly overseas, for its high-quality food processing equipment.

Natec and Gold Peg often found themselves working with the same end customers in the same locations. Natec recognised the Gold Peg technology was of the finest standards and comparable to anything produced in Europe or Germany. As complimentary suppliers it made sense that the two companies teamed up and

move forward together.

“Once we joined Hochland and Natec, combining high-class German engineering resources and know-how with our own high-end products, it was a win-win situation,” said managing director, Simon Donnelly, “Our equipment is designed and built in Australia, and when merged with German engineering and requirements and a global network, it takes it to another level.”

The marriage of the two into the Natec Network has served to further polish and refine the service to the global markets.

“Hochland as a parent company is also a very demanding client.

They have precise requirements and extremely high expectations which ensures our standards continue at a very high level in all parts of our business. This has enabled us to revisit and concentrate on the standard of the equipment we manufacture and how we support that equipment throughout its life cycle.”

It also means that Gold Peg now has access to supplying equipment for a variety of different dairy products that Hochland make. In the past, Gold Peg had not focussed on manufacturing equipment designed to produce cream cheese, vegan-style products and similar fare. However, now as these items

COOKING EQUIPMENT

Gold Peg managing director Simon Donnelly. are part of the Hochland Group portfolio, Gold Peg in conjunction with Natec, has invested heavily into the design and manufacture of equipment that is able to support those types of SKUs. Donnelly sees many opportunities.

“Naturally enough it has given us the opportunity to bring this new equipment to whole new markets we have never really been involved in or dealt with,” said Donnelly. “At the moment, our business is 75-80 per cent dairy, and the remainder is other products such as sauces, pet food, meat etc. We have two plans.

One is to try and even up those percentages and also supply our

processing solutions to a wider range of manufacturers regardless of their size or volumes. This is because, up until recently, most customers, for example in North America, have been high volume and required long non-stop production runs.

Gold Peg is keen to expand its Australian operations and target these manufacturers who make smaller batches or large product varieties. People have always thought of Gold Peg as a company that supplies continuous cookers. That is about to change.

“We never really had the equipment to offer in that market,” said Donnelly. “Having said that, we have been very successful in Japan. However, Japan wanted our equipment, not because of the success in high volumes, but because of quality. Quality is the one thing they would not compromise on. The demands from other markets are not necessarily the same, which is why we have developed some of these new equipment ranges.”

The types of food manufacturers that Donnelly’s company would be interesting in doing business with include those that produce mayonnaise, sauces – simmer, table, baby food and pet food to name a few.

One of the key aspects is the quality of the build of Gold

Peg’s equipment. Another is the commitment to after-sales support either physically visiting onsite, or remotely via such methods as Teams or Zoom. COVID has forced the company to develop its remote commissioning procedures, and these will continue into the future as part of its offering. The company also ensures ‘bought in’ components used in its machinery are top performers, too.

“It’s just not worth comprising on the standard of components used.

We must allow for the machinery to be operated in a harsh environment.

Everything must be sealed and covered correctly, otherwise problems develop down the track.

“We’ve just recently put in a large pet food line in Queensland.

And wonderfully, they’re constantly telling us that the ongoing support – even though the project is finished – is great. We really believe in differentiating from others with our support and we are continuing to develop this as we support customers all around the world. Our equipment is designed to meet CE requirements and, as the US is one of the company’s biggest markets, it brings that country’s standards, in particular the USDA sanitary fabrication guidelines to all of the products we manufacture as well.

All of this gives our customers

far better products and greater piece of mind.”

Gold Peg offers equipment that has 2kg of capacity (used in instances where companies are doing R&D on products) through to those that are capable of handling more than 10,000kgh of end food product.

“The equipment is super flexible,” said Donnelly. “We have a new magnetic emulsion technology, which can be used standalone, or can be used in conjunction with one of our cooking systems, to provide what is usually done by a liquefier or high-shear mechanical mixer. This is done by magnetic dispersion so there is no mechanical action and you achieve a perfect lump-free emulsion or dispersion” The key technology Gold Peg started with was continuous cooking using direct steam injection. The company took that proven high performing direct steam injection technology from its continuous cooking and brought it to the different forms of batch cooking it now offers.

