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Rockmelons kill 30 in the US
With a final death toll of 30 people, including one miscarriage, the US’s most deadly outbreak ever of food poisoning has been declared over. In total, 146 people across 28 states became ill after eating Listeria monocytogenes contaminated whole rockmelon. While the number of deaths was not the largest ever recorded for a food poisoning outbreak, the greater than one in five death rate makes the outbreak of listeriosis the deadliest food poisoning incident in the US. The outbreak was also the first caused by whole, unprocessed produce.
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Heartland Potato Chips - grown and manufactured in New Zealand
A niche in the New Zealand potato chip market for locally grown, locally made and locally owned product has enabled a South Island potato farmer to produce his own potato chips, in his own factory, from his own potatoes.
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Oranges and mandarins are inspected using artificial vision
Scientists at the Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research in Spain have created a machine that automatically detects and separates rotten oranges, another that classifies mandarin segments according to their quality and another that helps citrus fruit pickers out in the field.
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Vegetables still the heart of the frozen food industry
More than 50 years ago, Wallace McCain, a young Canadian, had a pioneering idea: McCain and his brother Harrison invested in the still relatively uncommon technology for frozen food and began immediately to produce frozen French fries.
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The global foodborne disease crisis
Recently, a virulent strain of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli caused around 50 deaths and sickened more than 4000 across Europe, the majority in Germany. The source of the infections is believed to have been organic fenugreek sprouts grown from contaminated seeds. As a result of this deadly outbreak, new regulations, improved surveillance and disease prevention strategies, particularly pertaining to produce, will likely emerge throughout the world.
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Chemical residues in fresh produce
Results from a New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) study looking at chemical residues in fresh, unwashed produce has found no health or food safety concerns.
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Reduce water use while peeling fruit
A recently developed system that uses air, rather than water, to blast peels off fruit could reduce water use by 80%.
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Consumers’ response to US spinach contamination
Spinach sales fell but expenditures for total leafy greens remained unchanged, following a US government warning to avoid bagged spinach because of possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination in 2006.
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Squeezing healthier fruit products
High-pressure processing offers a non-thermal way to pasteurise a range of food products. Donny Boy Fresh Food has opened a world-first facility in Melbourne using this technology.
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Key Technology Auto Dryer for fresh-cut produce
Key Technology has redesigned its Auto Dryer, adjusting the controls, motor and structure. Like the original dryer, it removes surface water from fresh-cut produce and vegetables, but it also enables continuous line flow.
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JBT FoodTech Single Pass Dryer and Smart Dryer system
Fresh fruits and vegetables are washed and sanitised after they are harvested - a process that enhances food safety but can remove the natural wax coating from the produce surface. To lock in moisture and maintain freshness of the produce, a postharvest protective coating typically is applied. Two critical aspects in the coating application process ensure that the entire surface of the fruit or vegetable is covered evenly and that the coating is thoroughly dried and set. Without uniform setting or curing of the coating, moisture in the produce can evaporate and cause dehydration, which can quickly deteriorate the overall quality of the produce and impact its marketability.
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Kronen AS 16 automatic apple peeling and slicing machine
The Kronen AS 16 automatic apple peeling and slicing machine is suitable for processing apples with diameters from 60-120 mm. It is able to peel, slice or segment and core up to 2000 apples/h. Switching from one apple size to another size can be easily set within 2 min online at the machine during the peeling process (no further auxiliary tool is needed).
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Kronen Vortex sanitising waterflow system for fresh-cuts
The Kronen Vortex sanitising waterflow system claims germ reduction on fresh-cut products.
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Heat and Control Universal Product Cooker
Hard bite-style potato chips get their desirable extra crunchy texture from the unique oil temperature profile produced by batch fryers. But the limitations of producing such chips in batches of only a few hundred kilograms per hour has previously required processors to install multiple batch fryers.
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Key Technology Manta sorter with three-way sorting capability
Key Technology has added three-way sorting capability to its Manta sorter. Featuring two ejector systems, three-way sorting allows food processors to automatically eject product that can be reworked and recovered separately from material sent to waste, typically foreign material. Good product continues through the camera/laser sorter unaffected as usual. This capability allows processors to produce a high-quality finished product without losing recoverable off-grade product to the waste stream or requiring additional sorting expense to separately rework product.
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Arrow Scientific VolScan Profiler benchtop laser-based scanner
The VolScan Profiler benchtop laser-based scanner measures the volume of fruit and vegetables. This measurement system offers considerable advantages over displacement techniques which purely measure volume. Originally designed to test the volume and dimension of bakery products, it is suitable to test many other food products.
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Improve potato strip quality and yield
Turkish processor Konya Seker decided to try something different on its potato strip production line. Unlike other potato processors that use optical sorters to remove defects on their primary lines, Konya Seker relies on an ADR5 automatic defect removal system from Key Technology. This application, called the ADRFirst solution, maximises product quality and increases yields at Konya Seker.
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Kronen KUJ high-performance dicer
The Kronen KUJ high-performance dicer cuts strips from 2-20 mm and cubes from 3-20 mm precisely. It can process up to 3000 kg/h.
