ProFood World June 2023

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MyForest Foods’ Alternative Approach to Food Production Skip dehydration. Skip extrusion. This Manufacturing Innovation Award winner is making plant-based whole cuts of meat through an innovative solid-state fermentation process.

FEATURES

20 OpX Intel: Take the Time to Work On the Business

A key to improving manufacturing health is to step away from putting out the day-to-day fires and instead take some time to focus on improving your pain points.

38 Tech Today: Ongoing Growth in Pet Food Processing

The pet food industry shows no sign of slowing down, so processors need a flexible manufacturing strategy to accommodate the volume and variety of product produced today.

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45 Insights: Beverage Industry Grapples With CO2 Shortages

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CONTENT

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AARON HAND 312/488-3392

ahand@pmmimediagroup.com

SENIOR EDITOR MICHAEL COSTA mcosta@pmmimediagroup.com

NEW PRODUCTS EDITOR MORGAN SMITH msmith@pmmimediagroup.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

CONNECT WITH US @ProFoodWorld @ProFoodWorld www.linkedin.com/ showcase/profoodworld @ProFoodWorld

JEANNE SCHWEDER, STEPHEN PERRY, STEPHEN SCHLEGEL, JEFFREY BARACH

CREATIVE DIRECTOR DAVID BACHO

ART DIRECTOR KATHY TRAVIS

ADVERTISING

PUBLISHER PATRICK YOUNG pyoung@pmmimediagroup.com • 610/251-2579

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE BRIAN J. GRONOWSKI bgronowski@pmmimediagroup.com 440/564-5920

PRODUCTION MANAGER GEORGE SHURTLEFF gshurtle @pmmimediagroup.com

FINANCIAL SERVICES MANAGER JANET FABIANO jfabiano@pmmimediagroup.com

PMMI MEDIA GROUP

PRESIDENT DAVID NEWCORN

VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL ELIZABETH KACHORIS

SENIOR DIRECTOR, CLIENT SUCCESS & MEDIA OPERATIONS

KELLY GREEBY

DIRECTOR, DIGITAL MEDIA JEN KREPELKA

SENIOR DIRECTOR, CONTENT & BRAND GROWTH MIKE PROKOPEAK

SENIOR DIRECTOR, EVENTS TREY SMITH

DIRECTOR, MARKETING SHARON TAYLOR

FOUNDING PARTNER AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, INDUSTRY OUTREACH, PMMI JOSEPH ANGEL

FOUNDING PARTNER LLOYD FERGUSON

ProFood World • PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611

Phone: 312/222-1010 • Fax: 312/222-1310

Email: info@pmmimediagroup.com • Web: www.profoodworld.com

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Phone: 571/612-3200 • Fax: 703/243-8556 • Web: www.pmmi.org

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Manufacturing Innovators Tackle a Changing World

Meet this year’s winners of ProFood World ’s Manufacturing Innovation Awards—each of them pushing the envelope in their own ways.

Each year, ProFood World ’s editors choose three food or beverage plants as Manufacturing Innovation Award (MIA) winners. They might be new plants or renovated production lines. They might make mac and cheese or moonshine. But what they so often have in common is a bunch of shiny, new equipment mass producing traditional o erings for hungry (or thirsty) consumers.

This year, the first MIA winner we’re featuring is di erent than our usual award recipient. But I also think it represents a considerable shift in how the world might need to look at food production going forward.

MyForest Foods makes a bacon alternative made from mycelium, which is essentially the root system of mushrooms. That in itself puts the company on the avant garde end of the food spectrum. But even for a mycelium producer, they are taking a very innovative approach to the growth of the ingredient.

Read “MyForest Foods’ Alternative Approach to Food Production,” this month’s cover story on page 28, to learn more about why we chose the company’s Swersey Silos as an MIA.

As it happens, another MIA winner plays in the plant-based space as well, producing milk alternatives, as well as ready-todrink teas and whey-based protein shakes, among other beverages. SunOpta’s aseptic production facility in Midlothian, Texas, does some 90% of its business in co-manufacturing, with state-of-the-art, high-speed lines that provide the flexibility they need to run more than 100 SKUs. Look for SunOpta’s story in ProFood World ’s August issue.

We were o visiting our final MIA winner as this issue was going to press. Despite the juggling act that that was, I didn’t regret for a moment making the trip out to South Carolina to see the greenfield turkey processing plant that is part of Prestage Foods’ network of facilities. It was a wonder of automation and fascinating to see how the turkeys were handled from start to finish. Prestage’s story won’t be featured in print until our December issue, but I promise it will be worth the wait.

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

CHRISTINE BENSE

CHIEF SUPPLY CHAIN OFFICER

Turkey Hill

GREG FLICKINGER

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Nobell Foods

JOHN HILKER SENIOR VP, OPERATIONS

Kite Hill

VINCE NASTI

VP, OPERATIONS

Nation Pizza & Foods

JIM PRUNESTI

VP, ENGINEERING

Conagra Brands

LISA RATHBURN

VP, ENGINEERING

T. Marzetti

MARK SHAYE

VP, ENGINEERING

Ken’s Foods

TONY VANDENOEVER

CONSULTANT, FOOD MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

Waterfall Ventures

DIANE WOLF FORMER VP, ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS

Kraft Foods

BROOKE WYNN

SENIOR DIRECTOR, SUSTAINABILITY

Smithfield Foods

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Food Leaders Talk Corporate Innovation, Leading the Sustainable Charge

CASEY FLANAGAN | DIGITAL EDITOR, PMMI MEDIA GROUP

The future of food may rely on data and emerging technology, sustainable leadership, and learning from emerging start-ups, according to industry leaders at the 2023 Chicago Venture Summit.

The summit’s “Future of Corporate Innovation” panel brought together executives from major brands, including Mars Wrigley and Kraft Heinz, to share insights on their innovation and sustainability strategies for future success.

Data and technology for a clear path to sustainability

Alan Kleinerman, Kraft Heinz vice president of disruption, highlights the link between food and data technology, citing his company’s 2022 partnership with Microsoft to accelerate digital transformation. “If you have the data, you have the ability to actually understand and adjust, control, and make decisions based on it,” he says. “Every aspect of the supply chain can move in a more seamless way.”

Artificial intelligence (AI) also has a place in the future of food production, specifically in plant-based product formulation, Kleinerman says.

NotCo, a plant-based food brand that partnered with Kraft Heinz in 2022, implements AI in product development by “mapping foods down to the molecular level, to really understand the taste, the flavor, the experience, the texture of animal-based products,” Kleinerman says.

The technology has accelerated development for plant-based alternatives of Kraft Heinz staples such as mayonnaise and Kraft Singles.

Rainer Struck, global vice president for innovation transformation at Mars Wrigley, also emphasizes the use of emerging technology, particularly as a tool for sustainability.

Struck says AI and other technologies will help his company to measure success as it works toward its Sustainable in a Generation Plan, and support waste

Executives discuss corporate innovation at the 2023 Chicago Venture Summit, Future of Food.

Diageo Appoints New CEO

Diageo CEO Sir Ivan Menezes is retiring from the company June 30. Current COO Debra Crew will take over as CEO and a member of the board July 1.

A Unique Way to Combat Egg Prices

Just Crack an Egg, a Kraft Heinz brand, has entered into a partnership with FarmersOnly.com to give consumers the chance to meet a farmer and get fresh, a ordable eggs.

PepsiCo Debuts New Customer Sustainability Platform

PepsiCo has launched the pep+ Partners for Tomorrow platform, designed to help its customers achieve their sustainability goals.

Richardson Investing $220M in Memphis Wesson Oil Facility

Richardson International is replacing an existing refinery with a state-of-the-art plant with e ciencies to reduce water, energy, and wastewater volumes.

Smucker Completes $1.2B Sale of Pet Food Brands to Post Holdings

Smucker has sold several pet food brands, such as Rachael Ray Nutrish, 9Lives, and Kibbles ’n Bits, and its private label pet food business, to Post Holdings for $1.2 billion.

Frito-Lay, Quaker Open Greenhouse Learning Center

Frito-Lay and Quaker have opened a Greenhouse Learning Center at its R&D headquarters that will field test, measure, and analyze compostable packaging.

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reduction toward the end of the supply chain. “There’s so much technology now in our supply chain,” he says, “where you reduce waste through AI and automation, where it’s just a lot less wasted, and also a positive impact on the planet.”

Leading the charge on sustainability

Struck notes recent consumer trends of increased awareness and discernment about their food and lifestyles. He says there is a lot of work to do on the industry side to meet this demand, but his company is working to stay ahead of the curve. “The industry has to go ahead of the consumer, before sustainability becomes really mainstream,” he says. “We can’t wait for everybody buying into sustainable solutions, and therefore we need to all work together and lead.”

This increased consumer demand for sustainable and health-focused food has brought a paradigm shift away from the widely accepted sacrifices and trade-o s of past products, Kleinerman adds. While people used to accept that sustainable or healthy products would likely not taste as good or would involve extra preparation, “I think consumers are telling us today, with the abun-

dance of options that exist, good enough simply isn’t good enough anymore,” he says.

Smart expansion and learning

Mars Wrigley and Kraft Heinz also approach innovation through expansion.

“Whether that’s through M&A, our acquisitions, whether it’s an incubation of new brands, or industry partnerships, all into one space on one team, that allows us to be very consumer-centric, very consumer-driven to say, ‘This is the opportunity we’re going to go after,’” Kleinerman says.

Mars Wrigley focuses on “creating the portfolio of the future,” Struck says. His company aims to maintain and grow relevance of its core portfolio, but also further tap into categories like snacking.

But creating successful new products isn’t as simple as being able to “plug these new things into the existing business and hope that it will suddenly create an impact,” Struck says.

Mars Wrigley uses cross-functional teams and incubation to bring products to market, as Struck explains, “moving from asking consumers what they would buy to observing what they actually do with prototypes that we created very quickly.”

