Supplier News
Cooker Stretcher Continuously Produces Mozzarella With Steam, No Bath Cook Water
Kansas City, MO—GoldPeg International and Scan American Corporation are marketing a new cooker stretcher that the companies say uses only steam to heat the curd.
The GPiCS “dry” cooker stretcher from Australia’s GoldPeg International produces natural Mozzarella and pasta filata cheese varieties continuously with no bath cook water, the company said.
GoldPeg specializes in continuous direct steam injection cooking and processing technology. The company’s RotaTherm® direct steam injection continuous cooking system is used around the world to cook and process a variety of food products, including processed cheese products.
GoldPeg has been working in direct steam injection technology with the RotaTherm for about 25 years, according to Alastair Sorley, the company’s international business manager and a dairy technologist who was industry-trained in New Zealand.
About five years ago, GoldPeg started to work with Mozzarella, which is a “natural extension” from processed cheese, Sorley explained. The company identified a need for a more efficient continuous cooking system for sensitive Mozzarella and pasta filata products that was also sensitive to the environmental/effluent pressures on food manufacturers.
As it started to look into pasta filata cheese manufacturing, GoldPeg started to understand the challenges these cheese makers faced, Sorley continued. Some of these vary by country or market; in New York, for example, the company was faced with kosher challenges, while within Australia the company is faced with environmental challenges in terms of water usage, salty whey and effluent disposal.
There is also the “age-old challenge of just managing losses,” Sorley noted. That is, what can be done with all of the protein, salt and fat that’s being lost?
GoldPeg worked with the Australian government and CSIRO for over a year and extensively modified the RotaTherm to come up with the flexible GPiCS, which is described as a low pressure, low shear, direct steam injection continuous cooking system. The flexibility of the GPiCS allows it to produce a full range of natural Mozzarella, string cheese and pasta filata varieties, GoldPeg noted.
The key advantage to GoldPeg’s GPiCS is that “there is no bath cook water at all,” Sorley said. So companies don’t, first of all, have to buy and treat the water, then use it and reprocess it and try to remove the solids from it.
“So a huge advantage is reducing secondary processing costs,” Sorley said. For some customers the scale of that benefit is going to be greater or less.
Other benefits of the GPiCS, Sorley continued, include the fact that the “shutdown losses are significantly reduced.” Virtually every piece of curd that goes into the GPiCS system comes out as cooked and stretched Mozzarella; “we don’t have to manually open the system and pull out hundreds of pounds of partially cooked Mozzarella and send that off somewhere for rework.”
Another key point about the GPiCS is that, while a lot of the traditional systems are manual cleaning (or there may be a lot of manual intervention before getting to CIP), “it really is empty, flush with water, on to CIP,” and you’ve turned around the system from the last piece of cheese out to cheese going in again “within two hours,” Sorley explained.
GoldPeg does have fully automated systems, he added, and they really are just “green-button start.” That means the system responds to the up-and-down stream demands of the curd-making or the moulding downstream to filling and forming. The GPiCS will ramp up and down slowly to meet the rates up and down stream.
GoldPeg’s GPiCS is patent-pending in the US, Sorley said.
Scan American Corporation of Kansas City, MO, is GoldPeg’s North American distributor.
For more information, contact Tony Jacobsen, Scan American Corporation, at (816) 880 9321, extension 42; or e-mail mail@scanamcorp; or visit www.goldpeg.com.
Charm Introduces Rapid One Step Assay For Streptomycin In Milk
Charm Sciences, Inc., has announced the Charm Streptomycin Test, a new Rapid One Step Assay (ROSA) for the detection of streptomycin in raw milk.
Streptomycin is a member of the aminoglycoside family and can inhibit the growth of cheese and yogurt cultures, according to Charm Sciences.
Charm Streptomycin Test uses patented ROSA technology, combining fast, accurate detection with ease of use, Charm Sciences explained. It follows the same procedure and uses the same equipment as other ROSA lateral flow milk tests: add milk to the test strip, incubate and read on the ROSA Pearl Reader.
With a minimum detection level of 75 ppb, the Charm Streptomycin Test helps users meet regulatory requirements around the world, Charm Sciences said.
For more information on this or any Charm product, visit www.charm.com; or e-mail info@charm.com.
