Noni approve as Noval Foods in EU

The tropically-sourced Morinda citrifolia or noni plant including beverages, beauty, and weight loss lines, has already received approval for its noni juice and its noni leaves under the bloc’s Novel Foods regulation.

The novel foods approval decision of 21 April published in the Journal of the European Union states that: “…On the basis of the scientific assessment, it is established that the fruit puree and concentrate from Morinda citrifolia (Noni) complies with the criteria laid down in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 258/97.”

Stevia Sweetener

The report, The Global Market for Intense Sweeteners, says that stevia-derived sweeteners are driving the move away from additives and ingredients that are perceived as artificial, and it already accounts for 14 percent of the intense sweeteners market, up from just one percent in 2007.

“Stevia represents one of the most dynamic sectors within the global intense sweeteners market by far, with sales having risen dramatically since the middle of the last decade as a result of increasing uptake within the US food and drinks industry,” the report said.

Tetra Pak helps manufacturer to safe cost.

Tetra Pak has claimed that its Operational Cost Reduction (OCR) programme for dairy and juice firms cuts the cost of running a packaging line by an average of 12 per cent.

The processing and packaging firm first introduced the programme back in 2008 to help customers running dairy, juice, and nector factories to drive effeciecies and cut costs. By setting up the consulting service, Tetra Pak also wanted to extend its own role from that of a supplier to a trusted partner.

Devise to track milk origin, no more fraud.

The new Milk Origin Verification Solution (MOVS) is based on the fact that every country has a unique stable isotope signature comprising ratios of varied oxygen, and hydrogen isotopes.

Picarro, the gas analyser supplier said that by working with researchers at Purdue University, IsoForensics has been able to maps stable isotope ratios of regional food and water supplies across the US.

Real time sensor monitor fermentation process.

The APPLES (Advanced Process and Production Light Enabled Sensors) project is run by a consortium comprising GlaxoSmithKline, fermentation technology expert Green Biologics and the Centre for Processing Innovation (CPI).

It is led by Stratophase, a spin-off from the University of Southampton best known for its SpectroSens optical microchip sensor for monitoring fluids in-line.

Dairy contribute 4% of GHG.

Using 2007 data, the FAO found that this figure was 1 969m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent, a standard measure for comparing emissions of different GHGs.

In fact, carbon dioxide is only responsible for a small proportion of the total, especially in developed nations, with methane accounting for 52 percent of the GHG emissions.

The headline 1 969m CO2 equivalent figure translates to 4 per cent of global emissions but when taking meat production from the equation and focusing just on emissions related directly to milk products, the figure was 1 328m tonnes or 2.7 per cent of global emissions.

Ohmic Heating Technology

During ohmic heating, food serves as an electrical resistor, and is rapidly heated by passing an electrical current through it. The electrical energy is dissipated into heat, which results in rapid and uniform heating and eliminates burning, fouling on heat transfer surfaces and overcooking.

The technology was particularly well-suited for heating canned liquid foods containing large particulates, such as soups, stews, and fruit pieces in syrup, in which quality was often compromised by conventional cooking where heat was transmitted to the food by conduction and/or convection. This often caused overheating of the liquid in order to make sure the solids were properly sterilised, said Leadley.

By contrast, ohmic heating volumetrically heated the entire mass of the food, so that the temperature of the particulates was raised at the same speed as the surrounding liquid, creating a higher quality product, and far shorter cooking times, he claimed.

Other potential applications for ohmic heating include treating fruit juices to inactivate proteins; blanching; thawing; starch gelatinisation; speeding up fermentation in dairy production and fruit peeling without chemicals.
However, foods high in fat can present challenges as fat globules are poor conductors due to lack of water and salt.

Ohmic heating is also being trialled by UK firm C-Tech Innovation in partnership with anaerobic digestion company Bioplex to pre-treat sludge and slurry waste containing animal by-products, enabling their safe disposal. (Animal byproducts legislation requires such waste be heated to a minimum of 133°C for 20 minutes at 3-bar pressure.)

C-Tech is also designing ohmic heating systems to treat compost leachate, a liquid that drains out of compost, which must be pasteurised to destroy pathogens, said the firm.