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Craft Brewers Need to Find New Ways to Innovate and Grow

AARON HAND | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

In many ways, the presentation from Bart Watson this year at the Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville sounded much the same as it did last year in Minneapolis. Delivering the State of the Craft Brewing Industry to a full house at Music City Center, the Brewers Association’s chief economist pointed to another year of disappointing performance. However, a key di erence this year is that we’ve come far enough out of the e ects of the COVID-19 pandemic to realize that—unless the industry takes innovative action to turn things around—craft brewing will remain stagnant.

“After years of strong growth, followed by a maturing growth rate, and then two very, very unique years due to COVID, craft brewing in 2022 was on par with 2021—aka, things were flat,” Watson says. “If we look at this over the last six years, I think this points to the need for brewers to find new ways to grow, to innovate.”

Since 2017, the craft brew industry has seen an average annual growth rate of 1.2%, Watson notes. “Those years of double-digit growth are clearly well in the rearview mirror,” he says. “And unless something changes, I don’t think we’re going to see it again anytime soon.”

Watson points to this slow to no growth as the “new normal” for craft brewers—unless something can be done to change that. He’s quick to explain, however, that 0% growth is not the same as no change. “There’s a lot going on under the surface. There’s variation in business models, variation in all sorts of things,” he says. “In fact, all of the changes going on around us in beverage alcohol is one reason the craft industry growth is so slow. So we shouldn’t take this 0% number to mean that the industry is static.”

A post-COVID world

Over the past few years, a lot of the numbers seen in the market have been explained by COVID. Channel shifts were key, for example, as people drank more at home during lockdowns rather than out. “We bought a lot more beer from grocery stores, convenience stores, liquor stores, and we bought a lot less draft beer from bars and restaurants,” Watson says. “That explains the first couple

of weeks of COVID, and since then, we’ve been slowly seeing that tide that went out recede back, and that’s explained a lot of the numbers.”

But the trends have stabilized, and the numbers are no longer being explained by COVID. “That’s just the market we’re in,” Watson says. “We see this persistent gap between hospitality and distribution brewers.”

Referring to his presentations from 2017 to 2019, Watson notes some recurring themes, particularly slowing and fracturing growth. “But there’s fundamentally something very di erent here,” he says. “It’ll be a slow-growth competitive environment that we saw in those years, and one that’s actively contracting now. And based on the numbers that I’ve seen in the first quarter of 2023, the numbers aren’t going to get better anytime soon.”

There’s a little more positivity in the microbrew subsector, which saw 1% growth last year, Watson notes. Much of this is driven by their heavier draft portfolio, since the market is still seeing some bounce back in on-premise draft brews in 2022. Although this is growth, Watson is convinced that it shows even more the change in the distribution market. “If we go back to prior to COVID, and we look at microbrew growth, it was really, really strong—double digits two out of those three years in

Bart Watson, the Brewers Association’s chief economist, explains to craft brewers why they need to come up with new ideas to get out of a period of slow to no growth.

PHOTO BY AARON HAND

2017 through 2019,” he says. “So this shift from very, very strong growth to a little bit of growth, I think is an even bigger one than what we saw with regionals and really shows how much the distribution market has changed for all breweries of all sizes.”

Hospitality positivity, but reinvention still needed

Where Watson found positivity in particular in 2022 was with the hospitality sector—the taprooms and brewpubs. “These breweries are still seeing demand growth. And I think more than any other, this suggests to me that there’s not a bubble bursting—craft demand isn’t necessarily going anywhere,” he says. “That said, I think we’re going to need to see some reinvention.”

Taprooms and brewpubs together saw 7% growth in 2022. This growth makes sense, Watson says, because these breweries are selling most of their beer on-site, which is another sign of health in the industry.

Continued ability to grow on-site sales is a key reason that craft brewery openings continue to outpace closings. Although this has been the norm in the craft brew space, it certainly isn’t the norm in most other industries. That could be changing for craft brew as well, according to Watson.

“That closing rate remains remarkably low. In 2022, we measured 529 openings for craft breweries all around the country. That is the lowest number since 2013, against 319 closings. The era of everyone opening and no one closing, though,

is clearly going away,” Watson says, noting that he expects openings and closings to be more balanced within the next couple years. “Back to the theme of this talk, ‘What is normal?’ That’s normal. Most industries have roughly openings and closings in balance. What has been abnormal is the last 10 years, where everybody opened and almost no one closed. That doesn’t typically happen. And

Beer Baroness: What It Takes to Thrive in a Male-Dominated Industry

Join the Packaging & Processing Women’s Leadership Network (PPWLN) for a conversation with awardwinning entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den judge Manjit Minhas about what it takes to defy the odds and thrive in an industry dominated by men. A petroleum engineering student turned beer baroness, at age 19 Manjit co-founded Minhas Breweries, Distilleries and Wineries—becoming the youngest brewery owner in the world. It’s now the 10th largest brewery in North America.

In a conversation with her during PPWLN’s breakfast event at PACK EXPO Las Vegas (Sept. 12, 7:30 a.m.), Minhas will share her powerful story of how she was able to break into the notoriously competitive beer and spirits industry, o ering advice on ways to conquer measurable obstacles and live the life of your dreams.

The craft brew industry has moved beyond its years of double-digit growth.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BREWERS ASSOCIATION

it’s a testament to the hard work, ingenuity, tenacity of everyone in this room.”

Competition from alternative adult beverages

One of the reasons Watson expects those openings and closings numbers to come more in line with other industries is because of the health of the overall beer industry. Beer is certainly not where it once was, with its place being usurped in part by a range of alternatives. “It’s pretty shocking how much volume beer has lost since roughly 2008,” he says. “Some of this is due to competition from other segments. If we looked at this in per capita terms, what we would learn is that Americans drink about the same amount every year, and beer has lost as hard liquor has taken some of our occasions. But another reason that traditional beer is losing is there’s a growing number of alternatives on the market. Americans love flavor and variety, and we’re o ering them lots of di erent options out there.”

The alternative adult beverage sector is providing plenty of flavor and variety. This category goes well beyond hard seltzers and flavored malt beverages; it includes things like hard versions of sodas, iced teas, and co ees, hop waters, and many others. “I think, increasingly, these products overlap more with craft than many people in this room have fully come to grips with,” Watson contends. “In the past, a lot of the alternatives I don’t think

overlapped craft that much. Flavored malt beverages and hard seltzers I think largely competed in di erent spaces—di erent price points, going after di erent occasions, di erent consumers. When you look at a lot of the new products that are in the market right now…they’re competing around flavor and variety, the things that define craft, and they increasingly are going after our occasions and our customers.”

New opportunities

For the third year running, Watson was unable to present the slide saying that craft brew is at an alltime high. “Unfortunately, I don’t know when we’re going to be able to do it in the near future,” he says. “Again, I think we’re in a new normal of slow to no growth.”

Though some of this is maturation and normal, the craft beer industry is going to have to start innovating to capture more of the market. “The things that got us to where we are are probably not going to be the things that level us up,” Watson says. “We’re going to have to do new stu as an industry if we expect to get di erent results.”

One area is in channels—redoubling the commitment to being o ered in more places and deepening in existing channels. Another is finding new occasions in consumers’ daily lives. “This is something that the liquor industry has done very e ectively to beer over the last 10 to 20 years— from concerts and sporting events to more every-

As the market for traditional beers drops o sharply (left) the gap is being filled by alternative adult beverages (right).

PHOTO COURTESY OF BREWERS ASSOCIATION

day occasions, they’ve used their brands and marketing to target your occasions,” Watson says. “At a baseball game now, there’s a lot of liquor there where it used to be a pastime for beer. We need to think about how we can use the brands and marketing with craft, and there’s many wonderful strong ones to flip that script and to o er craft beers in more occasions.”

Watson points in particular to the strongly growing non-alcoholic beer market. “Nonalcoholic illustrates a great opportunity to grow,” he says. “They’ve taken places where there wasn’t going to be a beer in someone’s hand and said, ‘Here, here’s a beer that you could put into your hand for this occasion.’ And in doing so, added incremental growth to the category.”

Finally, new customers are essential to grow the craft brew space. “Beverage alcohol always has changing customers. Every year, we get a new generation of 21+ adults who want di erent things,” Watson notes. “In the past, these new generations have largely benefited craft. We saw the Millennials come of age—they loved craft, they moved into craft, they increased our demographics. I think one reason that we’re seeing an overall

craft stagnation is that’s not happening as much anymore. We have a new, di erent generation, with di erent preferences, and maybe more concerns about moderation as well. And unlike past generations that have moved into craft, I think we’ve seen the new generation of craft drinkers generally moving away from craft demographics.”

In particular, Watson points to female and BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) sectors of the population. “To put it as bluntly as possible, craft has the lowest percentage of female drinkers and BIPOC drinkers of any major beverage alcohol category,” he says. And why does this matter? “All of the growth in beverage alcohol customers is in female and BIPOC drinkers. So we’re going to need to change something if we want to connect with this new, diverse generation.”

As Gen Z comes of age, even more pressure will be on craft brewers to reinvent themselves. “They look di erent than current craft demographics,” Watson says. “So we’re going to need to think about new ways to welcome them to the craft party. You will have amazing beers in amazing spaces to o er. If we need some inspiration there, I think we can look to taverns and brew pubs.”

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3D Printing Technology for Drinkable Liquids

GERMANY-BASED AUTOMATION brand

Kuka debuted its Print A Drink robotics model—a collaboration between Kuka and Print A Drink founder Benjamin Greimel—at the recent Automate 2023 in Detroit.

Print A Drink uses a six-axis Kuka KR Agilus robot, and merges robotics, life sciences, and design to inject microliter-drops of edible liquid into a cocktail. Within a minute, Print A Drink builds up 3D structures in a wide range of drinks, creating augmented cocktails with natural ingredients.

For the 3D drinks, conventional

fruit juices, syrups, water, and alcohol can be used, giving the application a range of flexibility depending on user need, according to Kuka. The printing process works without artificial ingredients.

For events and exhibitions, Print A Drink uses a small footprint, with just a robotic arm and a mobile bar. The KR Agilus is designed for high working speeds, so printing a cocktail takes only a minute, and one robot can print hundreds of drinks per evening, saving labor. The process works with a variety of di erent drinks, colors and 3D patterns. It’s also possible to program custom designs for unique cocktail creations.

