Food Engineering articles from January 2002

Food Engineering archives from January 2002

More bills. Who pays? (Editor's Note).
January 1, 2002... ANTI-BIOTERRORISM bills are coming so fast and furiously that -- forget the scorecard -- you need a spreadsheet to keep up. So let's quickly review the status of two major ones: The Safe Food Act, a Senate proposal to consolidate USDA,...

To the Editor. (Editor's Note).
January 1, 2002... To the Editor: In response to Contributing Editor Douglas Powell's recent column (Bitter Harvest: Why the Canadian Wheat Board should reconsider its call to ban genetically engineered wheat; October FE, P. 32), I wish to clarify the...

Sara Lee Coffee & Tea Co.
January 1, 2002... Sara Lee Coffee & Tea Co. is expanding their Suffolk, Va., plant through the additional of a $93 million concentrated liquid coffee production line. This capital investment represents the largest ever undertaken by the company and the product...

Parker Hannifin Corporation's Process Filtration Division.
January 1, 2002... With a new state-of-the-art research and development center and a super-streamlined communications system, Parker Hannifin Corporation's Process Filtration Division is primed for an exciting future of innovation and customer service. Parker has...

JR Simplot Co.
January 1, 2002... JR Simplot Co. has broken ground on a new $80 million potato processing plant near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in Canada. Construction is scheduled to be completed by August of 2003 on this plant that will process 300 million pounds of...

Bush backing biosecurity bill.
January 1, 2002... THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS SUPPORTING A $3.25 BILLION SENATE BILL that would enhance the nation's ability to detect and respond to biological and chemical weapons attacks, according to various administration and news sources. The measure,...

Calendar 2002. (Manufacturing News).
January 1, 2002... February 10-13 3rd Annual Food Automation Conference, The Westin Cypress Creek, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, (630) 694-4347. E-mail: whalenm@ bnp.com 16-19 SNAXPO 2002, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, Snack Food Association (703) 836-4500 March...

Americans head for the kitchen. (Manufacturing News).
January 1, 2002... AFTER NEARLY A DECADE OF YEAR-OVER-YEAR DECLINES, THE NUMBER OF meals Americans prepared at home in 2000 inched upward for the first time since 1991/1992, the last recession, according to NPD Group's 16th Annual Report on Eating Patterns in...

Angelus Sanitary Can Machine Co.
January 1, 2002... Angelus Sanitary Can Machine Co. announced that it has become the majority shareholder of AROL S.p.A. of Italy. AROL is one of the world's leading manufacturers of capping machinery with an installed base of over 8,000 machines worldwide. The...

Open DeviceNet Vendor Association (ODVA).
January 1, 2002... The Open DeviceNet Vendor Association (ODVA), an independent organization that supports the worldwide growth of DeviceNet and EtherNet/IR announced Katherine Voss as executive director of the organization. Prior to joining ODVA, Voss served as...

Industrial Research Team (IRT).
January 1, 2002... Industrial Research Team (IRT) of Montreal, Canada, issued a complete retraction of a report concerning roller chain the company issued in 1999. "No one making any purchasing decisions regarding roller chain should do so, in whole or in part,...

Endress+Hauser.
January 1, 2002... The Endress+Hauser group has acquired all of the shares of Wedgewood Technology, Inc. The San Jose, Calif.-based analysis instrumentation manufacturer is being integrated into Conducta GmbH, the competence center for Endress+Hauser's analysis...

GEI Group, Ltd.
January 1, 2002... Mateer Burt is reorganizing to achieve significant growth, according to John Thatcher, president. Mateer Burt is one of the six companies that constitute GEI Group, Ltd., a global competitor in the packaging and processing machinery industries....

Archer Daniels Midland Co.
January 1, 2002... Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) has named Mark A. Bemis president, ADM Cocoa. He will assume responsibility for the global cocoa business of ADM and will report to Paul Mulhollem, Senior Vice President, ADM Grain, Oilseeds and Cocoa. Bemis...

Stellar Group.
January 1, 2002... David Lane, an Industrial Engineer with The Stellar Group, was recently published in Maynard's Industrial Engineering Handbook. Lane wrote a chapter on common types of material handling equipment used in process and distribution environments,...

Attitudes about irradiation are changing. (Manufacturing News).
January 1, 2002... AMERICAN CONSUMERS MAY BE WARMING UP TO THE idea of irradiation as a result of the technology's ability to eradicate anthrax spores in contaminated U.S. mail, according to a survey by Porter Novelli. Survey results showed that more and more...

Health officials unclear on sources of foodborne illness. (Manufacturing News).
January 1, 2002... What pathogen is the leading cause of foodborne illness in the U.S.? Salmonella? E.coli 0157:H7? If you guessed either of these, you're wrong, but you're not alone. According to Centers for Disease Control, the four pathogens most commonly...