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Alfa Laval Y-series olive oil decanters
Simple, yet innovative, Y-series olive oil decanters can transport and treat up to 360 tons of olive paste a day and at the same time provide a lower concentration of residual oil in the husk.
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Kronen Tona S180K vegetable and fruit processing machine
Kronen has released the Tona S180K vegetable and fruit processing machine, a combination of the machines Tona E wedger and the Tona S slicer.
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Hefestus pomegranate juicing system
Pomegranate can be consumed as a whole fruit, ready to eat arils and as juice. Nevertheless, it is hard to process as peeling and deseeding the arils from the fruit is complicated and expensive for consumers and manufactures alike. Following the launching of a ready-to-eat pomegranates packaging solution last year, Hefestus has introduced a comprehensive solution for deseeding the arils without the peel in an automatic process that enables the beverage producer to squeeze the juice out of the arils, making a delicious super fruit juice without the bitterness taste, while processing the whole fruit.
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Kronen Vortex-line produce washer
The Kronen Vortex-line has been developed for the final treatment stage for vegetables, including leafy salads and root products, and also fruits like apples and grapes. The washing system achieves microbial load reduction and prolongation of shelf life and, consequently, increase of quality of products.
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Key Technology onCore lettuce core removal system
Key Technology’s onCore is an integrated system for processing iceberg and romaine lettuces in bagged salads. The system, which combines a vibratory density separation shaker with a camera/laser sorter, eliminates manual coring to increase yields and improve product quality while reducing labour costs.
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Hefestus SLB shelf life booster
Hefestus has developed the SLB shelf life booster, a concept for fruit and vegetable packaging with modified atmosphere (MAP) technology that is claimed will provide a comprehensive solution for extended shelf life of fruits, vegetables and fresh-cut salads.
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Key Technology Compact Dryer
Key Technology has introduced a redesigned compact dryer for removing moisture from fresh-cut produce after washing.
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Optical grading machines
Newtec Engineering A/S has appointed Donald Napier Ltd as its distributor in Australia and New Zealand.
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Online fruit quality detection
The Unitec QS_ON LINE 902 provides a solution for the non-destructive online detection of the internal quality of fruits without stone. The parameters measured include sugar content (°Brix), firmness expressed ( kg/cm2), ripening grade (0 and 100) and acidity (g/L).
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Knife peelers for root vegetables
Sormac MS knife peelers are suitable for continuous peeling of pre-washed or pre-peeled root products, like potatoes, red beet and celeriac.
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Centrifuge for leafy greens
Sormac has upgraded its SC-740 centrifuge. This machine can be used as a standalone unit, but also harmonises with a Pulstar salad washer in a salad leaf processing line.
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Fresh-cut produce washer
Key Technology has redesigned its Flume Wash for fresh-cut produce. Suitable for small to medium-large processors looking for an automated wash system, the Flume Wash gently removes heavy debris, silt, grubs and floating contaminates.
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Fresh-cut produce dryer
Key Technology has redesigned its Auto Dryer for removing moisture from fresh-cut produce to enhance shelf life. Available in one-, two-, and four-drum configurations, the Auto Dryer features a larger 980 mm diameter drum that increases production throughput and new electronics that improve reliability and simplify operation.
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Pomegranate powders and extracts
The power of the healthful pomegranate is now available from VDF FutureCeuticals through its VitaGranate family of products. Research has indicated that pomegranate may offer support for humans, especially concerning coronary and cardiovascular health.
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Fruit and vegetable sorting
The Key Technology Manta high-volume, high-performance sorter features a 2 m wide scan area that increases throughput within a space-saving footprint.
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Mix, peel, slice, blend
Reactive Engineering is exhibiting the Quadro Ytron range of in-tank and inline powder in liquid dispersion units at AUSPACK.
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Sort by chlorophyll level
FluoRaptor is a fluorescence-sensing laser sorter designed to maximise the detection and removal of defects, extraneous vegetable matter (EVM) and foreign material (FM) based on differing levels of chlorophyll as well as colour, size and shape. The sorter achieves good product quality and speeds product changeover for processors of fresh cut products and a variety of fresh and frozen vegetables and potato products.
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Produce washer
In these trying days of drought, growers and machine manufacturers are forced to re-think their design and priorities when it comes to new machinery development. Now a greater priority has to be given to water-saving means and methods - from cleaner harvesting through to efficient filtering and water recycling in the washing process in order to minimise overall water consumption without jeopardising the need for proper sanitising of the product.
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Dicer/strip cutter/shredder
The Urschel Model M6 two-dimensional cutter is a versatile machine designed for dicing, strip cutting, or shredding a variety of products. A wide range of sizes of product can be processed into predetermined thicknesses. The cutter is suitable for cutting frozen-tempered, fresh-chilled, or hot cooked beef, pork, or poultry in addition to leafy vegetable products.
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ConfectioNZ 2007 is on in March
The New Zealand Branch conference of the Confectionery Manufacturers of Australasia (CMA), ConfectioNZ 2007, will be held from 8-10 March at the Millennium Hotel in Rotorua.
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