Articles
The taste of vodka
Transient cage-like entities where the ethanol molecule is sequestered by surrounding water molecules could hold the key to explaining why vodka drinkers exhibit brand preferences for a drink that is supposed to be tasteless.
[ + ]TV food advertisements promote imbalanced diets
A diet consisting entirely of advertised foods would contain 25 times the recommended servings of sugars and 20 times the recommended servings of fat but less than half of the recommended servings of vegetables, dairy and fruits according to US researchers.
[ + ]Average drop of 6% in US food industry salaries
A survey of the salaries of US food and beverage industry workers has revealed an average drop of 6.3% in the past year. At the same time, forecasts for capital spending in the industry are up 19.3%.
[ + ]New vaccines may help thwart E. coli O157:H7
Immunising calves with either of two forms of a newly developed vaccine might reduce the spread of sometimes deadly Escherichia coli O157:H7 bacteria.
[ + ]Seven ‘must have’ ERP features for food manufacturers
Food manufacturers are facing tougher challenges than ever before. In order to meet record-keeping and lot-tracking requirements, they must be able to rapidly identify and track every single ingredient in their products, from receipt through processing, packaging and shipping to the exact customer location.
[ + ]Sanitation and cleaning
Creating and maintaining a safe, hygienic food plant is a constant challenge that requires eternal vigilance - one slip up can, potentially, sound the death knell for the business. There is no ‘once and for all’ solution, as the very ingredients themselves frequently carry the bacteria and contamination into the plants. Following are two sets of research you may find interesting.
[ + ]Development basics for pasteurised, aseptic and similar products
The underlying objective of any thermal processing of beverages or liquid food is safety. Thermal treatments consist of heating a product and holding it at a desired temperature for a specific length of time in order to either pasteurise or sterilise the product. For many processes, the minimum log reduction of bacteria are set by the regulations. However, these are minimum requirements and are usually exceeded for many reasons, including attaining lower failure rates, longer shelf life, and product quality and image. However, these thermal processes also directly impact the quality and image of the product due to its reactions to heat.
[ + ]Gut instincts
Interest in food and drinks carrying gut or digestive health claims appears to be continuing unabated, at least as far as food and drinks companies are concerned.
[ + ]Driving out counterfeit motor and drive technologies
Australian drive solutions providers are stepping up the fight against counterfeit gear-unit and motor ‘copy cats’ in order to safeguard Australian industry from breakdowns, inefficiency and downtime.
[ + ]Automated slaughter line for salmon
Norway is now operating the first salmon slaughter line in the world to use automatic bleeding based on machine vision and robot technology. The innovation makes for more rational operation, says the system’s pilot operator.
[ + ]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.
[ + ]Innovative packaging solutions for meat and meat products
In May, 949 exhibitors from all over the world presented their latest products, services and high-tech solutions for processing meats at the leading meat industry exhibition - IFFA 2010. At the exhibition, Prof Dr Horst-Christian Langowski* of the Fraunhofer Institute discussed the latest developments in packaging technology.
[ + ]Finding a way forward for the local wine industry
Despite Australia’s legendary success in developing wine export markets, the industry has recently come under severe stress and must take action to deal with the challenges it faces, according to a recently released global industry report.
[ + ]Omega-3 - healthy, no matter what?
Norway is one of the countries responsible for the production of fish oils and omega-3. Over 40% of the world’s omega-3 oils in food and food supplements originate there.
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