The mixing chamber also comprises a lower opening suitable for enabling the supply of the beverage in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the impeller that is positioned so as to be faced and adjacent to the lower opening so that, during and as a result of its rotation, it prevents the beverage from escaping.

Website: www.wipo.int

Arrow Scientific Pty. Ltd., Australia, offers custom single-shot candy depositors suitable for heat-sensitive, viscous products. With batches as small as 500 g, the Bottom Line Depositor is claimed to deliver centre-filled products at a lower cost than currently available equipment. The system produces presentation quality products like filled chocolates, hard candies and caramels. It can also be used for new concepts such as honey-filled throat drops, yoghurt filled fruit jellies or sugar-free hard candy filled with energy gel. Custom dies are available for innovative patterns.

The Bottom Line Depositors have two (or more) individually heated and temperature controlled product hoppers and pump heads. Servo operation for each pump is independent, so the operator can set separate parameters such as up and down speed, start-and-stop timing and stroke length. It has many automated features, including a touch screen operator interface that can store up to 99 recipes. The servo-driven depositor has both product hoppers controlled independently, which allows for co-depositing two products with different properties. The control panel has an operator touch screen. The pneumatic depositor is designed to sit on a laboratory counter top. The machine has a single hopper with a divider plate, which gives the capability of producing two colour/flavour products with similar heat and flow properties. This machine can be built with multiple hoppers and heads. Contact: Arrow Scientific Pty. Ltd., Australia. Tel: +61 (2) 9427 7455; Fax: +61 (2) 9427 7456; E-mail: info@arrowscientific. com.au; Website: www.arrowscientific.com.au.

Website: www.foodaust.com.au

The new inline miniature rotary batch mixer, from Munson Machinery Co. in the United States, gently blends batches up to 142 litres in parts as small as one per million with complete uniformity in less than three minutes, evacuates the batch with no residual, and can be sanitized rapidly with no tools. The stainless steel Model 700-TH-5-SS sports a stationary inlet and outlet for inline operation, and a rotating drum with proprietary mixing flights that tumble, turn and fold material gently, rapidly achieving uniformity regardless of disparities in the bulk densities, particle sizes or flow characteristics of batch ingredients. The mixer is said to be efficient across its useable capacity range of 142 to 7 litres. Batch weight capacity of 226 kg is standard, with optional higher capacities.

Source : www.foodprocessing.com

The Bama Companies, the United States, recently installed an 18-robot system with a vision-based quality system to pack pies as they arrive from processing. The Sigpack system was chosen due to the flexibility the robot system offered, by picking the pies directly from the main belt and placing them into the cases. Challenges in the project included a frozen product and its chilled environment, high production rate, complex product inspection and a cinnamon topping. Production efficiency, quality control and sanitation were key considerations.

The line, which operates at 1,400 pies/min, incorporates a state-of-the-art vision quality control system, which ensures that only products of exact quality are accepted from the process equipment before being placed into cases. The frozen fruit pies exit the Bama freezer in rows of 20. After a series of belt turns, the products enter the packaging room, where temperatures and humidity are controlled. The rows of pies are separated via spreader belts and proceed under an overhead camera, which examines the entire product flow. Nine Model XR31 Delta robots are positioned on opposite sides of the main packaging belt. This layout facilitates complete pick coverage, reduces overlap and limits excess robot movement. The design allows for easy operator and maintenance access to each robot within the system. Robots use a custom-designed vacuum picker to gently pick and place pies into the cases, which move in a counter-flow direction to the main belt. The system is also equipped with special filters to assist with the collection and removal of excess cinnamon dust. Contact: Mr. Tom Pecht, Sigpack Systems, United States of America. Tel: +1 (920) 6621 258; E-mail: tom.pecht@sigpacksystems.com.

Source: www.foodengineeringmag.com

The rice mill has an air inlet fan to draw external air in through the air inlet. The forced air system comprises an air blower consisting of lead-out holes to blow the air drawn in by the air inlet fan from the external part of the bran removing screen towards the axis of the grinding roller, such that the rice in the bran removing screen does not hit the inner surface of the bran removing screen and the rice is peeled only by the grinding roller, thus preventing the rice kernels from losing their germs and from being broken. The rice produced is thus of high quality. Contact: Spbiotech Co. Ltd., 327-8 Yangjae-Dong, Seocho-Gu, Seoul 137-130, Republic of Korea.

Source: www.wipo.int

Harbin Saide Hi-Tech. Co. Ltd., China, offers its model SJ-I machine for Ultra High Temperature (UHT) sterilization. The machine adopts hot steam as the heat source, and uses circulating water as medium for heat exchange. The machine has high efficiency in the heating process, providing gentle and uniform heating for the products. The unit is easy to be cleaned to ensure sterilization. The piping in the unit has low heat expansion rates, offering good stability. The U-connection pipe can be opened for inspection. The machine is controlled by a PLC computer, operated via a touch screen. The system can be equipped with frequency speed adjustment for handing different packaging rates. It can even be equipped with CIP or central CIP systems.