Avoca BioProcessing Creates New Business And Technical Groups As It Launches New Line Of Dairy Flavors
Menomonee Falls, WI—Avoca BioProcessing Corporation (ABC) recently created three new groups, business development, innovation, and flavor creation, to help with the launch of its own brand of dairy flavors, according to Farshid Eftekhari, director of innovation at ABC.
Avoca BioProcessing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pharmachem Laboratories, Kearny, NJ, was basically a toll manufacturing site until a few months ago, Eftekhari said. Recently, company’s top management decided to expand their services beyond toll manufacturing, and would like to have their own branded products, mainly dairy flavors, specifically fermented, enzyme modified and fermentation-derived flavor chemicals.
As a toll manufacturer, ABC has “tremendous expertise” in production, supply chain and quality control, Eftekhari pointed out. However, when it comes to business development, innovation, and flavor creation, there was a need for the company to develop expertise and invest in those areas.
Business development will look into the different market segments, to provide strategy and direction for business growth. It is important to understand customer needs and the competition so Avoca BioProcessing can competitively provide our partners with services and products that they currently use, Eftekhari said.
If customers are looking for innovative ways of addressing their technical needs, Avoca BioProcessing’s new innovation and flavor creation technical groups will come into play and “provide them with a better technical solution,” Eftekhari said.
Throughout the years, innovative companies such as Avoca BioProcessing Corporation have looked into pioneering ways and means of manufacturing dairy flavors through enzyme modification, fermentation, and by employing unique natural chemical concentration process technologies.
Essentially, the combination of enzyme modification, fermentation and unique process technologies “have given us the opportunity to eliminate the majority of the additives that are being used by our competitors,” such as gums, phosphates or citrates, resulting in very clean label dairy flavors, Eftekhari noted. We have also eliminated the “deficiencies” of enzyme modification, namely the bitterness, the soapiness that are generally associated with these products.
Hence an end user will have the luxury of having a flavor system that not only enhances the profile of a finished product, a retail item, it also avoids chemicals with associated negative connotations, Eftekhari explained. In other words, end users will have cleaner labels using these flavor systems.
Avoca BioProcessing is developing, through process modification, flavor systems that essentially and potentially are “non-declarable,” he said.
Imagine, for example, a Cheddar, Emmenthaler or Blue cheese that, through process modification and use of natural enzymes and dairy cultures, has five, 10 or even 15 times the flavor profile of that particular cheese, without any additives, not even water addition, Eftekhari said.
For more information, contact Avoca BioProcessing, at (262) 251-0086; or e-mail dairyflavors@avocainc.com. r
New Tubular, Gusseted 640 Block Liner From Kelley Supply Saves Time, Improves Cheese Yields By Reducing Trim Losses
Kelley Supply has introduced a new, tubular block liner that the company said can shorten the time it takes to line a 640 box and improve cheese yields.
Kelley Supply has applied for a patent on the liner, which was invented by Greg Alberts, the company’s president.
When cheese is manufactured in 640-pound blocks, a round liner that resembles a large plastic bag is used to line the 640 box before the curd is poured in, Kelley Supply explained. Aligning the round liner in the square or rectangular 640 box is time-consuming for the personnel preparing the block, and it often results in wrinkles and folds in the liner along the block/liner interface.
These wrinkles and folds can become embedded in the outer surface of the finished cheese. The end user then has to spend time trimming these surfaces to avoid the presence of liner material in the finished cheese product, Kelley Supply noted.
Not only does this reduce production efficiency due to wasted time, it also results in yield reduction due to the amount of cheese lost to trimming, the company pointed out. Also, the round liner tends to result in rounded block corners rather than square ones, which also tends to reduce yields (due to the preference for square corners during later measuring and packaging, since the square products help promote greater product uniformity).
Kelley Supply’s invention relates to a block liner which is gusseted on at least two opposing sides, with central folds being defined on opposite sides of the tube, and outer folds then being situated on opposite sides of each central fold. These outer folds are equally spaced from the central fold, and the distance between the outer folds is preferably equivalent to the distance between opposing inner walls of a 640 box.
As a result, the liner can be installed in the square or rectangular interior of a 640 box, with dimensions closely conforming to the inner measurements of the 640 box.