Stevia Challenge in the Beverages Market

The positive opinion issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) last week for stevia extracts with at least 95 per cent purity of steviol glycosides paves the way for EU-wide approval next year.
This news has been greeted by a media buzz and welcoming noises from the stevia suppliers but market data from Mintel suggests that it may only prove significant in the long term.



In the US, a non-objection letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave beverage manufacturers the freedom to start formulating with Rebaudioside A [one of the best-known steviol glycosides] back in late 2008.

Indonesia Palm Oil Deforestation to Blame Biofuel, Not Food.

Political decisions encouraging biofuel production from palm oil is causing deforestation in Indonesia and not the low tonnage sourced by Kit Kat maker Nestlé, according to the chairman of the Swiss based food company.

In reply to a question from a Greenpeace representative about deforestation at Nestlé’s annual general meeting in Lausanne, the food group’s chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe claimed that it is not Nestlé’s 320,000 tonnes of palm oil that brought about deforestation in Asia but a political decision to use food as a source for biofuels.

Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER)

Leading companies and trade groups in the beverage industry have clubbed together to draw up guidance for greenhouse gas (GHG).

Big names from across the industry from Diageo to the Coca-Cola Company and the American Beverage Association joined the BIER to develop the united approach to GHG reporting.


The new document built on existing global protocols including the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and Publically Available Specification 2050 to develop guidance specifically for the beverage sector.

Malaysian Kopi-O Coffee Made from Liberica beans

There's a new coffee on the horizon. The centuries-old Malaysian Kopi, named Asia's best coffee by The Wall Street Journal, is a must-have for serious coffee lovers.

With its distinctive burnt flavor derived from roasting coffee beans with butter and sugar, kopi is quite different from the brews sold throughout the U.S.

Ozone

Because ozone is a safe, powerful disinfectant, it can be used to control biological growth of unwanted organisms in products and equipment used in the food processing industries. Ozone is particularly suited to the food industry because of its ability to disinfect microorganisms without adding chemical by-products to the food being treated, or to the food processing water or atmosphere in which food are stored.

In aqueous solutions, ozone can be used to disinfect equipment, process water, and some foodstuff. In gaseous form, ozone can act as a preservative for certain foods products and can also sanitize food packaging materials. Some products currently being preserved with ozone include eggs during cold storage, fresh fruits and vegetables, and fresh fish.

Until recently, the food processing industry limited its use of ozone mainly to the treatment of bottle water and wastewater because ozone was not approved by the FDA for food applications. Recent actions, however, have cleared away some major barriers to wider applications of ozone. In 1997, through efforts of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the FDA granted ozone with the status of "Generally Recognized As Safe" (GRAS) as a sanitizer and disinfectant for foods. EPRI accomplished this following guidelines set forth by the FDA. The process involved assembling a panel of experts on food, toxicology, and ozone to evaluate scientific and historic information on the use of ozone in food processing. The panel affirmed GRAS classification for ozone "as a sanitizer or disinfectant for foods when used at levels and by methods of application consistent with Good Manufacturing Practices." The FDA does not have to reaffirm the GRAS classification, and food processors now free to use ozone for sanitation or disinfection.

The GRAS classification for ozone was announced with a few months of the passage of a new Federal law which, for the first time, limits the presence of E. coli and Salmonella on meat and poultry. The timing of the GRAS classification is advantageous because ozone is particularly effective in inactivating these infectious agents.

Food processors and beverages manufacturers consume billions of gallons of water daily for food handling, washing, processing, and cooking and for cleaning equipment. All of this water must be free of contaminants. Even before ozone received GRAS status, the food and beverage industry had begun to recognize its potential as a disinfectant and as an alternative to chlorine, which traditionally has been used to treat food processing water. This is because ozone eliminates a problem associated with chlorine disinfection-the potential for the build-up of toxic residues of chlorine and chlorinated by-products in water that has been treated more than once.

Cleaning Chemiclas

Silicate product: good on fats removal, but bad on stainless steel surface. when drying, deposit is hard to remove.

When to perform Cleaning

Post-process cleaning

Pre-process cleaning

In-process cleaning

Factors Affacting Cleaning

Time

Action

Chemical Concentration

Temperature


Water

Individual

Nature of Soil

Surface to be cleaned.

How to identify fats, granse or oil on surface.

Hanging water droplets.

Greasy oily film.

Generally white appearance.