“The developments we made for long run operations in continuous cooking such as our unique direct steam injector design and selfcleaning temperature probes are very beneficial also to batch cooking and are included in our designs,” said Donnelly. F

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 41

LUBRICATION

Handling food safety risks with zero-contact lubrication systems Oven chains need to be safely lubricated.

An automated way of doing so was found to be the ideal solution.

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ike all food and beverage producers, bakeries require highly scrutinised processes to ensure the cleanliness and quality of their products. When a major bakery operation in Queensland sought a safe way to lubricate their oven chains, the concept of contactless lubrication system offered by BSC in partnership with Alemlube proved to be an appealing option.

As a major supplier of baked products to retailers in Australia, the plant was looking for an automatic oil lubrication system for their pre-oven, oven and after-oven units that was contactless to avoid particle contamination on the bread. Peter Solloway, BSC Queensland state sales manager, said the oil spray system offered by Alemlube was the ideal solution for this application.

“The bakery was previously using a manual lubrication system wherein the chains were lubricated only when the machines shut down. They wanted to ensure continuous chain lubrication to

improve the longevity of the chains, while also ensuring the safety of the products travelling through the line,” said Solloway.

“The client then considered using a brush-based automatic lubrication system, but the idea was abandoned after they realised that tiny filaments from the brush could still land on the bread and pose health risks.”

The solution offered by the BSC and Alemlube professionals was a setup involving three sets of 16-nozzle automatic oil spray systems fitted with special progressive divider valves.

The valves allow compressed air to be mixed with the oil as the oil is pumped from a central reservoir and reaches the ejection nozzle, thus creating an easily regulated lubrication system.

Alemlube key account manager, Greg Chapman, said the solution is the perfect alternative for brushtype lubrication systems where minimal contact with the machine or products is desired.

“Lubrication to prevent component wear is not an exact science. Each

The automatic oil lubrication system was used for a bakery’s oven, pre-oven and after-oven units.

42 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

The oil spray system has been fitted with progressive divider valves.

site has its own preferences when it comes to the amount and frequency of lubrication required. The beauty of the automated oil spray system is that it can be easily configured for each specific application; so the reservoir capacity, the number of outlet nozzles, the outlet pressure and all of the external controllers can be designed according to the site’s requirement,” he said.

“For example, in this case, we used two nozzles for each chain to make sure the full width of the chains was covered. The electric pump pushes the lubricant from the central 4-litre capacity reservoir and the oil is sprayed onto the chains as they move

past. If required, we could also install timers and even incorporate fluid blockage alarms or low-level alarms to inform the service professional when the flow is blocked or if the reservoir is running low. In this particular case, the client preferred to use their existing PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) unit to regulate the flow,” he adds.

High temperature resistance is another key feature of the Alemlube automated lubrication system, Chapman said.

“Automated lubrication systems are used in a myriad of applications, not just in food and beverage industries, but also in mining, construction and transport industries. The components in the system are therefore required to withstand high operating temperatures. We have successfully implemented chain lubrication systems for chains going through industrial ovens, without any issue.”

After 18 months since the solution was provided to the bakery operation, Solloway said BSC personnel have been checking on the site regularly to ensure that the system is working smoothly.

“The contactless oil spray system has proved to be an efficient solution for the client, reducing the time and effort required for lubricating the oven chains and extending the chain life. Whereas the components were previously lubricated manually, now the servicepersons only need to top up the oil reservoir once every month or so and the chains run smoothly.” F

MARCH 2021

Why SPC’s CEO Robert Giles is optimistic about the company’s future

PLUS: Specialty Beverages | Taking advantage of master data | Exports

FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY NEWS

PACKAGING SHOWCASE PROMO FEATURE MAY

OUR BRAND PROMISES We offer you the best exposure to decision makers We provide the best platform to showcase your product We will be the best external marketing partner you’ll ever have

By 2025 all packaging must become reusable, recyclable and compostable. It is a challenge for packaging technologists and companies that produce the food and beverages that come wrapped in paper, plastic, glass, cellophane and other media.

