A free publication to help food businesses of all sizes determine the shelf life of ready-to-eat foods has been published by CFA and the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

In Cork, in Ireland, PepsiCo International, Ireland, uses Dionex ion chromatography (IC) systems to test its bottled water and the treated and raw water used in its beverages for contaminants like bromate and oxyhalides as well as common anions and cations.

An ingenious microwaveable packaging solution is extending the ambient shelf life of one of HJ Heinz Company Australia Limited’s Greenseas product ranges.

Once again, US food processors are facing massive product recalls because contaminated product has been knowingly left in the supply chain. HVP contaminated with Salmonella Tennessee has been incorporated into tonnes of product in the last six months and the FDA is left begging the manufacturer, Basic Food Flavors, to initiate a recall.

A vertical form fill seal (VFFS) packaging machine was recently commissioned for Noonans Bakery in the Perth suburb of Canning Vale. Accuweigh’s VFFS machine is being used for packaging soup mixes and croutons and is proving to be considerably faster than the previous packaging equipment installed at the factory.

A metal detection machine was recently commissioned for Mias Bakery in Perth. The machine ensures the company’s bread is free of potential metal contamination as required by its internal quality assurance processes.

Casella Wines, one of Australia’s leading wine exporters, has commissioned the first large-capacity Toyota forklift with a 20-40′ container handler.

The salt reduction trend is set to continue as some of the biggest international food processors launch salt reduction strategies.

The Taiwan Bureau of Food and Drug Analysis (BFDA) has purchased and installed a total of four Waters Acquity UltraPerformance LC (UPLC) systems and nine Xevo TQ tandem quadrupole mass spectrometers to support its efforts to protect Taiwanese consumers and the country’s food supply by monitoring domestically produced and imported food sold within the country.

A broken or damaged load cell can be impossible to detect or predict. Only once batches start appearing out of specification, or the weighing results appear unstable, do users realise that there might be a problem and call out a service technician to identify and repair or replace the broken load cell. This can result in lost production time and disappointed customers.

In a world where navigating the carbon jungle is often considered as ‘just too hard’, a century-old family firm has been rewarded for getting excited about sustainability.

The recent recall of salami due to a salmonella outbreak, which allegedly may have originated in the black pepper used in the salami, has manufacturers looking for safe alternatives to traditional ground black pepper.

Three sets of ingredient scales were recently supplied to South Australia’s largest confectionery maker, Robern Menz. The ingredient scales were supplied to their Glynde factory in Adelaide for weighing ingredients and for weight-checking filled boxes of sweets.

Check scales were recently supplied to Montague Fresh at Strathfield in NSW. The check scales are being used for checkweighing and prepacking of organic fruits for delivery to clients.

Drought, and the fundamental need to stay in business, has brought on a radical process re-engineering effort at Radford Meats in Warragul, Victoria.