Thus, the time it takes to line a 640 box is shortened; an assembler need not take as much time and care to try to line the box with the liner smoothly conforming to the block walls, Kelley Supply explained. And yields are improved by reducing or eliminating loss from having to trim the sides of the finished cheese to remove embedded liner.
For more information about Kelley Supply’s new tubular 640 block liner, visit www.kelleysupply.com; or call (800) 782-8573.
Cheese Mold Removal Made Quickly, Efficiently, Safely, With Bettcher’s Whizard TrimVac
Bettcher Industries, Inc., Birmingham, OH, is introducing the Whizard® TrimVac™ for quick, clean and efficient removal of cheese mold.
This hand-held tool marries the company’s proprietary Whizard circular blade trimming technology witha vacuum system to accomplish swift, efficient removal of surface mold from cheese wheels, Bettcher Industries explained.
The circular blade action of the TrimVac tool reduces the labor requirements and inefficiencies of mold removal when using a conventional knife, while also reducing worker fatigue, the company said. Another major benefit of the TrimVac is the tool’s vacuum action, which swiftly and completely removes the trim mold from the work area, thus reducing the risk of cross-contamination.
A choice of different interchangeable blades is available to enhance the scraping action on the cheese surface, or for digging out and removing any internal mold growth. Pneumatically powered, TrimVac uses a blade rotating at an extremely high rate of speed to perform the cutting action, while a simultaneous powerful vacuum process removes all trimmed mold.
The trimmed material is vacuum-conveyed to a separate holding tank for proper disposal, thus ensuring that mold spores do not come into contact with other products, workers, or the plant processing line, work surfaces or floor.
“TrimVac delivers many great advantages to cheese processors,” said Kevin Stump, product manager for Bettcher Industries. “It is the fastest and most effective way to tackle the issue of cheese mold, as well as efficiently and completely removing it from the work area to minimize the risk of contamination.
For more information, contact Kevin Stump, at (800) 321-8763, or (440) 965-4422; e-mail info@ bettcher.com; or visit www.bettcher. com/cheesemold.htm.
D.D. Williamson Introduces Certified Organic Annatto Extracts For Coloring Food
D.D. Williamson has announced the arrival of what it says is North America’s first Certified Organic Annatto Extracts for coloring foods.
The hue of annatto, a natural food coloring, ranges from yellow to orange. Both water-soluble and oil-soluble versions are available.
Food processing customers using either of the new colorings can label “organic annatto extract” on ingredient declarations in the US, D.D. Williamson noted.
“Customers of our ‘organic compliant’ annatto products asked us to develop a range of ‘certified organic’ annatto so they could offer 100 percent certified organic food products,” said Campbell Barnum, global vice president, marketing.
“DDW’s science and innovation
team responded with sourcing and extracting certified organic colorings to cover a broad range of organic food applications,” Barnum continued.
Applications for water-soluble annatto include natural cheese, ice cream, snacks, breakfast cereal, and baked goods.
Oil-soluble annatto can apply in process cheese, margarine spreads, vegetable oil, salad dressing, snacks, frosting and confectionery coating.
Annatto, a carotenoid, is extracted from the outer coat surrounding the seeds of Bixa orellana trees. Quality Assurance International (QAI) certified D.D. Williamson’s processing facility in Port Washington, WI.
For samples, call a DDW sales manager, at (800) 227-2635; or e-mail info@ddwmson.com.
Filtration Engineering Introduces NIR Analyzer For Dairy Plant Environment
Filtration Engineering Company has introduced ProSpect, a near infrared (NIR) analyzer that scans and indicates the level of protein and other milk constituents at varying concentration levels in UF, MF and other process equipment systems.
This information is fed back to the membrane system PLC or other process system with accuracies equal to the laboratory test method used as the basis for calibration, Filtration Engineering (FE) said. ProSpect’s ability to continuously monitor and indicate the constituent concentration reduces the number of lab tests.
Designed specifically for the processing plant environment, the ProSpect analyzer gives processors in-line, real-time process control, helping to reduce out-of-spec product as well as product “giveaway” and assures consistency of operation not previously available, FE said.
In addition to WPC, FE has developed successful calibrations for a wide range of dairy products, such as whole milk, skim milk, MPC and cheese milk. The analyzer has been calibrated for multiple constituents including fat, protein, lactose and total solids.