FDA exploring safety of "cloned" food. (Manufacturing News).
January 1, 2002... ALTHOUGH THE U.S. FOOD AND DRUG Administration (FDA) has asked companies that have cloned animals not to introduce the animals, their offspring, or milk or eggs into either human or animal milk supplies, the agency recently orchestrated a...

OSHA record-keeping rule takes effect. (Manufacturing News).
January 1, 2002... THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND Health Administration's (OSHA) rule on record-keeping for work place injuries went into effect on January 1 as scheduled. However, OSHA has postponed three provisions of the rule until January 1, 2003 and...

Smart tags' time arrives: growth of case-ready programs is spurring use of time-temperature tags. (Food Packaging).
January 1, 2002... TAGS THAT RELY ON CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL reactions to indicate temperature abuse to processed food have been commercially available for more than a decade, and although food manufacturers in some countries use the technology, the U.S. has been...

On-the-Ball sourcing at Coors Brewing. (Food Packaging).
January 1, 2002... A SILVER BULLET, FULLY LOADED, CAN travel up to 500 miles, but empty ones have traveled three times as far for almost 15 years. That's the distance Coors Brewing Co. ships empty Coors Light cans to its Elkhorn, Va., packaging plant, Food...

One big happy trade show again. (Food Packaging).
January 1, 2002... ABOUT 100 PACKAGING COMPANIES were frozen out of the 2000 Pack Expo/IEFP show, causing sponsors to conclude, "McCormick Place ain't big enough for the both of us." Plans for this year's edition of the biennial trade show called for the...

New biosecurity measures proposed. (Regulatory Watch).
January 1, 2002... IN THE WAKE OF ITS WAR ON TERRORISM, THE Bush administration is taking a number of steps to improve security of the nation's food supply. The Bioterrorism and Emergency Response Act of 2001, an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic...

Enlightened processor: lighting upgrade sheds light on potato defects. (Field Reports).
January 1, 2002... CAN THE QUALITY OF LIGHTING IN A FOOD processing environment help employees improve their work habits? At Basic American Foods, Inc., in Shelley, Idaho, electrical manager Rick Lake believed that a lighting upgrade would not only help...

Lean, mean, energy machines: last year's California energy calamity was a wakeup call to improve efficiency in food and beverage plants. (Cover Story).
January 1, 2002... California's energy crisis bears an uncomfortable resemblance to Gary Condit and other transitory news stories of 2001: after a few months in the national limelight, both were vague and distant memories by the time winter rolled around. ...

Help wanted: with the recession taking its toll, finding food plant workers isn't as difficult as it was a just a few years ago. But finding qualified workers is another story.
January 1, 2002... Are you a self-starter with three years experience in deboning poultry? Do you have outstanding leadership ability? Are you promotable? Bilingual? If so, then Bob Leicht, owner of Management Services Employment Consultants, wants you. His...

Back to business: Sept. 11 slowed but didn't stop food industry professionals from participating in October's biennial event. (World Wide Food Expo Review).
January 1, 2002... EVERY TRADE SHOW AND CONVENTION IN THE WAKE OF THE SEPT. 11 ATTACKS ON NEW YORK AND THE PENTAGON EXPERIENCED ATTENDANCE WOES, AND THE WORLD WIDE FOOD EXPO (WWFE) WAS NO EXCEPTION. THE OFFICIAL COUNT OF 24,000 REGISTERED ATTENDEES WAS OFF 20...

2002 International poultry exposition.
January 1, 2002... Why did the processor cross the globe? To get to the International Poultry Exposition, which kicks off this January 16 in Atlanta. Some 22,330 industry members and 1,100 exhibitors from around the world converged on Atlanta's Georgia World...

Tools of the new trade: as poultry processors await full-scale rollout of HIMP, equipment suppliers are readying the technical tools to make it practical. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... Poultry processors boast that theirs is in the most automated segment of the food industry, and it's difficult to argue otherwise. But as highly developed as America's chicken and turkey plants have become, the best is yet to come. Aided...

Fill-By-Weight. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... All-Fill's Fill-By-Weight Filling Systems include versatile Model BD Semi-Automatic Bulk & Dribble Fillers for filling large mouth open bags with food and chemical products; and the Model BD Automatic Bulk & Dribble Fillers for filling flat...

Auger filler. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... The 3500 Net Weigh series of Digitronic Auger Fillers was developed for packagers of food who fill dry products by weight rather than by volume. This addition to the servo drive product line will substantially decrease waste in the fill...

Replacement catalog. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... Auger Filling Machine Replacement Catalog has been designed to allow auger filling equipment customers to quickly identify, specify, and order replacement parts for their machinery. The easy to use 32-page guide consists of 12 individual...

Volumetric feeding. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... Vibra Screw Inc., a leading manufacturer of equipment and systems for precision processing of dry materials, has announced availability of their new Type LBB Volumetric Feeder. A hybrid that combines the accuracy of a weigh feeder with the...

Filling flexibility. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... Waukesha Cherry Valve model W63TB features a 3-position actuator, especially suited for filling tanks or other containers where a bulk/dribble-type fill is required. The actuator can be positioned for high-speed filling and then switched to...