If you are a supplier of packaging, or the packaging plant and machinery that service the food and beverage industry, then the May Issue of Food & Beverage Industry News is an excellent platform to get your message across.

Every edition Food & Beverage Industry News talks to a major manufacturer about the industry – their supply chain, how they handle disruptions, their manufacturing processes, and the long-term forecast for the industry.

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST CLOSE

1 APRIL 2021

To secure your place, or for more information contact Luke Ronca on 0402 718 081 For editorial enquiries please contact Mike Wheeler on (02) 9439 7227

Rethink Packaging Design: Use Less, Use Longer and Use Again Author

Nerida Kelton MAIP, Executive Director, Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP)

The AIP’s Nerida Kelton believes we are well overdue to start rethinking about how we design food and beverage packaging. Kelton explains why.

2. optimise material efficiency; 3. design to reduce product waste; 4. eliminate hazardous materials; 5. use recycled materials; 6. use renewable materials; 7. design to minimise litter; 8. design for transport efficiency; 9. design for accessibility; and 10. provide consumer information on sustainability.

The goal of the SPGs is to integrate the Principles into the right business areas, to achieve the optimal outcomes for packaging functionality, and to collectively work to meet the 2025 National Packaging Targets.

Packaging designers need to implement SPG guidelines.

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s natural resources diminish, pollution and GHG emissions worsen, oceans and waterways are filling up with packaging waste and integral ecosystems are becoming irreparably damaged, the world has been put on notice that the time for talk is over.

The time has come to rethink the way packaging is designed.

This is an exciting time to take bold moves and rethink every aspect of how packaging is designed, used and ultimately provide long-lasting environmental value.

The change is being driven by consumers who want to see circular packaging that has designed out waste, is reusable, incorporates recycled content, is truly recyclable,

and all unnecessary packaging and problematic materials are eliminated form the product.

This significant societal behaviour shift is a green light for packaging technologists and designers to become more innovative and creative by the redesign of packaging to be circular and not follow the linear model of “takemake-dispose”.

Packaging technologists and designers can now design out waste at the beginning, to ensure the materials selected can be used repeatedly, are recyclable and regenerates natural systems.

A great place for packaging technologists and designers to start on their journey is by implementing

44 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

the Sustainable Packaging Guidelines (SPG’s) into their design processes.

The SPGs are a central part of the co-regulatory framework established by the National Environment Protection (Used Packaging Materials) Measure 2011 (the NEPM) and the Australian Packaging Covenant (the Covenant).

The NEPM and the Covenant state that the SPGs are to assist the design and manufacture of packaging that meets the sometimes conflicting demands of the market, consumer protection, as well as the environment.

The 10 Sustainable Packaging Principles that make up the SPGs are: 1. design for recovery;

• 100 per cent of all Australia’s packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable = SPG Principle 1: Design for recovery (reuse, material recycling or organics recycling) • 70 per cent of Australia’s plastic packaging will be recycled or composted = SPG Principle 1: Design for recovery (reuse, material recycling or organics recycling) • 5 0 per cent average recycled content will be included across all packaging = SPG Principle 5: Use recycled materials • Problematic and unnecessary single-use plastic packaging will be phased out through design, innovation or introduction of alternatives. = SPG Principle 2: Optimise material efficiency = SPG Principle 7: Design to minimise litter

Packaging needs to be designed to reduce litter and have enough room on the label to inform customers about the sustainability of products.

The highest priority SPG principles are those included above that support the achievement of the four targets, i.e., design for recovery, design for efficiency, using recycled

materials, design for efficiency and design to minimise litter.

In other areas of the value chain, materials suppliers are working on innovative new

The 2025 guidelines state that all packaging needs to be reusable, recyclable and compostable.

materials, and simplifying complex material structure. Brands are busy redesigning packaging and highlighting environmental improvements.