—Michael Costa, Senior Editor

Kuka Robotics www.kuka.com

Print A Drink works with a six-axis Kuka KR Agilus robot, which is designed for highspeed working environments.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KUKA

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CONTRIBUTORS:

FSO Institute Coaches

Paul Schaum (formerly Pretzels Inc.), Partner, Chief Operations Coach, FSO Institute

Dan Sileo (formerly Sunny Delight), Partner, Chief Manufacturing Coach, FSO Institute

Take Time to Work on the Business, Not in It

A key to improving manufacturing health is to step away from putting out the day-to-day fires and instead take some time to focus on improving your pain points.

JUST WHO IS MICHAEL GERBER and what in the world does his classic treatise, The E-Myth, have to do with improving your manufacturing health? It’s pretty simple: When you’re so busy working in your business every day, you don’t have time to step away and assess how the business is actually doing. So, by making time to work on the business, as Gerber implores, you can see things in di erent ways that allow you to assess how the business is doing, make the necessary adjustments, and improve the overall manufacturing health of your operation.

There is certainly no shortage of tools and processes related to working on the business for improved manufacturing performance and health, including Kaizens, Gemba Walks, 5S, Lean, Six Sigma, and the like. Some of these are more complicated than others, and some require certification. But there are some simple, common sense assessment tools and processes that come from years of experience working in leading consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturing companies.

To tap into this experience, FSO Institute coaches Paul Schaum and Dan Sileo identify below some of the simplest, easy-to-implement tools and processes for you to consider as you make time to work on your business to improve performance and overall manufacturing health.

FSO INSTITUTE: Dan, throughout your career you have been a big fan of working on the business. From your experience, what is the best way to get started?

DAN SILEO: Working on the business is strategically important, but we have found that too many leaders choose not to prioritize it due to the daily

crisis. There is time for firefighting, but to win consistently, a change is needed. We often recommend the best way to get started is to discover where the greatest pain points are, prioritize them, and then take a targeted approach that is focused on achieving quick and meaningful wins. As one of our colleagues is fond of saying, “Don’t try to boil the ocean” and that is so true. Working on the business is a journey and not a “program of the month.”

FSO INSTITUTE: Paul, like Dan, you’ve spent a good bit of your career with continuous improvement initiatives and other leadership initiatives in working on the business. What comes after the discovery phase?

PAUL SCHAUM: Totally agree with Dan’s comments. At Pretzels, we chose to limit the scope by improving just one or two packaging lines to start. We considered this a pilot or proof of concept. The pilot needs a specific purpose or theme such as War on Waste. By involving line operators, supervisors, and other key stakeholders, you have in a sense created a SWAT team approach to solving the problem. This will not only deliver bottom-line results but also build confidence in all the stakeholders that, through their e orts, they too can make a meaningful contribution to the company and their work.

FSO INSTITUTE: Dan, you’ve used Managing for Daily Improvement (MDI) before when working on the business. How does MDI work?

SILEO: Paul used the War on Waste as a strong improvement approach to securing early wins

for the company. Those and other continuous improvement events need an overarching transformation process to sustain the results. That is MDI. Its primary purpose is to identify and solve problems and grow people. Growing people is truly working on the business, as they now make good decisions on your behalf. It is visually intensive communication on the factory floor to enable the operators and supervisors to track their KPI performance in real time. This information is powerful in aligning towards winning the day, every day.

FSO INSTITUTE: Paul, another big step in working on the business is getting team alignment. In your War on Waste, how did you go about getting everyone on the same page?

SCHAUM: Alignment is key to any game plan to achieving and sustaining its successful outcomes. Can you imagine an NFL team’s record if the o ense is not aligned in executing its game plan? Leadership at all levels has a responsibility to both communicate and support throughout the organization. At the floor level, supervisors are leaders and they must work with their operator teams to perform at their best (role clarity). To do that e ectively, the supervisors must understand (be aligned) with what plant leadership expects. Obviously, therefore, plant leadership must in turn be fully aligned with company leadership.

FSO INSTITUTE: Paul and Dan, this question is for

both of you. What are the most signi cant things to consider in putting together an action plan for achieving operational excellence?

SCHAUM AND SILEO: We both agree that, through our experiences, the most e ective plan for achieving operational excellence is a walk-to-run strategy. This may come in the form of a 100-day plan that involves all levels on this path to operational excellence:

Listen—Assessing how the company’s vision and mission is communicated (and understood) throughout the operations group.

Diagnose —Using data, surveys, and focus groups to establish a clear picture of the current state, forming a basis for solving the right problems.

Collaborate —Engaging with the key stakeholders for developing solutions and determining what would be required, such as standard work for operators and leaders, just-in-time training for upskilling, and problem solving.

Pilot—Running a proof of concept to validate the plans, engage all stakeholders on the improvement, and determine the e ectiveness of KPIs.

Rapid Reapplication—Following a rigorous Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) to develop the rollout to other lines and plants.

Finally, throughout the journey, conduct feedback sessions with senior management to assure alignment, clarity of purpose, and course corrections if needed.

Bar-U-Eat First to Offer BPI-Certi ed Compostable Bar Wrappers

The film structure is a lamination of a cellulosic-based film and a compostable sealant web with LLDPE properties.

COLORADO-BASED natural, energy-dense bar brand and 1% for the Planet member Bar-U-Eat unveiled new Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI)-certified compostable packaging for its individually wrapped bars. The brand says this makes it the first bar company in the world to o er packaging carrying this certification for the entire package. The move ensures that the packaging will break down properly in commercial compost systems, and not contaminate the environment. It also steps leaps beyond the industry standard of single-use plastics, according to the company.

Every year, more than 2 billion pre-packaged snack, protein, and energy bars are consumed, almost all of which come in single-use plastics or multi-layered wrappers. This creates millions of pounds of waste from a non-renewable, non-biodegradable resource. Bar-U-Eat’s new packaging is made from renewable, sustainably sourced materials that can break down to become nutrient-rich soil. This type of packaging is at the forefront of where sustainable packaging technology is headed and where it needs to go to combat waste and the use of finite resources.

The new packaging is composed of plantbased materials from FSC-certified sustainably managed forests. The brand’s material supplier Elk Packaging uses a combination of films from Futamura and other suppliers. It additionally complies with the specifications established in the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6400 to be aerobically composted and is biodegradable.

“The film structure is a lamination of a cellulosic-based film and a compostable sealant web with LLDPE properties. The plant-based materials come from a wood cellulose from FSC-certified, sustainably managed forests and corn,” says Jason Friday, Bar-U-Eat’s co-founder, further confirm-

ing that the film material is not PLA-, PHA-, or Braskem-related.

Since compostable packaging is new to most consumers, Packaging World asked Friday about how he handles consumer education and proper disposal, to ensure the film doesn’t end up in a landfill or contaminate an existing recycling stream.

“On the packaging, there is a section which says, ‘BPI Compostable Commercially Compostable Only.’ There is also a QR code on the side of every box, which directs them to a link on the Bar-U-Eat website that outlines how to properly dispose of our packaging and compost. This is also bolstered by marketing e orts in email, social, and SMS,” he says. “The consumer is expected to commercially compost our packaging. This is the best route for the consumer to take so that it can turn into usable compost. If a consumer doesn’t have access to commercial composting, the appropriate place to dispose of the wrapper is in a landfill. These wrappers are not recyclable but are biodegradable.”

Bar-U-Eat’s film material is flexographically printed in five colors total, one for each of four SKUs plus white, and provided as rollstock to the brand for flow wrapping.

Home Spice Company Utilizes Aluminum Pods in Booklet-Style Package

ANNE MARIE MOHAN | SENIOR EDITOR, PACKAGING WORLD

FOR HOME CHEFS ON THE GO, single-origin spice company Burlap & Barrel has created a clever and compact travel sampler kit, the Spice Passport, that features a selection of its bestselling products from around the globe in a handy, portable booklet-style package. The kit craftily mimics a passport in appearance that, upon opening, displays a playfully illustrated world map, with spice samples packaged in recyclable aluminum pods slotted into the card according to their country of origin.

“We created the Spice Passport as a travel sampler kit, so you never have to eat bland food on the road again,” says Burlap & Barrel co-founder Ethan Frisch. “It’s perfect for spicing up your meals when you’re visiting relatives, cooking in other people’s kitchens, and camping expeditions. A mix of sweet, savory, and hot spices, the kit includes

eight of our most popular spices and will set you up to cook thousands of di erent cuisines.”

Based in New York City, Burlap & Barrel was established in 2016 as a purveyor of single-origin spices and a Public Benefit Corporation. The company works directly with smallholder farmers in 23 countries, many of whom have never exported their products before. According to Frisch, the company di erentiates itself through the high quality of its spices—a result of its thoughtful sourcing, small farmer partners, and the speed of its supply chain. “We’re buying right at the point of harvest and importing immediately,” explains Frisch. “So our spices are just that much fresher.”

The Spice Passport features a selection of Burlap & Barrel’s bestselling products from around the globe in a handy, portable booklet-style package that craftily mimics a passport in appearance.

Eighty percent of Burlap & Barrel’s spice products are sold direct-to-consumer through its own website as well as via other online retailers and at retail in a number of regional specialty chains and independent specialty stores around the country. One long-time customer of the company is its “spice buddy,” Occo Spices, which uses Burlap & Barrel’s products for its premeasured, single-serve spice collections in aluminum pods.

Occo is also based in New York City and was formed in 2018. Whereas Burlap & Barrel is focused on the sourcing of spices, Occo’s strategy is around o ering spices in a packaging format that allows consumers to experiment with new recipes and flavors while the spices are at their peak flavor, without having to invest in a full bottle that may thereafter sit unused in a cupboard.

