Home -> Top Editors
Top Editors
Database Companies
Search 31.309 producers and exporters of Foods, beverages and agriculture productsBalkan Food & Drinks 2007, Balkan Packaging 2007
Via Expo
INTRODUCTION
Latest innovations were displayed at Balkan Food & Drinks and Balkan PAC, which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, between 21-24 November 2007. The emphasis remained very much on the perfect marketing opportunities for new partnerships and joint ventures, an overview of modern technology and versatile solutions
The 10-th jubilee edition featured companies from 22 countries, who demonstrated a wide range of food, drink and equipment, packaging, packaging and filling lines, machinery, etc.
EXHIBITIONS IN A NUTSHELL
Represented companies from 22 countries
2 National participations: Italy and Czech Republic
3250 visitors from 25 countries
56% top management
90% came to do business, either to find partners or to re-new relations with existing ones
32 specialists attended the training seminar ‘How to prepare a project for the EU programs’
70 experts went to the Export Forum
Innovations at IFFA
By Maureen Byrne
IFFA once again proved itself to be an excellent event for companies involved in all aspects of meat production and packaging
From 5 to 10 May, Messe Frankfurt was the focal point for visitors to the IFFA exhibition, which this year was more successful than ever. Exhibitors were delighted with the quality and quantity of contacts made with professionals looking for
innovations and solutions in the meat sector.
The fair occupied 120,000 m2 of floor space. There were 913 exhibitors, who welcomed 61,478 trade visitors, representing a 7% increase in numbers over the previous show in 2004, when 57,534 attended. After Germany, the top European visitor nations were Russia, Spain and Italy; and the leading overseas nations were the USA, Brazil, Australia and Japan.
The whole meat production spectrum was covered by exhibitors, including slaughtering, processing, packaging, ingredients, testing, control, and safety/hygiene equipment.
In the added value processing sector, there were some interesting innovations from Hoja. For low fat frying of a variety of meats, the company uses cast iron frying surfaces to give a ‘home made’ taste. Jörg Hoja explained: “Many companies use Teflon surfaces for frying, but that doesn’t give the taste of frying. Our machines can
run up to 300oC, which reduces frying loss (for some products down to 5%). The surface of the meat is seared to give a crisp crust and retain the juices so that it looks and tastes fried.”
Filling for the future
By Claire Rowan
Filling technology is becoming faster, more accurate and more efficient
every year as suppliers innovate to meet the demands of the market
Beverage manufacturers are continuing to innovate to meet the demands of modern drink consumers. Smoothies, tropical flavoured fruit drinks and near waters, health drinks and energy drinks all jostle for position with traditional favourites throughout Europe, and technology has to keep pace and offer continuously greater flexibility, high throughputs, and ease of cleaning and changeover.
The trend towards healthy and natural beverages in plastic bottles in particular is putting pressure on manufacturers to optimise cold filling techniques that preserve the quality of the end product without the need for preservatives and avoiding the damage possibly caused to sensitive components by hot filling.
KHS’s new filling system, which picked up the Gold award at the Intervitis Interfructa exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany in April, was specifically developed for aseptic cold filling of non-alcoholic beverages in plastic bottles at a rate of up to 60,000 bottles per hour. Said to be the first system of its kind, KHS’s Innofill DNRV draws on a dry sterilisation process and involves the automation of the traditionally manual operations found in conventional filling plants, such as the rapid changeover from normal pressure to counterpresure filling; the changeover of bottle mouth sizes; and cleaning in place regimes. Full automation of these functions has been designed to reduce any intervention in the isolator area, and therefore downtime.
Healthy ingredients at Vitafoods
Food and Beverage International
Vitafoods provides the focus for the nutraceuticals and functional foods industry in Geneva in May, and will provide the backdrop for an array of new product developments for this dynamic sector
Vitafoods, which is billed as the global nutraceutical event, will be celebrating its 10th birthday this year as it opens its doors from 8 to 10 May, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Already accounting for more than 5,000m2 of floor space - an increase of 20% on last year - the exhibition will, for the second year - run alongside the Finished Products Expo. There are 415 exhibitors taking part this year, 16% of which are new to the event, which will provide the venue for the industry's showcase of ingredients for nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, and functional food and drinks.
"As more and more people across the globe take greater interest in their wellbeing, diet disease links, and rising health care costs, this industry will continue to flourish," said Vicky Coope, event director, who pointed out that the langer players such as Danisco, Berkem and Chr Hansen were new to the show this year. "Vitafood's appeal has grown not only among visitors, but also among exhibitors, and this year the show will have an even higher number of leading international companies."
Sharp packaging
By Lynda SearbyGlass packaging might have lost out to PET in recent years, but it’s fighting back, thanks to its premium and environmental credentials.
In recent years, the rise of PET in food and beverage applications has hit the glass packaging industry hard. According to Euromonitor data, the international glass packaging market lost nearly 6% of its share to rigid plastic bottles in the food and drinks sector between 1998 and 2003.
While Sharon Crayton, marketing manager with Rockware Glass, acknowledges that glass packaging has seen its share of the mainstream soft drinks market eroded by PET, she is quick to emphasise that this isn’t the full picture.
“The food and drinks sector of the market has, since 1998, maintained a steady performance, with some segments showing strong growth. At the premium end of the soft drinks market, for example, we are seeing a renaissance of glass, and there’s healthy demand coming from the premium beer market,” she said.