The recyclers are reviewing and expanding capabilities, with governments are funding new initiatives and the consumers are embracing the changes.

A systemic approach to circular packaging design can deliver significant environmental impact reductions including a lower carbon footprint, feedstock derived from fossil fuels, in the use of virgin materials and packaging waste to landfill.

“It’s called the circular economy It’s a new way to design, make, and use things within planetary

boundaries. Shifting the system involves everyone and everything: businesses, governments, and individuals; our cities, our products, and our jobs. By designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems we can reinvent everything.” – Ellen Macarthur Foundation Consumers look at packaging differently now, so too should packaging technologists and designers.

This is an exciting time to be designing packaging and those that design circular packaging will know that they have made a difference for generations to come.

Have fun rethinking your packaging designs and remember use less, use longer and use again. F

Packaging needs to be designed for efficiency and recovery. www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 45

AFCCC

The thermometer is the most important tool in the entire cold chain AFCCC chair Mark Mitchell takes a deeper dive into the Cold Food Code and training program for all those involved in Australia’s food cold chain.

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hen you consider that the thermometer has the power to send a truck or trailer load of valuable food to landfill, you can begin to understand why this single device is the subject covered in the first industry-wide cold chain training program that went live on 1 February this year.

The program is aimed at improving the credentials of those responsible for the integrity and safety of Australia’s chilled and frozen food supply; the people we have called cold chain practitioners.

I covered some of the basics of our new Cold Food Code dealing with the selection and use of

thermometers in previous issues.

The Code is the document that underpins the training program.

Someone working in a loading dock, on a refrigerated transport, or in a supermarket or hospitality environment, needs to fully understand the difference between the destructive and non-destructive temperature measurement.

They may well be able to use a thermometer, but unless they know how to apply the thermometer probe to different kinds of foodstuffs and packaging, they could be putting consumers, or the whole load, at risk.

Taking the non-destructive

By the time food gets to the supermarket it would have had its temperature taken many times.

46 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

method of checking the temperature of products using a probe thermometer is rapid and can be done without unduly disturbing the food product. However, because the temperature being measured is only of the outside of the package or carton, there could be up to 2°C difference between that and the true product temperature.

For best results, a probe thermometer must be placed between boxes on a pallet or between packages inside a carton.

Use sufficient pressure to ensure good thermal contact, and sufficient length of inserted probe to minimise conductivity errors. Use a probe

with a flat surface for good surface thermal contact, low thermal mass, and high thermal conductivity and of course it must be waterproof.

With the destructive method, a pointed probe thermometer is inserted into the product or pressed firmly into its side.

Probe thermometers are not designed to penetrate quick frozen foods. You must first make a hole in the product, the same size as the probe you are using, by using a pre-cooled sharp pointed metallic device such as an ice punch, hand drill or an auger.

To give a proper reading, the probe needs to penetrate the product to a minimum depth of 2.5cm from the product surface. For smaller products, the probe should be inserted to a minimum depth from the surface of three or four times the diameter of the probe.

Where it is not possible to make a hole in certain foods, such as diced vegetables, the internal temperature of the food package should be determined by insertion of a suitable sharp-stemmed probe.

In general, the probe thermometer should be accurate at the preferred temperature range, instantly readable, and fitted with a thin probe that slides easily into the product.

Temperatures that may be in dispute can only be proven by a destructive temperature check, using a probe thermometer for which calibration, accuracy and limitation tolerances can be confirmed. This action would be necessary to avoid load rejection and potential liability claims.

The accuracy of temperature measurement depends on how and where the probe thermometer is placed. If wrongly placed, the

AFCCC

A probe thermometer must penetrate to a minimum depth of 2.5cm. reading will be inaccurate.

The only accurate food temperature is core or pulp temperature, where a probe is inserted into the food, because the surface temperature may be warmer or cooler than the temperature in the rest of the food.