“The idea is to give you just enough of what you need to try something new once, and then you can move on to whatever you want to cook the next night,” says Occo co-founder Connie Wang. “One part of our mission is to find new ways to show the value of the packaging to consumers,

Burlap & Barrel’s pod is modeled on those used by co ee companies for their Keurig-style capsules, but is much smaller, holding just ½ teaspoon of spice.

helping them to realize that they can access really high-quality ingredients that may be o the beaten path without having to worry about cost or quality or sourcing. Because Occo and our partners can do a lot of that heavy lifting for them.”

To develop the patented aluminum pod it uses for its spice selections, Occo worked with industrial design firm Fuseneo. The pod is modeled on those used by co ee companies for their Keurig-style capsules, but is much smaller, holding just ½ teaspoon of spice. The pod is bowl-shaped with a flat bottom, allowing it to sit on a countertop, and features a wide rim and a tab that acts as a handle. An aluminum lidding film covers the pod and can be easily peeled back for access to the spice.

Though Occo considered a plastic blister-style package, the aluminum pod better met its requirements for sustainability and product freshness, according to Wang. “We were making a single-serving product, so we didn’t want it to be plastic; that just felt like we were putting more trash into the world,” she says. “Instead, we thought aluminum was a great solution, A, because it’s the most recycled and recyclable food packaging material, and also B, because it o ers an impermeable gas barrier.”

The aluminum package, coupled with equipment custom-built for Occo that provides modified atmosphere packaging, allows for a shelf life far beyond that of the three- to six-month shelf life of traditionally packaged spices. “The nice thing about the Occo packaging is that the spices don’t expire because they’re protected from oxygen, light, and humidity,” says Wang. “We are still doing testing on the oxidation rate of the spices inside the packaging, but we can confidently say [the shelf life is] at least three years with the packaging we have. And it’s most likely longer.”

According to Frisch, he and Occo co-founder Lisa Carson had talked for some time about collaborating on a product for Burlap & Barrel before beginning development of the Spice Passport in 2021. The passport concept, he shares, serves two purposes: “What do we carry with us when we travel? We travel with a passport,” he says. “So the passport idea reminds consumers that they can take it with them when they travel, and it also ties back to our travels to work with famers all over the world to source our spices.”

Independent designer and illustrator Seton Rossini conquered the task of translating this dual concept through the engaging and colorful artwork on the passport, which is o set printed. The paperboard sleeve, supplied by Curtis Packaging, measures 6.25 in. tall x 4 in. wide x 1 in. thick and is made of 18-pt SBS.

Since its launch in November 2022, Burlap & Barrel’s Spice Passport has been so popular that, at press time, Frisch says the company had nearly run out of the product. The kit is priced at $9.99 (no shipping fee) for a single passport and at $54.99 for a six-pack.

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Nerds’ New Candy Container Offers a Twist

ANNE MARIE MOHAN | SENIOR EDITOR, PACKAGING WORLD

RESEMBLING AN OVERSIZED PURPLE Trivial

Pursuit pie with all the pie pieces completed, the new Nerds Twist & Mix container is said to be a “first-of-its-kind design for the candy industry.” That’s according to Judy Lee, senior manager, Industrial Design for Nerds brand owner Ferrara USA. Lee was part of the team responsible for the new twist on a classic package: a multi-compartment plastic pack that lets consumers mix and match up to five Original Nerds flavors.

“Ferrara’s research indicated that Nerds candy fans, while loving the duality aspect of the classic Nerds box, would like the option to enjoy even more flavors at once without having to either purchase numerous flavor packs or separate their favorite flavors,” says Joey Rath, senior brand manager for Nerds. “The circular design is inspired by the consumer need for customization while on-the-go, so it was important to design a package that could fit into your pocket and easily pour and share with others.”

The colorful new container holds 2.1 oz of strawberry-, orange-, watermelon-, cherry-, and lemonade-flavored Original Nerds candies, or one mini box (12 g) of each. A rotating lid with a resealable flap o ers access to each flavor—or two at once.

The original packaging design was done in-house by Ferrara’s Industrial Design team and

included a number of functional and aesthetic features. Among them, the container has a sleek and clean design; it has a slim profile—3½ x 7/8 in.— that allows it to easily fit in a pocket; the bottom of the container has a soft profile that nests comfortably in the consumer’s palm; and the top of the lid has a flat surface in the center that accommodates a branding sticker.

In October 2019, the in-house design team provided packaging supplier TricorBraun with a 3D CAD model of the design and a list of additional functional requirements. Ferrara requested that the supplier design a notch detail between the lid and bottom compartment to provide tactile feedback for a premium feel, as well as a groove detail on the outer edge of the lid to add an additional grip surface. It also wanted a lid that was easy to open as well as clear, so consumers would be able to see the colorful Nerds inside.

The main challenge with the package design was the lid, according to Terri Sheppard, CPPL, packaging consultant at TricorBraun. “There was a very fine line we had to overcome with making the lid easy to rotate, but tight enough to stay on the base, as well as having the flap easy to open but also stay closed during shipping and filling,” she explains. “We went through several iterations of the unit cavity and production tool modifications to ultimately achieve the perfect fit to meet all of the requirements necessary for transport and shipping to Ferrara for filling.”

The final pieces—the base and lid—are made of polypropylene and are injection molded. The lid uses clarified PP, which allows for transparency and a view of the candy inside the package. Due to its PP base and lid, the package is widely recyclable in the U.S., Ferrara says.

To fill the new container at its Chicago-area facility, Ferrara installed new packaging equipment, including a filler from Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery.

With the increased forecast and success of the program, TricorBraun has built a second set of tooling and is now running the components on two manufacturing lines.

The colorful new container holds 2.1 oz of strawberry-, orange-, watermelon-, cherry-, and lemonade-flavored Original Nerds candies, or one mini box (12 g) of each.

Spring Creek’s New Egg Packs Offer Plastic Bene ts and Sustainability

SPRING CREEK EGG FARM’S new Bio-PET quail egg packaging performs a balancing act of sustainability. Supplier Good Natured Products says the cartons are 100% recyclable and replace as much as 30% of the non-renewable fossil-based PET with renewably sourced plant-based PET, while retaining the visibility and durability of traditional PET cartons.

“We believe a business shouldn’t have to compromise great design, product enhancement, and durability in the search of environmentally friendly packaging,” says Aaron Oosterho , Spring Creek owner and CEO.

The new packs help to limit food waste that results from egg breakage, whether through the BioPET’s crush resistance in transport, or by allowing consumers to peek at the product without opening it at stores. That’s all while meeting Spring Creek’s requirements for recyclability across North America, and reducing its reliance on fossil fuels.

“It’s in our DNA to match our packaging choices with our zero-waste, vertically integrated business practices, and we’re grateful Good Natured could meet all our requirements,” Oosterho says.

The design process allowed Good Natured to dig into Spring Creek’s unique needs, “understand their industry and then fine-tune a design and precise material choice that would check all the boxes,” adds Paul Antoniadis, Good Natured CEO.

The newly packaged Spring Creek quail eggs are available at U.S. and Canadian grocers including Kroger, Costco, Loblaws, and Sobeys.

—CASEY FLANAGAN, Digital Editor, PMMI Media Group

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MyForest Foods’ to Food Production

IS IT A FARM or is it a factory? ProFood World doesn’t usually spend its pages covering the agricultural side of the business, our industry coverage firmly rooted in the equipment and technologies found on the factory floor. But as the food industry comes to terms with a world in which rising population and climate change present enormous challenges to our food supply, we must also come to terms with what food “production” might look like going forward.

One of the winners of this year’s Manufacturing Innovation Awards (MIA) presents one possible new model. At its new Swersey Silos operation, MyForest Foods grows large beds of mycelium in a vertical farm. There are more standard operational procedures along the way as it shapes and slices and cures those blocks of mycelium into a plantbased bacon alternative, but it is the growth step— precisely manipulated, at industrial scale—that is particularly innovative.

This is not your father’s food production.

Makin’ the bacon

MyForest Foods was established in 2020 as a spino from Ecovative, a company established by Eben Bayer (CEO) with fellow Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student Gavin McIntyre (CCO) to commercialize a mycelium-based Styrofoam replacement and other more sustainable products. MyForest Foods uses Ecovative’s AirMycelium technology, a technique that enables the company to make their mycelium products edible.

Whereas Ecovative’s MycoComposite technology products incorporate mycelium grown around a lowcost starter, AirMycelium technology enables the mycelium to grow above the growth medium. In July 2022, MyForest Foods unveiled a vertical mycelium farm that takes full advantage of the AirMycelium technology to make the company’s flagship product, MyBacon—a plant-based bacon alternative.

MyBacon mimics the taste and texture of traditional pork bacon with a minimal list of ingredients: mycelium, salt, sugar, coconut oil, natural

Alternative Approach

Scientists harvest from a continuous sheet of mycelium grown using AirMycelium technology.

MyBacon cooks and sizzles much like pork-based bacon, with coconut oil used to simulate fat properties.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MYFOREST FOODS

PHOTO BY AARON HAND

flavors, and beet juice for color. The plant-based meat alternative market really got its start in the ground meat realm, such as burgers or sausages. Whole cuts of animal meats—bacon, chicken, steak, etc.—make up 80% of the traditional proteins sold. Plant-based alternatives of those whole cuts, however, are typically done through extrusion, a multi-step process of dehydrating, rehydrating, extruding, and shaping.

MyForest Foods stands that model on its head, creating a whole meat alternative that is grown

rather than extruded. The AirMycelium technology takes advantage of mycelium’s natural properties to carefully guide its geometric growth at industrial scale. Manipulating various environmental factors to mimic conditions in a dark forest, where mushrooms are happiest, MyForest is able to grow the mycelium directly onto 100 x 3 ft beds.

Named in honor of Burt Swersey, the RPI professor who pushed his students to pursue meaningful inventions, MIA winner Swersey Silos is MyForest Foods’ new vertical mycelium farm in Green Island, N.Y.

Two green silos store the woodchip mixture that is used as the ‘soil’ to grow mycelium.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL COSTA

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Within that vertical farm, MyForest teases the mycelial fibers with the same kind of refreshing dew they would experience on the forest floor after a cool night. A gentle breeze also simulates the whoosh of the wind through the trees at sunset. By orchestrating the environmental factors carefully, MyForest is able to grow the natural mushroom textures and flavors it is after—in accelerated timeframes (12 to 16 days vs. 12 to 16 weeks). The structures thus grown resemble whole pork bellies, and are exactly the right size to slice o strips of mycelium bacon for further processing at another facility.