The ProSpect analyzer is mounted adjacent to the process system in a stainless steel NEMA 4 cabinet. The fiber optic cables are installed directly into the process line in a specially designed stainless steel sanitary flow cell. The unit is capable of reference cell scanning during normal operation and verifies the calibration on a continuous basis, FE said.
For more details, call 1-800-553-4457. r
CrystalBan™ Prevents Calcium Lactate Crystals In American-Type
Cheese; Improves Yield
A new process aid has shown to prevent the formation of calcium lactate
crystal in aged Cheddar, Colby, and Monterey Jack manufacture.
Nutricepts, Inc. said CrystalBan™ is an organic salt added to the curd
about the same time as the last salting. By increasing the solubility of calcium
in the cheese, the company said, calcium lactate crystals are not able to form.
Mark Cater, presient of Nutricepts said that commercial scale manufacturing runs,
thus far, have produced 18 month old CrystalBan treated Cheddar with no calcium
lactate crystals while untreated cheese from the same plants show crystals before
6 months.
The CrystalBan product also functions by simultaneously stopping culture activity
throughout the cheese. The results, according to Cater are better control over
pH and moisture.
“Whether it’s a 40 pound block, a 640 pound block or barrel cheese,
you get a much narrower range of pH and moisture throughout the finished cheese,” Cater
said
Cater said that one series at a large Cheddar plant produced samples from three
vats treated with Crystal Ban. He said these vats were tested for pH and moisture
and compared to samples of untreated cheese. The average pH of the treated
cheese was 5.25 compared to 5.07 for the untreated cheese. In addition, the
average moisture of the treated cheese was 37.3 percent compared to 36.1 percent
for the untreated cheese.
“Most importantly,” Cater said, “the average moisture levels
with CrystalBan were closer to target without being over specification in cheese
near the surface of the block. As a result, higher yields were achieved with
CrystalBan.”
Cater described the product not needing any special labeling requirements, not
having any off flavors, nor producing color or odor defects.
Development of the CrystalBan concept was partially funded by the University
of Minnesota and the Midwest Dairy Association, Cater said.
For more information on Crystal Ban, call 952-707-0207 or for more detailed information,
visit www.crystalban.com.
APT’s New Advanced Cheese Vat (ACV) Seeks To Increase
Efficiencies, Performance
Cokato, MN —Advanced Process Technology (APT) has introduced a new cheese
vat that was developed to increase efficiencies and provide peak performance.
The new Advanced Cheese Vat (ACV), the company said, offers several improved
features that make the vat “very competitive with existing cheese vats
being used in the dairy industry today.”
Craig Campbell, co-owner of APT, said his company is extremely excited to bring
to the marketplace the ACV.
“When we were considering whether or not to develop a cheese vat, we knew
we had to offer something unique and more effective than the other four or five
vats on the market,” Campbell said.
APT first started to have interest in building cheese equipment in the summer
of 2004, when a few customers started looking to expand.
“Cheese belts and block formers are limited to a specific group of customers,
whereas the cheese vat has interest from all cheese plant customers,” Campbell
said. “Our first investment needed to attract the largest customer base.
And frankly, it fulfilled most of our customers’ needs as well.”
Over the course of several months, the design and drawings were being established. “We
broke down the steps of cheesemaking and asked what changes to the design could
improve and economically impact cheese manufacturing during these cheesemaking
steps,” explains
Gary Starkson, cheese technologist for APT.
APT worked intently on the 3-A certificate for the seal material; machining of
individual parts to specific dimensions; and the overall building of the ACV
in accordance with USDA guidelines extended the completion time a little longer
than APT wanted, admitted Campbell.
“We are very grateful that we have a customer that committed to this project.
We both understood that they (cheese manufacturer) also had an investment in
the project and we continued together to install and implement the ACV into their
system,” says Campbell.
The ACV was installed in March, 2006. After nine months of trials, the ACV has
held up well, making several varieties of cheese successfully, Campbell said.
Most mechanical features are described as standard by APT. “We are very
excited about our patent pending rennet inject manifold and our patent pending
adjustable agitator seal,” Starkson said. “The agitator is a counter
balanced design, unlike the other three cheese vats with single shaft agitator
designs.”
Based on side by side comparisons with a competitive cheese vat, APT said that
the ACV whey fats have been lower indicating that there is increased cheese yields.
Please fill out the following so we can provide you more information.