FLEISCHWIRTSCHAFT international 3/2017

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Fleischwirtschaft international 3_2017
Industry News
Gea
Innovation guarantees quality control
GEA from Duesseldorf, Germany,
kicks off anew era in quality control
with the GEA OxyCheck, the
world’sfirst in-line measurement
system that checks the oxygen
content and seal integrity of every
single food product packaged in
modified atmosphere. What makes
this innovative is that each MAP
OxyCheck is the world’sfirst non-invasive oxygen measurement system for MAP.
pack (MAP =Modified Atmosphere
Packaging) is non-invasivelyinspected
after sealing on athermoformer
instead of having to be
damaged by aneedle as was general
practice up until this point.
This makes costlyspot checks
obsolete, films and seals remain
intact and there is no loss of product
or materials. More than half of
all retail fresh food –meat, fish,
poultry, fruits and vegetables,
confectionery and baked goods as
well as dairy products –ispackaged
in amodified atmosphere.
During this process, agas mixture
of carbon dioxide and nitrogen is
injected into apackage prior to
sealing. This slows down decay,
thus extending the shelf life of the
packaged product. Asmall percentage
of oxygen remains in the
package by virtue of the process,
but this may not exceed athreshold
to avoid earlyspoilage of the
goods. OxyCheck carries out the
important task of monitoring the
residual oxygen content directly
during production on the PowerPak
thermoformer.
The technology uses asensor
spot made of apolystyrene-based
fluorescent dye that is printed on
the inside of the film. Similar to an
indicator strip, the wavelength of
the dye changes depending upon
the oxygen content inside the
package. Sensors on the PowerPak
thermoformer activate this sensor
spot and then take areading. GEA
has developed aspecial method for
calculating the oxygen concentration
based on the light emitted and
the temperature. The new measurement
system has no effect on
either the line speed or the
throughput of the PowerPak. Up
until now, spot checks have been
carried out to measure the oxygen
content in MAP –which means that
less than 0.5% of the packs manufactured
are typicallytested. Spot
checks involve the removal of
packs from the line and their inspection
through an invasive
probe. When apack does not meet
specifications, the line is halted
and all packs preceding it up to the
last pass are destroyed. In contrast,
the OxyCheck process is
completelynon-invasive and neither
the product nor the packaging
materials go to waste.
//www.gea.com
Sealpac
Solutions for single households
Anew development by Sealpac GmbH from Oldenburg, Germany, concerns
the use of two-compartment skin trays, where each compartment is
sealed individually. Sealing takes place by means of Sealpac’sunique
OnTrayCut system, which was specificallydeveloped for skin applications.
This guarantees an immaculate presentation at retail, both from avisual
and tactile point of view. Due to the perforation between the compartments,
each portion can easilybeseparated from the other.Ifdesired, the
EasyPeelPoint can be added to allow for easy opening of the skin pack.
With this new tray, the company addresses the growing demand for efficient
packaging of smaller portions of food, mainlycoming from the increasing
number of single households.
Another novelity is FlatSkin. Here, instead of the common plastic tray, a
printed cardboard carrier is used that has been coated with apolymeric
protective layer.After use, the layer is easilyremoved from the carrier to
allow for separate disposal. As FlatSkin uses ahigh degree of recyclable
materials, the system convinces from an ecological point of view.
//www.sealpacinternational.com
Indasia
Making sausages easily
The new Skind Easy technology by
Indasia Gewürzwerk from Georgsmarienhütte,
Gemany, makes it
easy to encase sausages in hydrocolloid
casings at alow investment
cost with no need for coextrusion
equipment.
The high prices of natural skins,
create challenges in acostconscious
market, which is why
alginate casing systems have
become increasinglypopular.
Such systems are now commonly
used in many countries, especially
where ethnic and religious requirements
play arole. Many
producers remain wary of alginate
casings due to the high investment
costs associated with earlier
systems that required co-extrusion
equipment. Those systems
consist of two vats each with its
own extrusion tube, acalcium
bath, and ameat hanger.While
the sausage meat is extruded
through one tube, the second vat
extrudes the alginate, enclosing
the meat filling. It then passes
into the calcium bath for fixing.
Ahighlyfunctional hydrocolloid
system is added to the meat
filling.
Skind Easy simplifies this process
considerably, since the highly
functional hydrocolloid system is
added to the meat filling as it is
extruded, eliminating the need for
two extrusion tubes. The alginate
skin is created with just avat, a
calcium bath, and ameat hanger.
The complex hydrocolloid system
has the high resistance to salts
and phosphates necessary to
make this process possible.
//www.indasia.com