“In the AirMycelium process, we’re e ectively tricking it. Alright, I’m above the surface. Should I become a mushroom? Or am I underground and keep growing mycelium? And then, oh, I’m above the surface, I guess I’ll start to turn into a mushroom,” Bayer says, explaining the rotation of cycles that coaxes the layers of the product. “This sort of grows like a 3D printer, up and out of that bed—every couple seconds, making a layer that’s imperceptible to the human eye. But it’s basically the cells weaving themselves on top of each other. And based on how we control the environment, they weave in di erent patterns.”

Using off-the-shelf technology

Though AirMycelium is a novel technology—and MyForest Foods is doing a lot of things that have not been done for traditional food production—the mycelium company is working as much as possible to standardize processes and use standard equipment from other industries, particularly the

is doing a lot of things that have

Adam Heinze (left) and Eben Bayer discuss the latest trials with the mostly o -the-shelf slicer the company will use to slice slabs of mycelium into strips of plant-based bacon.

PHOTO BY AARON HAND

At the Swersey Silos facility, mycelium is grown atop a woodchip slurry in 100 x 3 ft beds.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MYFOREST FOODS

mushroom industry, where Adam Heinze, MyForest’s director of operations, comes from.

At the R&D stage, MyForest started with smaller growth chambers. “They looked a lot like a standard walk-in refrigerator that you’d see at a restaurant—mostly because they were. Then we decided to get a little fancier,” Heinze says, explaining the company’s move to industrial cooling—though in a similar-sized box—to better control temperature and other environmental parameters. “And then the founders, Gavin and Eben, decided that it would be appropriate to see if we didn’t have to argue and bicker with fermenters, but if we could use o -the-shelf mushroom technology. So we built sort of half a traditional mushroom room.”

This was an R&D platform to help the founders figure out if o -the-shelf mushroom equipment— conveyors, hoppers, etc.—would work for their operations. “A lot of what we’re doing is taking conventional equipment from the mushroom industry and conventional processes from other industries like continuous steam sterilization of solid particles, conveyance of woodchips, and then combining them with unique biology,” Bayer says.

What Heinze describes as “the least interesting thing we do” are essentially mushroom works. For

example, MyForest is using standard mushroom head filling equipment—a conveyor system typically used to fill mushroom shelves with compost and casing—to fill the shelves of its vertical farm with mycelium growth material. “The big conveyor pulls up to the front of the shelf, this conveyor rolls out, and that big guy in the back pulls the net at the same speed that that conveyor works,” Heinze says, explaining how the growth mixture populates the shelves in the vertical farm. “I can fill one of these shelves in about four minutes.”

Essentially, Heinze says, MyForest is growing mushrooms in a novel way. “The way we’re able to utilize equipment is that we’re basically just o ering di erent sets of growth conditions to an existing product,” he says. “We are developing a di erent product, so we’re attempting to domesticate a new product in a shorter period of time.”

On the downstream end of this, however, the operation looks significantly di erent than a mushroom farm. Unlike the mushrooms, which get picked, the mycelium emerges as a giant slab that then goes to a slicer.

“We’re growing a texture,” Heinze emphasizes. “So then I don’t have to grind everything up, and emulsify it, and add thickeners. We’ve got a texture.”

The operation

MyForest Foods is vertically integrated—from woodchips to bacon. At one end of the operation are the two green silos (Swersey Silos) that are iconic at MyForest Foods. They contain the feedstocks—woodchips, typically, but could be another low-cost agricultural byproduct—that will be used to grow the mycelium. “One of the benefits of this process is that we literally use the lowest-grade carbon source you can imagine,” Bayer says. “Most bioprocesses use sugar—high value sugar. We’re using the same woodchips you’d burn in a burner.”

From the silos, the wet woodchip slurry makes its way into the pre-processing plant, where it’s heated, moisturized, and cooled, and then mycelium cells are inoculated into the mix. The woodchips are heated for sterilization and then cooled again to create the right environment for the mycelia to grow. “In the mushroom industry, I believe this is the largest continuous flow sterilizer that there is,” Bayer says.

From there, the mixture is put into several small bags. “You’ve got inoculated, sterilized, cooled woodchips that have been expanded and filled with the mycelium cells of our choice,” Bayer explains. The bags of growth material are sent down a conveyor and over to a palletizing operation, where robots pick them up and place them into baskets

stacked on pallets, where they stay to grow.

“When the mycelium grows, it eats the woodchips—it’s like a biological fire,” Bayer explains. “It gives o CO2, it’s burning the woodchips, it starts to get warmer, and it starts converting those woodchips and the protein and the other carbohydrates in there into this mycelial biomass, which becomes the network in the programming that will then become the finished product.”

The robots place the bags into the baskets in such a way that allows the bags room to breathe and to dissipate heat, Bayer adds. “It’s almost like a nuclear pile,” he says. “If you stack them too close together, they actually get so hot they’ll die, or in some cases you make a fire.”

This is essentially a solid-state fermentation process. “Most fermentation occurs in liquid, anaerobically, and this is aerobic,” Bayer says.

“Like you, it breathes in air and respirates CO2 .”

The bags sit in the baskets for three or four days, giving o heat and growing and colonizing.

“The bags basically turn white with mycelium,” Bayer says. “Then they get put into the grow room as soil.” Essentially, a full pallet fills the grow room, Heinze adds.

Ability to scale

“This input material thing is a missing enabling fac-

Bags of the woodchip growth medium inoculated with mycelium cells sit in baskets on pallets to grow before being moved to the vertical farm.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL COSTA

tor in the industry,” Bayer says. “What does it take to make this new mycelia tissue at scale at the appropriate price? It’s not some breakthrough in the lab, it’s absolute physical scale, and that includes the input material.”

To that end, MyForest Foods is doing everything it can to figure out how to make more of everything it’s producing. “This plant now produces at max capacity—something like 10 times what the North American current production infrastructure is—and it’s the largest in the world of its type,” Bayer says. “So this is an enabling piece of infrastructure that will enable other farms like MyForest Foods to grow the same crops.”

With Swersey Silos operating at full capacity, MyForest Foods is projected to serve MyBacon to more than 1 million consumers by 2024. The company aims to scale production over the next 18 months to full volume, Bayer says, focusing on further scaling up through a network of other producers. “Ultimately, we will grow the next circle out from this through working with other farmers and processors. We’re bringing all the unique pieces together to prove that this is possible. And then the next cycle is: How do you scale this as

fast as possible in our manufacturing ecosystem,” he says. “We’re unique in that we built something that’s really amazing. Our goal now is to take this and push it into an ecosystem that exists.”

The economics are very good for the solid-state fermentation process that MyForest uses, according to Bayer. “Mushroom farming is farming—an order of magnitude lower cost than liquid fermentation in terms of capital e ciency,” he says.

“If you look at this larger, broader landscape that we’re part of, whether it’s food or leather or anything, most people are trying to do stu in big steel tanks—like whiskey or beer—and that actually doesn’t scale very well outside of anything in food.

The best way to scale to the levels that MyForest ultimately wants is through co-manufacturers, Bayer emphasizes, noting that the company has proven out its initial concept of integrated manufacturing su ciently that it can begin to use co-mans. “So we’re moving to more of a pre-processing step where we’re doing basically a pasteurization step at the end to set the ingredients,” he says. “Then we can either take that to one of our two processing locations or to a co-man.”

MICHAEL COSTA | SENIOR EDITOR

Tips and Tools to Handle Ongoing Growth in Pet Food Processing

TO UNDERSTAND HOW UNSTOPPABLE

the pet industry’s upward trajectory has been since the pandemic, take a look at Morgan Stanley’s most recent pet products survey from late 2022, which defined pet spending by consumers as “increasingly inelastic,” meaning budgeting for pets has become a non-negotiable expense for many households even with inflation, and has jumped 11% since 2020.

Morgan Stanley predicts consumer spending on pet products will reach $158 billion in 2030. Annual expenses for pets per household is expected to be $1,320 by 2025, leaping to $1,897 by 2030. The American Pet Products Association (APPA) estimates 66% of U.S. households own a pet today, which is about 86.9 million homes. Pet food sales have grown as well. The $58.1 billion spent on pet food and treats in 2022 is projected to reach $62.7 billion this year, according to the APPA.

For companies that manufacture food for dogs and cats, it’s a very busy time, requiring a nimble, flexible strategy related to the type of food—dry, wet, and the burgeoning refrigerated/frozen/raw segment—being produced. Here’s a look at where the pet food industry is today and what equipment and methods are helping processors keep up with demand.

Nutrition and sanitation

The pet adoption surge kickstarted by the pandemic hasn’t subsided, and there are several reasons for that continued momentum. “There’s been a trend toward smaller families with more pets, and we’ve

seen pets serving as substitutes for children for some young adults,” says Eric Smith, systems group technical director at Hapman, which makes material handling equipment. “Also, people are treating pets like family members now, providing higher-quality food and amenities compared to the past.”

Jim Lewis, director of sales and service, further processing at equipment maker Provisur Technologies, adds, “Urbanization continues, and people are shifting to smaller living spaces. Small pets are a better fit for urban environments, and small pets consume less food, enabling owners to spend more on premium products.”

One across-the-board trend in pet food regardless of animal size or living space is owners seeking premium ingredients for their pets like they do for themselves, resulting in several boutique brands with functional food claims emerging over the past few years, as well as legacy companies like Nestlé and Mars paying closer attention to their formulas for added nutrients. For processors, this all means food safety and cross-contamination concerns are higher than ever.

“There’s been an increase in complexity of the products and blends, now beyond most human food applications,” says Tim Talberg, Triple/S Dynamics sanitary equipment product manager. “We’re seeing many more ingredients for a given product, including lots of micro-ingredients and additional vitamins and nutraceuticals.”