To ensure the most accurate temperature measurement, these steps must first be taken: • ensure the device has been properly calibrated; • verify the display; • check the battery and if replacing, always calibrate; • stabilise the temperature of the sensor and pay attention to the temperature delay and radiation heat; • pre-cool the thermometer

prior to the test to equalise the temperature of the probe to that of the product’s surrounding air temperature thus avoiding heat being conducted from the probe to the product which can result in inaccurate temperature measurement; and • clean the thermometer before and after the test by washing it with cool soapy water or clean with alcohol wipes and then allow to air dry or wipe it dry with a clean cloth or paper towel.

Meat and poultry are the most refrigeration intensive foods, and are subject to the most stringent standards and regulatory scrutiny.

There are traps for the unwary when checking the temperature of these foods. Bone, fat and gristle

have different thermal properties and heat transfer rates.

If the food is irregularly shaped, the temperature should be checked in several places.

The probe should not penetrate the packaging because this could contaminate the contents and damage the sensor to the point where it delivers incorrect readings.

The probe should be disinfected before and after measuring products.

Use dedicated disinfecting cloths or hold the sensor in boiling water and wipe with clean, disposable paper.

At critical control points, such as a loading dock that is exposed to ambient airflow, the temperature of the outer surface of the package cannot be relied upon.

Correct temperatures can only be

taken in a refrigerated space.

At loading docks, temperature measurement can be taken with a probe placed between two packs while they are still in the truck or trailer. Leave the probe in place for at least one minute before reading the results.

AFCCC research shows that quality management systems that demand temperature validation through a series of refrigerated events in the cold chain are not being followed or even taken seriously by many companies involved in the delivery and management of cold food.

This abuse is leading to massive food wastage, estimated to be costing the country $20 billion every year. F

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 47

AFGC Making sure Austrralian exports meet Asian food labelling standards is important according to the AFGC.

Programs to open up Asia export opportunities The AFGC is stepping up practical assistance to help food and beverage manufacturers comply with Asian export requirements.

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ustralia’s food, beverage and grocery manufacturers enjoy an enviable international reputation for quality products and many have found new markets beyond our shores.

As demand for quality products increases among the growing middle classes of many Asian countries, more local manufacturers can consider the opportunities that might exist beyond the domestic market.

This year, two new projects from the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) will help Australian manufacturers better understand the opportunities and requirements in the booming markets of China and South Korea and perhaps set the scene for a successful overseas expansion.

The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) signed in 2015 enabled closer trade relations and helped develop trade opportunities for both countries.

China is now Australia’s largest food export destination and continues to be an important growth market.

In February, the AFGC launched a food and beverage labelling compliance guide for exports to

China. Developed in collaboration with specialist China export consultants Peloris Global Sourcing, the China Food Import Compliance Guide serves as a tool for Australian food and beverage exporters to help understand and navigate the requirements for securing China label and regulatory compliance for their goods.

As the guide illustrates, China’s food labelling laws have been designed to protect the health and wellbeing of consumers by ensuring clear and unambiguous food labelling content, messaging, and formatting. Through a greater understanding of the principles underlying these regulations, exporters will be better equipped to meet China’s label requirements.

More information about the guide can be found on the AFGC website.

Manufacturers wishing to know more about export opportunities in South Korea will find a wealth of information in a webinar and roundtable series being run during 2021 by the AFGC. Developed with the support of the Australia-Korea Foundation (AKF), this new program

48 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

offers detailed insights into the South Korean market and potential contact points.

For any Australian food or grocery manufacturer considering their next overseas move, South Korea, is one to consider. South Korea is the fourth-largest export market for Australian processed food and beverages and is growing strongly. Expert insights into Korean consumer behaviour and market trends, as well as valuable opportunities to build contacts and connections, are available through a webinar and a series of roundtables starting in April. The program has been designed by the AFGC and made possible by a grant from the AKF. It will utilise deep-dive industry insights prepared by global market intelligence group Mintel. The program starts with a webinar on April followed by roundtables in May, June and September. More details will soon be available on the AFGC website.