The machine is suitable for pure milk, flavoured milk, soybean milk, beverages, condiments and other liquid food products, even with particles and small pieces like fibre. The machine is also suitable for the pasteurization of fresh milk. Contact: Ms. Liu Yanqiu, Harbin Saide Hi-Tech. Co. Ltd., No. 16 Honghu Street, Yingbin Road, Industrial Zone, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150078, China. Tel: +86 (451) 8434 8412; Fax: +86 (451) 8434 8419.

Website: www.made-in-china.com

New technical applications in continuous bean hydration and blanching are providing improved efficiencies over traditional continuous blanching systems and dry bean soak tanks. In the latest upgrade to continuous dry bean processing, a new development known as Pressure-Flow has emerged, from Lyco Manufacturing, the United States. Pressure-Flow facilitates the hydrating of dry beans to a 60 per cent-plus saturation level through a continuous blanching process. The bean is then fully hydrated and cooked, ready to be consumed and ready to be put directly into flexible pouches without the need for further hydration or cooking. While processing times are comparable to previous continuous blanching methods, the new system has the added benefit of providing a very low product damage rate (less than 1 per cent). Contact: Lyco Manufacturing, 115 Commercial Drive, P.O. Box 31, Columbus, WI 53925, United States of America.

Website: www.processingtalk.com

Dia Geo Great Britain Ltd., the United Kingdom, has taken a patent on a frozen beverage system that includes a chamber, a scraper blade and a series of Peltier plates mounted closely adjacent a wall of the chamber. The new frozen beverage machine is preferably operable in a continuous on demand mode by virtue of a dispensing tap, generally of a much smaller scale than existing slush models. The Peltier plate arrangement will preferably be a plurality of plates with matched thickness, sandwiched between two discs. The matched thickness ensures that the plates are very efficient in heat transfer to the discs, which are made from aluminium.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the chamber is a cylinder, most preferably a shallow cylinder with a diameter substantially greater than its height, thereby maximizing cooling surface to volume ratio. The Peltier plate (or a plurality of plates) is mounted on both ends of the cylindrical chamber. The movement is by means of a rotatably mounted scraper/wiper at a central axis of the cylinder with a blade that wipes an end wall or both end walls of the chamber. The wiper blades are designed to wipe the surface of the plates to loosen the ice crystals forming thereon. Blades are shaped to prevent the compaction of ice crystals that is normally associated with scraping. Preferably, the blades also have features (such as fins on the back) that create turbulence and prevent localized compaction. The combined motion of the blade and rotor arm carries ice crystals around and maintains the crystals in suspension. As the ice volume increases, this motion slows considerably but still maintains a homogenous mixture. Preferably the blade has a shallow angle; a flat-faced blade would tend to move the slush as one piece.

The frozen beverage system is preferably configured for precise control of product temperature to ensure quality and consistency. Since the incoming liquid is at a higher temperature than the solution in the chamber, temperature sensors are arranged such that they can read a mixture of incoming product and slush. Contact: Dia Geo Great Britain Limited, 8 Henrietta Place, London W1G 0NB, United Kingdom.

Website: www.wipo.int

Quanzhou City Lizhong Food Machinery Co. Ltd., China, offers a super high-temperature sterilizing machine. Applicable for instantaneously sterilizing liquid food (such as fresh milk, juice, beverage, soymilk and wine) and high-viscosity food (such as concentrated milk, ice cream and soysauce), the equipment assures effective sterilization, while preserving the foods taste and nutrition value. The sterilizing machine incorporates double-coiled pipe structure and sterilization occurs in 3-6 s at temperatures of 115C-135C. Contact: Quanzhou City Lizhong Food Machinery Co. Ltd., Jiangnan Hi-Tech Industrial Zone, Quanzhou, Fujian 362000, China. Tel: +86 (595) 2235 0867; Fax: +86 (595) 2246 9799.

Website: www.made-in-china.com

Researchers at Iowa State University, the United States, report to have been able to improve soybean processing. They found that adding ultrasonic pre-treatment to soybean processing boosts and improves the yield of protein that can be added to foods. In laboratory tests, exposing ground and defatted soyflakes to ultrasonics increased the release of soyproteins by 46 per cent. Moreover, the ultrasonic treatment breaks some of the bonds that tie sugars to the soyproteins. Separating the sugars from the proteins improves the quality of the proteins. It also boosts the sugar content of the soy whey left behind after processing. Ultrasonic treatment boosted sugar yields by 50 per cent. The low-cost, sugar-enriched whey can replace an expensive compound used to grow lactic acid bacteria. The bacteria produce nisin, a valuable natural food preservative that is also used in cosmetic and health-care products (mouthwash and toothpaste).

Website: www.bio-medicine.org