Historically, pet food was synonymous with feed mills, and some legacy facilities today that were once feed mills have been converted to dry pet

The pet food industry shows no sign of slowing down, so processors need a flexible manufacturing strategy to accommodate the volume and variety of product produced today.

food facilities, notes Amanda Flowers, manager of operations integration for Gray Solutions. “As the industry has evolved, especially with the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), so have the cleaning and sanitation standards,” she says. “Nowadays, it’s standard for pet food makers to mimic their counterparts in human food production to include cleaning, sanitization, environmental monitoring, and positive release programs.”

Lot traceability and ingredient tracking for pet food is also a consumer expectation today due to more media attention on product recalls, notes Mike Zelu , Helix product manager for Hapman. “We’ve seen allergen and cross-contamination concerns increase and become more widespread, and the use of clean-in-place (CIP) or increased teardown cleaning to control this is much more common now, where it was not widespread [in the pet industry] in the past.”

In addition to CIP, other food safety measures like advanced metal detection are as prevalent today in pet food facilities as in plants that produce human food. “Contamination can originate within the plant due to material processing, grinding, or general abrasion,” explains Chris Ramsdell,

product manager for separation at Eriez. “Drum magnets are commonly installed to process pet food ingredients, and these units are typically placed near the beginning of the process where most bulk ingredients are unloaded from rail cars and trucks before further processing. Magnetic drums can also be installed at the end of the process to provide a quality check on dry bulk kibble.”

Modern machinery

When it comes to the type of equipment used to process pet food, the demand for more versatile machines is higher than ever, along with larger, interconnected production lines to meet increased demand.

“Pet food and human food processing share many platforms such as extruders, dryers, coaters, coolers, large and small fillers, bulk bag unloaders, meat batching mixers and emulsifiers, and pneumatic conveyance systems, depending on the type of product being produced. For example, a dry product like kibble will go through a form of dry ingredient mixing, thermal/mechanical processing, forming, drying, coating, cooling, and packaging,” says Diaz McDaniel, senior manager of process for Gray Solutions.

PHOTO COURTESY OF INSTINCT PET FOOD

According to the American Pet Products Association, $58.1 billion was spent on pet food and treats in 2022, projected to be $62.7 billion in 2023.

“For the longest time, the pet food market—specifically kibble food—would start the processing line with frozen blocks of various protein products,” says Je  Braunreiter, global sales support manager for Provisur. “We only had to provide a machine that could grind those frozen blocks. More recently, companies need to grind more fresh products, so we needed to o er something that could handle both applications in one machine.”

Talberg says the updated focus on hygienic design for pet food processing equipment means he’s seeing “more use of stainless steel and special finishes for product contact surfaces if not the entire equipment. Carbon steel was previously accepted for supports and non-product contact areas and some product contact areas. We’re also seeing some [processors] wanting full sanitary/ dairy/pharma-style build and features—it started with Nestlé and is a request of many others now.”

HPP and raw pet food

While not all refrigerated/frozen pet food is raw, market research firm IRI reports that the overall perishable category had the highest YOY jump of any other kind of pet food last year despite its premium prices, with dog food seeing a nearly 36% uptick in retail sales and a 21.5% jump in unit sales. Cat food in the same category saw an increase of 22.5% and 7.6%, respectively, according to IRI data over 52 weeks

through August 2022.

Despite those stats, refrigerated/frozen pet food is still a fraction of the overall market. For comparison, retail refrigerated/frozen dog food sold about $700 million last year, according to IRI, while dry dog food sales were almost $6 billion.

Those YOY statistics are the ones to watch, as the raw pet food market is growing substantially. Owners are becoming more comfortable feeding their animals raw meals, despite warnings from some veterinarians about the potential presence of pathogens. One reason for that increased consumer confidence is companies like Instinct Pet Food, which is undertaking its own intensive studies using high-pressure processing (HPP) as a kill step for destroying pathogens, documenting the details, and publicizing the results.

“HPP kills the pathogens, but still keeps the nutrients intact and maintains the palatability of flavors for the animals,” says Jason Meents, vice president of science and technology at Instinct. “The technology for HPP hasn’t really changed, but the public understanding of how it’s used has evolved. HPP is just part of our regular activity now to ensure our products go through validated studies to show we’re getting the log reduction in pathogens killed that we need.”

HPP is a non-thermal food processing technology that uses cold water at very high pressure to

Bacon-shaped dog treats like these start their processing journey as a mix of ingredients in an extruder before they’re shaped and further processed into retail-ready snacks.

eliminate pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites, explains Vinicio Serment-Moreno, HPP food applications and sales at Hiperbaric.

“The raw pet food sector is still on the rise, perhaps getting close to start the market exponential growth phase. We estimate between 30 to 50 companies are using HPP for raw pet food in the United States,” says Serment-Moreno. “In

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High pressure processing (HPP) technology is a non-thermal processing technique by which products, already sealed in their final package, are subjected to a high level of isostatic pressure transmitted by water.

The growing category of premium raw pet food receives an essential food safety boost from highpressure processing, which removes harmful pathogens from the blended ingredients before the food is shaped into kibble or patties and further processed.

the HPP process, pet food companies pack their raw blends into chubs covered by a plastic film and apply HPP to eliminate foodborne pathogens. After HPP, operators retrieve the food from the plastic film to shape the raw blend into kibbles or patties. Then, the kibbles or patties of the raw blend can undergo freeze-drying to remove water under cold vacuum and make the product

HIGH PRESSURE PROCESSING (HPP) OFFERS SAFETY AND FRESHNESS

PHOTO COURTESY OF HIPERBARIC

shelf-stable before packaging.”

Particularly for raw products, HPP will continue to play a critical role in ensuring global product safety and nutrition, says Errol Raghubeer, vice president of food science at JBT Avure. “It’s important to note that although HPP is used on the raw materials or final product formulation, many of the HPP products are now being further processed into treats and other products that can be marketed at ambient conditions,” he adds. “HPP products require cold/frozen storage. HPP cannot be applied to products that are dehydrat-

ed as the process requires relatively higher water activity levels for e ective microbial inactivation.”

Facility growth

While the pet food industry continues to expand, there’s also simultaneous acquisition of small and large brands by legacy giants. For example, Post Holdings recently acquired several of J.M. Smucker’s pet food brands, including Rachael Ray Nutrish, 9Lives, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Nature’s Recipe, and Gravy Train, as well as its private label pet food business for about $1.2 billion.

All this brand movement and anticipated growth likely means more facility construction— either greenfield or expansions—to accommodate demand. And while a company like Post Holdings now oversees both dry and wet food brands, it’s unlikely their processing facilities will be consolidated to manufacture those dry/wet brands under the same roof, according to Paul Kornman, senior project manager, Gray Solutions.

“The front end of all these pet food processes is very similar,” says Kornman. “The companies accept a fresh or frozen meat ingredient, mix with other ingredients, then extrude. However, to house

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Dry dog kibble is by far the top selling pet food on the market, with retail sales of nearly $6 billion in 2022, a 12.3% increase over the previous year.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HAPMAN

all these processes within one facility would create challenges on all fronts, such as hygiene, cost, building space, storage, and temperature deltas, among other factors, and likely be di cult to operate.”

For dry processing, “most of the older factories don’t have the space to handle the volume of ingredients nowadays, so the industry needs to invest in retrofitting or building new factories that can handle all these additional powder ingredients in the future,” says Christian Keilbach, project manager at material handling company Azo.

Despite the increased number of pet food brands and volume of products created, the number of producers has changed little, Hapman’s Smith says. “Behind the scenes, it’s a smaller number of people producing the finished goods than you think, with multiple product and package types coming from the same facilities,” he says. “There’s a lot of co-packing in this space, where a brand does not own its own production, but contracts out manufacturing of a specific blend and product unique to them, and one facility may cover several brands. Many of the [pet food] producers actually use a mix of in-house and outsourced production depending on their product.”

Hygienic design and stainless-steel builds on par with human food and pharma equipment is becoming standard for pet food processing machines like this former.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PROVISUR

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Beverage Industry Grapples With Carbon Dioxide Shortages

It’s used for the bubbles in many of our drinks—and so much more. With environmental incentives favoring sequester over reuse, the industry will need to rethink CO2 sourcing.

LOOKING AT THE ISSUES facing the beverage industry over the past couple years, carbon dioxide (CO2) has been a particularly thorny one. CO2 is the most commonly produced greenhouse gas, which means that the industries that produce it as a byproduct have been looking for ways to reduce its environmental impact. Meanwhile, CO2 is used in several aspects of our lives—it creates the fizz in many of our drinks, it works as a freezing or cleaning agent, and much more. So as one side of the coin works to make their operations more sustainable, the other side of the coin is having such a hard time getting their hands on the needed CO2 supply that they are sometimes forced to shut down operations.

“Most people just don’t realize how interwoven CO2 is into the daily fabric of our lives. It’s part of everything that we do. Literally, it touches food, it touches the medical profession, fabrication, welding—it’s really a ubiquitous substance,” says Bob Yeoman, manufacturing director for Spectrum Carbonics, speaking at the recent BevTech meeting in Orlando. “But now we’re learning that it’s probably damaging the environment. It’s a conundrum—we can’t do without it, but we’re not sure we can live with it, either.”

Where decades ago, the mention of CO2 might’ve conjured an image of a refreshing carbonated beverage with the e ervescent bubbles coming o it, today that image is more likely replaced with the smokestacks of coal burning plants putting CO2 into the environment, Yeoman notes.

Government entities have had a tendency to mold their perspectives similarly, creating regulations that didn’t take into account the nuance involved. “Government is starting to understand that there are some necessary and beneficial uses for CO2. But early on, the drive to pass regulations and to take actions that would decarbonize the environment painted everything the same color,”

Yeoman says. “There are some things that are just absolutely critical in today’s society [for CO2 use], and we have to continue to keep figuring out how to do that.”

How we got here

There is a whole laundry list of issues that have contributed in various ways to the CO2 shortage— energy pricing, COVID-19, shifting use for feedstock gas, aging infrastructure, investor uncertainties, driver availability (or lack thereof), decarbonization, and carbon credits.