The China and South Korea projects follow the released by AFGC in 2020 of a specialised guide to opportunities in the Indonesia

market. Indonesia is a top-10 export destination for Australia’s food and beverage sector and the Food and Beverage Export Guide to Indonesia is helping Australian manufacturers understand and explore new opportunities as the market grows into the future.

AFGC deputy CEO Geoffrey Annison said Australia’s food and grocery manufacturers are well positioned to capitalise on opportunities in Asia.

“Our food, beverage and grocery manufacturers have access to highquality raw materials and produce and they use high-level skills and technologies to make premium products that are perfectly placed to satisfy the surging demand in markets such as South Korea and China,” Annison said.

“Projects such as the China labelling guide and the AKF-supported South Korea webinar and roundtable series offer valuable insights and information that can deliver a significant advantage to Australian manufacturers considering doing business in those markets and we urge them to take part.” F

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The device features 8 x M12 X-coded connectors for GbE and certified rolling stock EN50155 & EN50121-3-2 that caters to rolling stock’s application including traffic safety systems, passenger information systems, broadcasting systems as well as surveillance systems, and more.

Furthermore, with the new Intel Gen 10 Comet Lake and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 or GTX 1060 technology’s performance, ABOX-5210(G)-M12X can support smart public transit systems, offering solutions to enhance the operational efficiency of railways and railway station management.

Key features: • Intel GEN 10th 10 Cores Xeon W-1290TE/i9-10900TE; • NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU; • 8 x DI, and 4 x DO and 3 x RS-232/422/485; • 1 x M.2 B key, 1 x M.2 A-E Key and 3 x MiniPCIe expansion slots; • dual hot swappable SATA storage RAID 0,1,5; • 9-48V DC input and operating temperature: -40-70°C; • 2 x RJ45 ports and 8 x M12 X coded connectors for GbE (optional 8 x PoE); and • rolling stock EN50155 and EN50121-3-2 certified.

Backplane Systems (02) 9457 6400 www.backplane.com.au

Liquid nozzle for cooling, washing and rinsing EXAIR’s new 3/8-inch FullStream liquid atomising spray nozzle provides a full cone spray pattern for pressurised liquids. This inexpensive and versatile nozzle offers the ideal solution for cooling, cleaning, washing, rinsing and dust suppression applications for industry. With a vaneless, tangential flow design, the FullStream has wide open internal features to resist clogging while simultaneously producing uniform distribution in a round pattern with medium to large droplets. The compact right-angle design operates at up to 250 PSIG liquid pressure, and functions seamlessly with liquids containing particulate.

With FullStream nozzles, the liquid is supplied directly into the body of the nozzle creating a swirling action within a vortex chamber. This vortex produces the desired spray pattern when the machined nozzle breaks the liquid surface tension, and exits the orifice in a round, controlled spray angle.

Stainless-steel construction provides durability and corrosion resistance, with operating temperatures up to 427°C. FullStream nozzles are CE compliant, and are also available in ¼-inch with a variety of flow rates.

Compressed Air Australia 1300 787 688 www.caasafety.com.au

www.foodmag.com.au | March 2021 | Food&Beverage Industry News 49

NEW PRODUCTS

Compact ST75 thermal mass flow meter The versatile, green-friendly ST75 air/gas flow meter from Fluid Components International (FCI) accurately and reliably measures natural gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), and mixed waste gases in small line sizes to optimise brewing fermentation processes, product quality and overall plant efficiency.

Today’s modern breweries not only produce a fantastic product, but they also focus on reducing their carbon footprint by tightly controlling natural gas usage, residual CO2 levels and mixed waste gases. Accurate gas flow measurement helps breweries keep their customers happy while controlling costs and meeting environmental compliance requirements.

This meter helps breweries optimise their complex fermentation tank steam heating processes by accurately measuring the ratio of boiler burner fuel gas to air for efficient combustion.

The flow meter is equally well suited for low flow and higher flow operations in industrial applications and operates over a wide flow range, from 0.01 to 950 NCMH depending on line size. For variable process conditions, the ST75 is factory preset to a wide turndown range at 10:1 to 100:1.

