FREEZERS

JBT GEARS UP FOR EXPANDING FROZEN FOOD MARKET

With the European frozen food market expected to reach 17 million metric tons in the next five years, JBT further enhances its sustainable design, hygiene and optimisation technologies to meet the demand

Enhanced food safety, performance and optimisation are the key technologies in the latest spiral freezer to join JBT’s Frigoscandia brand.

As a global technology equipment supplier to the food processing industry, JBT has launched its new Frigoscandia GYRoCOMPACT ® 70 Spiral Freezer which, the company believes, is set to take foodfocused freezing to the next level.

At 700mm, the new freezer is more compact than any of its predecessors, yet offers up to 20% increased capacity. Designed to be both sustainable and hygienic with a number of new streamlined features to further eliminate food traps and maximise food safety, the new freezer joins the GYRoCOMPACT 700mm product line which has sold over 1,700 units world-wide. The new freezer is also iOPS-ready to enable peak optimisation.

Customer feedback, combined with its pioneering of the self-stacking spiral belt, are what drives the development of the Frigoscandia brand, as Torbjörn Persson, JBTs Director of Value Stream and Global Product Line, explains: “Customers continue to require increased food safety, combined with higher efficiency in uptime and capacity. Of course, most industrial freezers are quite large, so the need to have food-safe freezers is really important when looking at a full food production line. One key factor is that the freezing process itself doesn´t limit growth of bacteria on contaminated products, but only stops it momentarily. This is one reason why optimised hygienic design has always been our top priority. Floor joints, reduced overlapping surfaces, reduced visible threads and pop rivets are just some of the innovations.

“We’ve also seen a clear trend for more variation in the products our customers produce, which enforces the need for flexible production lines. For example, we can now increase the capacity for chicken nuggets from around 4,000 kg/hr up to 4,800 kg/hr.”

Many customers are also faced with high investment costs if they are planning to build new production facilities, says Persson, so their aim is how to put more capacity into their existing buildings.

Designed for production rates of between 1.5 and 5 tons per hour, the freezer can be utilised for existing frozen food applications, while also having benefits for plants with space constraints, as its headroom has been reduced by 600mm.

Quicker drying functions, optimised airflow, less drive forces, a continuous belt-rinse-defrost (BRD) system and savings of up to 75% in oil consumption are just some of the features JBT has introduced, with further innovations in the pipeline. JBT’s iOPS system, its version of IoT (Internet of Things), analyses data in real time to maximise uptime and productivity.

“Our current developments are focused on food safety, efficiency and uptime. The Europe frozen food market is expected to reach well over 17 million metric tons by the end of 2026. We want to be ready for that.”

For more information, visit www.jbtc.com/foodtech