Almost 99% of all CO2 today comes from non-renewable energy production of some sort or uses a non-renewable energy to produce the CO2 that’s used to make the products that go into beverages and those types of things,” Yeoman says.

“As energy prices go up, the suppliers either are forced to shut the plant down because they can’t

PHOTO BY AARON HAND Bob Yeoman speaks to attendees of BevTech 2023 about the impact of carbon dioxide reductions.

a ord to operate or the price goes up. Either way, the availability in the marketplace takes an impact.”

The COVID pandemic exacerbated this situation. With lockdowns, gasoline consumption dropped precipitously. “When that happened, we lost over 30% capacity for commercial CO2,” Yeoman says.

Decarbonization and carbon credits figure prominently in the tightening CO2 supply. Section 45Q of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code provides a tax credit for CO2 sequestration (capturing and storing the gas). “Right now, those decarbonization e orts are competing with the CO2 that gets sold into the beverage industry and all other applications,” Yeoman says. “The drive to decarbonize is going to impact the industry. I know a plant today that is producing feed gas, giving it to a gas supplier to purify and sell to the commercial market—they have announced that they will be ceasing that operation and they will be sequestering. So there’s a source of CO2 that’s going to disappear because they’re going to put it in the ground to get carbon credits. And I think we’re going to see more and more of that from additional sources as we go forward.”

CO2 as part of the solution

Interestingly, CO2 itself is being used in a number of ways for environmental solutions to CO2. E-fuels, for example, combine CO2 with a sustainable hydrogen source as an alternative to pumping hydrocarbons out of the ground. “You can make it sustainably, and the CO2 will actually then eliminate that burning of the CO2 or the production of CO2,” Yeoman says. “You’re not creating any new CO2. You’re recycling it; you’re creating a higher-value product from CO2.”

CO2 is also being used as a catalyst with other materials to derive low-carbon plastics and other resins and chemicals—a more sustainable method than using hydrocarbons. In a bit more exotic application, Yeoman notes, CO2 is being used to grow algae, which can then be used as a feedstock to create carbon fiber.

“Innovation is really starting to ramp up in some of these areas,” he says. “It’s good news; we’re going to figure out how to decarbonize the planet.”

How to move forward

The world will make progress on decarbonizing the atmosphere, Yeoman is convinced, “but it will inevi-

tably and irrevocably alter the supply chain for CO2. Five to 10 years from now will not look anything like it did 10 years ago.”

Spectrum Carbonics is focused on how to manage and bring to the commercial market renewable sources of CO2. “Back in 2016, 2017, we worked on a project to bring CO2 from an anaerobic digester to the marketplace. And the response we got from most everybody was: ‘Really, I don’t think so. Why would you want to do that?’ Today the response we get is: ‘I’d like to learn more,’” Yeoman says. “We’re going to see more and more of that start to accelerate as we go forward. There’s going to be new sources and new uses, and they’re going to help stabilize the market over time. But it’s going to require some time, it’s going to require some investment. And it’s going to change your paradigm.”

There are questions to be answered about the safety and reliability of new sources of CO2, Yeoman says, and there will be a learning curve. One of the nice things about some of the alternative sources—anaerobic digesters or landfills, for

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example—is that they don’t shut down, running 365 days a year. “Some of these traditional plants that have their month-long shutdowns in the middle of summertime won’t exist in some of the new supply sources,” he says.

The International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT), which runs the BevTech meetings, has a decades-long history of providing leadership on this issue. “They started back in the late ‘90s, early 2000s, with the additional beverage-grade guidelines for bulk carbon dioxide. And that today has become the de facto standard for beverage-grade carbon dioxide,” says Yeoman, who is also chairman of the ISBT Beverage Gas Committee. “But your ISBT leadership recognize that members have questions; they need some answers. And so the beverage committee was asked to respond.”

CO2 is such a top-of-mind issue for the beverage industry right now, ISBT extended the activity around its BevTech meeting in Orlando to include a separate CO2 Symposium diving deeper into the issues.

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Wire Belt Company of America | wirebelt.com

FLOORING SYSTEM

Engineered for floors with elevated moisture and salts, the Dur-A-Flex epoxy flooring system permits moisture to move through concrete slabs and coating without causing blemishes or failures. The Vent-E breathable epoxy system also o ers stain and wear resistance, dust prevention, and easy maintenance. Available in nine colors with a semi-gloss finish, it cures for foot tra c in 4 to 6 hr. Typical applications include storage areas, warehouse floors, and assembly and production areas.

Dur-A-Flex | dur-a-flex.com

CONDUIT SETS

Calbrite conduit body cover sets include white neoprene gaskets that are FDA 21CFR175.300 certified. Resistant to oils, greases, and ozone breakdown, the gaskets are made from non-toxic and non-allergenic materials. Each Calbrite conduit body cover set also comes with a 316 stainless-steel conduit body and cover, as well as hex head cap screws that prevent harboring points.

Atkore | atkore.com

HELICAL DENESTERS

CHT helical denesters can work as a standalone dispensing system or be linked to upstream and downstream equipment. Capable of being integrated as a loading system, the vertical denester has feed screws that provide the alignment and mechanical separation of stacked containers for introduction to a production line, platform, or lead station. Typically incorporated into production lines, the horizontal denester also has feed screws to separate and space cartons, pots, and other types of containers for applications that require separation for labeling, coding, inspection, and restacking.

Carleton Helical Technologies | carletonhelical.com

CLEANER, DEGREASER

Created with a formulation that’s highly concentrated, non-toxic, and biodegradable, SlipNot cleaner and degreaser has a neutral pH, without dyes or harsh ingredients. When used as directed, Foothold waterbased cleaner and degreaser lifts and suspends heavy soils, brine, fat, and blood from surfaces not damaged by water, including walls, equipment, and various flooring materials, such as rubber, metal, and epoxies. Specially formulated for use with SlipNot products, it is NSFcertified as a general cleaner on all surfaces in and around food processing areas.

SlipNot | slipnot.com

FILTER REGULATORS

An alternative to stainless-steel filter regulators, Emerson aluminum filter regulators have flow rate capabilities up to 370.8 standard ft3/min (10,500 L/min).

The Asco Series 641, 642, and 643 filter regulators feature a rugged construction and advanced engineering, while a specialized powder coating allows operation in harsh, corrosive process environments.

Emerson | emerson.com

Sanitary

ANALOG CONVERTERS

IP67-rated, Wago analog converters are set up using IO-Link configuration tools, such as Wago IO-Link configurator software, and can be used with new systems or to update older systems to digital communications. The 765-2702/200-000 I/O-Link analog converter has two 0-10 VDC inputs that are converted to IO-Link for monitoring field level sensors. The 765-2703/200-000 version has two 4-20 mA analog outputs, while the 7652704/200-000 model has two 0-10 VDC analog outputs. Wago | wago.us

PLOW BLENDER

The Munson plow blender with a feed hopper and intensifiers handles dry, fibrous, dense, interlocking, or moist/oily bulk materials in batches up to 40 ft3. An agitator shaft with radial arms rotates the wedge blades within the tight tolerance of the vessel, creating a fluidizing action that keeps the material in constant motion. Two independently powered, high-speed, tulip-shaped intensifiers produce the shear necessary to assist with dispersion. Constructed of 304 or 316 stainless steel and finished to sanitary standards, the cylindrical plow blender is suitable for applications in which clean-out is important to avoid cross-contamination.

Munson Machinery | munsonmachinery.com

SELF-LUBRICATING BEARINGS

Approved for metals and alloys used in food contact materials, Graphalloy self-lubricating bearings comply with the provisions of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No. 1935/2004. The Grade GM 669P bearings withstand washdown and caustic environments, operate dry or submerged, and handle temperatures of -400 to 995°F. Typical applications include ovens, flash-freeze conveyors, produce conveyors, roasters, fryers, and dryers.

Graphite Metallizing | graphalloy.com

FOOD PROCESSING MAINTENANCE SOLUTIONS

For over 60 years LPS® has earned a reputation for both quality and performance in critical industrial applications. LPS® DETEX® combines that expertise with food safety programs to produce a full line of maintenance solutions specifically formulated for food processing facilities. LPS® DETEX® lubricants, penetrants, electronic cleaners, and greases save time and money by extending equipment life, reducing repair time, and lowering frequency of preventative maintenance.

Plastic components used to package LPS® DETEX® products are both metal & X-ray detectable, helping to reduce the risk of foreign object contamination within your facility.

METAL

X-RAY

LUMINAIRE

The Archon Industries luminaire provides the continuous illumination of process vessels, tanks, distillation columns, and other industrial items located in hazardous and non-hazardous operating environments. It is approved for Class I, Div. 2, Groups C and D, and Class I, Div. 2, Groups C and D locations. Built with a highpower Cree COB LED and an LED driver, the EX201000 luminaire is UL-listed within the U.S. and Canada, and is IP66-rated for strong water jet service.

Archon Industries | archonind.com

BATCH WEIGH RECEIVER

The Coperion K-Tron batch weigh receiver combines the operations of conveying and weighing. O ering vacuum-based operation, the unit sequentially accommodates multiple ingredients, whether the application requires a single ingredient to be delivered to multiple destinations or multiple ingredients to be delivered to a single destination. Each system features one or more receiver hoppers suspended on three load cells. The controls can include recipe and inventory capabilities.

Coperion K-Tron | coperion.com

CONVEYING SYSTEM

Using smaller-diameter convey lines, the Powder ProcessSolutions conveying system transports dairy powders (whey, protein isolate, and lactose) at high capacity over a long distance. The pressure dense phase pneumatic system allows materials to be conveyed to single or multiple destinations. With two units, material can be continuously conveyed. The system meets strict sanitary standards and is available with a range of options.

Powder Process-Solutions

powder-solutions.com

PACKAGING MACHINE

Suitable for a wide range of packaging formats, the Syntegon packaging machine packages ground co ee and whole beans in block bottom bags, providing full-corner sealing. The flexible PMX machine has a modular concept and aroma protection valves made from monomaterials. The single-tube variant packages 340 g of co ee beans at a speed of 65 bags per min. The packaging machine can be used with Synexio Empower, a Smart Machine Industry 4.0 solution that monitors energy and resource consumption through condition monitoring, data acquisition, and visualization in real time.