With built-in temperature compensation, the unit maintains consistent performance in rugged, hot industrial process environments. It features accuracy to ±2 per cent of reading with ±0.5 per cent repeatability over varying process temperatures in line sizes from 6 to 51 mm. With a Vortab Flow Conditioner added as a spool piece, the Models ST75V or ST75AV

are ideal for installations with limited straight-run and/or for operating in transitional flow ranges with accuracy of ± 1 per cent reading, ± 0.5 per cent full scale.

The ST75 Flow Meter’s precision flow element has a no-moving parts design that employs platinum RTD sensors embedded in equal mass thermowells with microprocessor electronics calibrated to laboratory standards for a wide range of clean and dirty gases. This meter’s advanced sensor design offers triple outputs: flow rate, temperature and totalised flows. It is available in either an inline or insertion configuration.

Ideal for fermentation vessels or tanks, ovens, heat chambers, and furnaces, the meter features remote mounting capabilities for hazardous or crowded plant environments. The remote mount transmitter, which includes a full digital display, can be mounted up to 15 metres away from its thermal mass flow sensor in the process piping and connected via two 0.50-inch FNPT or M conduit connections.

The unit’s fully scalable dual 4-20mA standard outputs are user assignable to flow rate and/or temperature and a 0-1kHz pulse output of total flow. The instrument can be ordered for input power with either 18 to 36 Vdc or 85 to 265 Vac, with or without a built-in LCD digital display.

AMS Instrumentation and Calibration (03) 9017 8225 www.ams-ic.com.au

ICP DAS’ WISE-5236M Intelligent IIoT edge controller ICP Australia has introduced the ICP DAS WISE-5236M Intelligent IIoT edge controller.

WISE-5236M (Web Inside, Smart Engine) functions as a control unit for use in remote logic control and monitoring in various industrial applications. WISE5236M offers a user-friendly and intuitive web site interface that allows users to implement IF-THEN-ELSE control logic on controllers just a few clicks away; no programming is required.

With the built-in IF-THEN-ELSE logic engine, WISE-5236M can execute the automation logic stably and efficiently, and it also provides mathematic operation, Schedule, and Email alarm message sending functions. WISE-5236M provides more supports in I/O module connection, I/O data logging, and IoT platform integration.

It allows connection to XV-board, DCON I/O modules, and Modbus TCP/RTU Slave modules all together. The range of selection options enables flexibility in I/O module integration to meet the requirements from various applications.

WISE-5236M provides the MQTT client, it can directly connect to the public IoT Cloud platform (such as Microsoft Azure or IBM Bluemix) and MQTT Broker. WISE5236M also provides well-thought-out CGI command functions to integrate with IP cameras for the Access Control applications.

Based on the ability as I/O module connection ability, Intelligent logic control, Data logging, and various communication protocols supported (SNMP, MQTT, and Modbus TCP/RTU), WISE-5236M can help the IT/MIS/MES/SCADA system to manage the field side I/O modules and sensors efficiently in the application such as unmanned facility room monitoring, intelligent factory and environment monitoring. WISE-5236M is not just a concentrator of I/O modules and sensors; it is also a Gateway to transfer the sensor data to the IoT Cloud platform. All of these make WISE-5236M the best choice in the IoT age.

Key features: • runs on browsers, no extra software tool is required; • no more Programming, web pages provided for control logic editing; • IF-THEN-ELSE logic rules execution ability; • support XV-board.

50 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2021 | www.foodmag.com.au

• s upport DCON or Modbus RTU slave modules (up to 32, COM3 and COM4 can connect to Max. 16 modules individually); • support Modbus TCP slave modules (Up to 16); • timer and schedule functions supported; • data logger and data files send back function supported; • active I/O sending function for real-time data transfer; • CGI command sending and receiving function supported for IP camera and network device; • support line and email message sending; • support WeChat message sending; • support connection with IoT cloud platform (Microsoft Azure and IBM Bluemix); and • support IoTstar CMS. ICP Electronics Australia (02) 9457 6011 www.icp-australia.com.au

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