Bulk bag filler. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... The first bulk bag filler to receive USDA acceptance is a twin-centerpost unit developed by Flexicon Corporation. Evaluation of the filler was performed by the USDA's Dairy Grading Branch of the USDA/AMS/Dairy Programs Department. Although a...

High-speed filling. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... Elopak's Pure-Pak U-M240 combines high-speed filling with maximum precision. The 24,000-cph Pure-Pak mini Cross-section filler accommodates 4-, 6-, 8- and 10-oz. Cartons. The U-M240 filler uses a dual line, triple carton indexing system,...

Filler/capper. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... The Clean Filling Line, including a 28-head rotary bottle rinser linked with a 28-head weigh filler and 8-head capper monoblock, is capable of speeds up to 260 bottles per minute depending on bottle size and product characteristics. The 28-head...

ESL filler. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... Scholle Corporation is offering a new high-speed rotary bag-in-box ESL filler in partnership with Fogg Filler Co. The FF9000 ESL Series fills at speeds up to sixty 3-gallon bags per minute. The FF9010 ESL is a ten-head ESL filler that can work...

Automatic filler. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... The MPFSC 120-01 consolidated filling system has been developed with the food processor in mind. The more compact design responds to the needs of food processors with limited space on their production lines. The MPF fillers deposit products...

Angular dial filler. (Focus on Filling Equipment).
January 1, 2002... Unlike flat fillers, FEMC's angular dial filler for IQF products such as vegetables, fruits, meats and dry products, does not use a scraper to level product which can cause product damage and adversely effect weight control. Due to the system's...

Tunnel freezer. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... The Advanced Fluidization Freezer assures excellent freezing quality and reduced shrinkage loss by continuously agitating the product during the crusting stage and the fluidization freezing stage. The positive and precise conveying of the...

Heat transfer fluid. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... Replacing MultiTherm's longstanding IG-2 fluid, the MultiTherm IG-4 affords users with a safe, durable and economical heat transfer fluid. Non-toxic, it is designed for use in closed-loop, liquid-phase heating systems up to 600 degrees F and in...

Pipe sealing cord. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... The Loctite 55 Pipe Sealing Cord is a non-curing, coated multifilament thread that is wound directly from the dispensing package onto and into the threads of the pipe to quickly and effectively seal against air or liquid leaks. While the strong...

Large-capacity weigher. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... Ishida's new large-capacity Millennium multihead weigher packages foodservice-size portions of frozen meat, fish and poultry with near zero product giveaway at unprecedented production speeds. The new CCW-M-214W-S/70-WP weigher's 7000cc hoppers...

Mixing and blending tanks. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... The DCI Dynamixer is designed to mix dry solids, semi-solids or liquids into a slurry or liquid product. This high-speed mixer/blender may also be used to blend, disperse, reconstitute, dissolve, re-hydrate, pre-break or rerun soluble solids,...

Tote bin washing machine. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... Unikon's K-200 is a washing machine that can be used to clean tote bins with a capacity of 200 litres. A special model is available for bigger bins. This robust washing machine has been constructed using the finest materials. Over 30 years of...

Yogurt production. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... Traditional production methods for stirred-style yogurt involves breaking the curd following incubation with agitation and passing the mass through a smoothing sieve or valve to eliminate protein grits and to improve the final product texture....

Soft drink industry printer. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... The Domino A300 SE has been designed to achieve maximum production capacity for carbonated drink manufacturers thanks to its new coding solution. Beverage manufacturers are assured of complete reliability and efficiency on the production line...

Increase operator safety. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... The uni 879 Safety Finger chain addresses the safety demands of packaging and handling applications by protecting personnel working in close proximity to moving chain slats. Using a cover face to form the bottom in recessed areas of the...

Scrape-surface agitation. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... Most agitation systems either lift from the bottom or pull down from the top. Lee's Double-Motion Inclined Mixes does both. Its combined action of a double-motion, counter-rotating agitator and that of a gentle blender thoroughly folds and...

AC motor brochure. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... A new Calibre AC motor brochure from Rockwell Automation focuses on the features and benefits of this revolutionary new reliance Electric brand product. The four-page, four-color brochure helps readers find a new edge to meet industry's AC...

Metering pumps. (Technology Update).
January 1, 2002... seepex range MD metering pumps are now available with corrosion-resistant metals and plastics. Rotating parts are available in 316 stainless steel, Hastelloy C4, titanium and Kynar. Casings are available in HDPE, 316 stainless steel and Halar...

Unseen by the human eye: vision-system advancements soon may pay off with commercial equipment for automated poultry inspection. (Engineering R&D).
January 1, 2002... THE HUMAN EYE HAS BEEN THE ONLY OPTION for grading carcasses in poultry plants and rejecting those with unacceptable defects. Given continuous line speeds and the nature of these inspections, some observers question the precision with which...