The quality credentials of glass have certainly allowed it to weather storms in the past, and look likely to assure its future popularity with consumers.
Advanced Instruments to Feature Industry-Leading Food & Dairy Product Testing Solutions
Advanced InstrumentsNORWOOD, MASS. - July 30, 2007 - Advanced Instruments and its subsidiaries, Spiral Biotech and Delta Instruments, will highlight a wide range of leading dairy and food products testing and analysis solutions, and present the results of two new studies, at the 2007 IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) Annual Meeting & Food Expo Advance Program.
“The solutions range from the introduction of a revolutionary automation system for dairy herd improvement labs to the world's only 3-minute fluorometric method with multiple international agency approvals - and more," said Ken Micciche, director of marketing at Advanced Instruments. "All however, lead the industry in their respective applications. In terms of accuracy, reliability, efficiency, ease of use, and customer support, Advanced Instruments products are proven solutions."
In addition, as part of the Expo's Scientific Technical Program, Advanced Instruments will present the results of two new cryoscopy-focused studies during the scheduled Poster Sessions:
The session titled “The Effect of Bronopol on the Freezing Point and Impedance of Milk Samples” will focus on the results of a study designed to quantify the effect of adding a preservative to a milk sample to be tested cryoscopically, and
The session titled “The Effect of Raw Milk Storage Conditions on Freezing Point Depression, pH, and Impedance” will detail the findings of a study to show the effects that storage conditions have on FPD, pH, and impedance of raw milk.
Lean manufacturing
By Claire Rowan
As margins come under increasing pressure, manufacturers are forced to seek ways to reduce losses in time, material, energy and quality in order to sustain profitability
Processing priorities have changed dramatically over the years and monitoring and reducing waste is now critical to survival for any manufacturer.
“Fifteen or twenty years ago, quality was key, and process development was focused on reducing manual labour,” said Ulla Edling, former production director, Carlsberg Sweden at the Food Factory of the Future conference held at SIK (the Swedish Institute for Food & Biotechnology). “Then came stock turnover as a priority. Now these are all taken for granted, and our attention has turned to lean manufacturing.”
Ms Edling stressed that anything that is done in the plant that a customer is not prepared to pay for is a loss. “All unnecessary transporting or handling of product, too much stock, any defects, rejects or rework, as well as everything you throw away on the line: energy, sugar, packaging etc constitutes a loss,” said Ms Edling. “If your quality is not up to standard, or if the production stops for any reason, for however long, be it because you don’t have enough material or your machine was not serviced properly, this contributes to your losses.”
New food products from around the world
By David JagoHealth & wellness coupled with convenience and novel flavours underpinned new product launches last year, with beverages in particular enjoying the greatest launch activity
The number of worldwide introductions of food and drink products grew by nearly 20% in 2006, to reach just over 105,000. This represents almost 300 new food and drink
products every day, or 12 launches an hour, every hour, somewhere in the world.
Europe as a region still accounts for the highest number of launches, nearly 40% of
the total, although the region saw the lowest rate of growth in 2006, with introductions up by just 14% compared to the previous year.
Asia Pacific saw the greatest increase in new product launches, up by about 30%, and
forcing North America into third position by accounting for a quarter of all introductions worldwide.
Beverages of various kinds made up about 16% of all introductions last year, representing the largest single category for new product development (NPD) activity,
which reflects the extremely diverse nature of the market.
The other most active categories were those driven mainly by impulse purchase and indulgence, namely bakery, confectionery, and snacks, with dairy and sauces also continuing to see high numbers of new products being introduced.
Supply chain is top of mind
By Tarun Patel, Head of Supply Chain, IGD
When the IGD recently asked some leading decision makers in the retail logistics and supply chain sector to outline the key challenges for the next two years, the two issues that came to the fore were Retail Ready Packaging (RRP) and Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR).
RRP, which is packaging that is custom-designed to take products from the manufacturer to the consumer more quickly, easily and cheaply, has become something of a Holy Grail in recent years. Retailers are more aware than ever that the last 50m to the shelf is the most expensive and the least controllable part of the total supply chain, and RRP can play a role in minimising costs at this point.
Although RRP can bring significant benefits to the industry, it involves start-up costs for suppliers and implementing it successfully also requires very clear communication along the whole supply chain. Trading partners need to be clear about the most appropriate form of packaging that is right not only for the product but crucially for the formal of the store - in terms of size of shelf, handling equipment and product facing - as well as the overall look and feel of the product on shelf.
EFSA“S zoonoses recommendations
European Food Safety AuthorityAt the end of last year the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishetd its first annual report on infectious diseases transmissible from animals to humans (zoonoses)
Zoonoses affect over 380,000 EU citizens a year. Based on a new report, at the request of the Council of Ministers of the European Union {EU), EFSA has now for the first time set out a series of scientific conclusions and recommendations, and risk communications initiatives to prevent and reduce zoonotic diseases in the EU. The Authority has also identified aspects of the zoonoses reporting system that should be improved.
The Opinion was prepared by EFSA's Scientific Panels on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) and Animal Health and Welfare (AHAW) in close co-operation with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) which provided input on the recommendations related to human data.
The two most commonly reported zoonotic diseases in 2004 were Salmonelltosis and Campylobacteriosis accounting for 192,703 and 183,961 reported cases respectively. According to the EFSA Opinion, the major sources of Salmonella are contaminated eggs and egg products and contaminated poultry meat, EFSA therefore supports the Community strategy of setting reduction targets for Salmonella in poultry.