Syntegon Technology

syntegon.com

ROTARY TURNTABLES

Deitz rotary turntables automatically feed large bottles, jugs, tubs, and other containers into a filling line and accumulate the filled containers at the end of the line for cartoning, palletizing, or other operations; they also can be used midstream to divert, stage, and delay containers. Developed to support up to 350 lb, the Pharmafill powered turntables have a solid aluminum frame, stainless-steel components in product contact areas, and a variable-speed drive to match the rotation rate to the filling line speed.

Deitz | Deitzco.com

SORTING SYSTEM

Designed for use with chilled bacon bits, the Key Technology sorting system combines near infrared hyperspectral detection with color cameras to analyze data about materials passing through it. To identify and remove light and dark bone, interleaving paper, L board, cardboard, and plastics, the Veryx BioPrint integrated hyperspectral sorter detects every object’s color, size, shape, and structure, as well as its chemometric and biologic properties, and combines pixel-level data to produce a unique signature associated with each material substance.

Key Technology | key.net

3D PRINTER POWDER

Easy to detect due to its blue color, igus 3D printer powder complies with FDA and EU 10/2011 regulations. Abrasion-resistant and self-lubricating, iglide i6-Blue laser sintering powder is suitable for printing worm gears, toothed gears, and snap-on connections in 3D. The material is resistant to temperatures between -40 and 176°F. Manufacturers without a 3D printer can use the igus 3D printing service by submitting a 3D model of their component. The laser sintering printer then produces it in layers from the iglide i6-Blue printing material.

igus | igus.com

Spyder Manifold

HOPPER PUMP

Engineered to handle viscous to non-free-flowing product with and without solids, the Netzsch hopper pump includes a housing designed with an enlarged rectangular hopper, force-feed chamber, and integrated feeding screw. The Nemo BO open hopper progressing cavity pump provides continuous low-pulsation conveyance, una ected by fluctuations in pressure and viscosity. The pump is available with conveying elements in four rotor/stator geometries and a range of metallic materials from gray cast iron and chromenickel steel to highly acid-resistant materials.

Netzsch Pumps & Systems | pumps-systems.netzsch.com

Now available in three sizes, the Spyder Manifold LV3D[WRQȇVPRVWH HFWLYHGHYLFHIRUGU\LQJWKHVLGHV WLSVDQGXQGHUWKHULPRIFDQVERWWOHVDQGMDUVDV ZHOODVVSRWGU\LQJIRUKDUGWRUHDFKDUHDVRUDUHDV QHHGLQJH[WUDDWWHQWLRQ6S\GHU0DQLIROGVFRPELQH LQOLQHQR]]OHVZLWK VSLGHUOLNH DUPVWKDW H[WRDQ\ SRVLWLRQWRUHDFKXQGHUDQGDURXQGWRDFFRPPRGDWH IRU\RXUEXVLQHVV VSHFL FGU\LQJQHHGV

PowerDryTM

Drying System

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Pouch Drying

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513-891-7485

RETORT CONTROL SOFTWARE

Developed to record all food thermal processing data in accordance with FDA requirements, Surdry retort control software allows an operator to verify how recipes are received and processed in retorts and remotely access all data from the sterilization process, including heat, temperature, and pressure within the chambers. Compatible with all retorts currently on the market, the SteriNet21 platform provides each user with a unique traceable login, tracks changes made during the retort process, and digitally generates documentation.

Surdry North America | surdry.com

PNEUMATIC CONVEYORS

Volkmann pneumatic vacuum conveyors are available with rotary valves that have a proprietary design that allows the conveyors to meter powders, pellets, granules, and other bulk materials in a continuous flow. Suitable for feeding mixers, extruders, reactors, and a variety of continuous processes, the rotary valves create a leakproof seal that maintains the proper pressure di erential between the vacuum receiver and hose or piping. The rotary valves in product contact areas are manufactured from 100% stainless steel and come in 4- and 6-in. diameters.

Volkmann USA | volkmannusa.com

TERMINAL BLOCKS

IDEC terminal blocks have a compact form factor with 10-, 15-, 30-, and 50-A ratings. Assembled in a twistand-snap-together fashion, BTBH-H easy-stack, surface-mount terminal blocks are available as individual components or complete assemblies by amp rating for two to 30 poles. The blocks use touchdown electrical terminals that have spring-loaded captive screws and are mountable to the surface of electrical or control back panels with standard M4 self-tapping screws. Terminal blocks with di erent current values can be combined for applications with di erent wire diameters. IDEC | us.idec.com

BELT COATER

The AD Process Equipment belt coater applies uniform coatings to a range of products. A rotating tank keeps products in continuous motion during processing, while an overhead atomizing spray nozzle delivers glaze or sugar according to recipes contained within the onboard PLC. The Revolv coater includes dual valving that creates separate coating zones for processing smaller batches and a pulsating discharge mechanism, which drops coated goods into a conveyor system that carries them to a series of self-stacking trays.

AD Process Equipment gray.com/adprocessequipment

Reusable Rubber Bands Save Miles of Shrink Wrap

Drake’s Brewing was looking for a more environmentally friendly way to move its kegs from location to location. It found it in rubber pallet bands from Aero Rubber.

WITH SO MUCH industry discussion about the need for automation and digital transformation, sometimes it’s important to step back and realize how many challenges can be solved with a simple rubber band. Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro, Calif., certainly found that to be true when looking for a more environmentally friendly alternative to shrink-wrapping its empty kegs before moving them around, a process that was wasteful and labor-intensive. In 2019, Drake’s found a simple solution to what had been an ongoing problem. Reusable rubber pallet bands from Aero Rubber have resulted in dramatic savings on disposal costs, budget, and labor time for the brewery.

In search of sustainability

Hal McConnellogue, at the time Drake’s cellar manager, had already been looking for a way to

transition to more sustainable practices. The shrink wrap was a significant area not only of waste but of safety concern and e ciency. But then an unrelated trash violation in 2019 turned out to be just what the brewer needed to kick things into gear.

Alameda County, where Drake’s produces its beer, conducts random trash inspections at commercial businesses, and Drake’s received a citation for putting waxed cardboard in the recycle bin instead of the compost bin. “There was no fine if we asked for help from their sta , so we did,” says McConnellogue, now sustainability manager. “At that point, they turned us onto a county agency that helps businesses learn the laws and o ers grants for switching to reusables.”

While assessing the brewer’s processes, the auditor noted Drake’s shrink-wrap usage, which was considerable. “It’s hard to fathom how much you go through until you start digging into all the ways you use it. Due to the layout of our facility, we had some pretty wasteful practices,” McConnellogue says. “All of our kegs are shipped back to us empty, and we would send them to a separate building from where they were received [after shrink wrapping]. They would be cleaned, wrapped back up, and sent to another building to be filled. Once they arrived in the packaging area, they were stripped of the wrap, filled, and then poly strapped.”

Drake’s Brewing was going through about 5,000 ft of shrink wrap per week, McConnellogue says. The waste management auditor told McConnellogue about a grant through the county for investing in reusable transportation materials. The $5,000 grant allowed Drake’s Brewing to explore shrinkwrap alternatives for drastically dialing back its budget and environmental impact.

The first suggestion the auditor made was to try mesh pallet wraps instead, but the cumbersome wraps took a long time to apply and were excessive for the application. The next solution,

PHOTO COURTESY OF AERO RUBBER

Rubber pallet bands gave Drake’s Brewing an alternative to shrink-wrapping its empty kegs to move them around the facility, saving the brewery 565 lb of plastic waste in the first year of use.

ratchet straps, did not work well either. “They were really hard to use because you had to keep tension on them the whole time,” McConnellogue says. Trials with poly strapping were promising, but also time-consuming, due to the equipment involved.

Ultimately, the auditor turned McConnellogue onto Aero Rubber’s rubber pallet bands, which the auditor had seen in use at a food facility. Samples in hand, the team set up a test to evaluate the bands. Forklift drivers double-stacked the kegs, stabilized them with the rubber pallet bands, and went full speed down a bumpy shipping alley between Drake’s two complexes.

Not only did the kegs stay securely in place, but the ease of application saved the workers time and also created a safer work environment. “It hits three key points of sustainability for us: environmental, economical, and human,” McConnellogue says. “Have you ever tried wrapping a pallet with stretch film? It can be fairly dangerous walking backwards in a hazardous and high-production area such as a brewery.”

Pallet bands, on the other hand, are easily applied by one employee, with no equipment or training required.

Fast ROI

Pleased with how well the bands performed, Drake’s Brewing reached out to Aero Rubber to place an order. With an investment of just $500, Drake’s was

up and running with several hundred rubber pallet bands to transport its empty kegs. And because the bands are reusable, the same band can be used many times before needing to be replaced.

It took just over three months for the brewery to achieve ROI. After one year of use, the company had replaced 226,248 ft2 of plastic shrink wrap with rubber pallet bands, significantly reducing the company’s plastic waste output. Since 2019, the trend has continued, with an additional 61,886 ft2 of shrink wrap eliminated between 2020 and 2021, further reducing shrink wrap and disposal costs.

The green bands are easy to spot in a facility filled with steel machinery and can be hung up on hooks around the warehouse for easy access, McConnellogue adds. “When anybody’s moving anything that warrants wrapping something up, that’s what they grab,” he says. This includes bags of grain that slide around during transport.

In just the first year of using Aero’s rubber pallet bands, Drake’s prevented 565 lb of plastic waste from entering landfills, compared to the previous year, and its shrink-wrap budget was cut in half. Three years later, the company’s total shrink-wrap budget is down 75%, and its in-house shrink-wrap use is reduced by 95%.

Moving forward

Now, when workers from other breweries visit the and see the pallet bands, they ask about their banding process. McConnellogue hopes to get industry partners onboard with using pallet bands as well. Distributors, for example, still shrink-wrap kegs for return. One reason for this, however, is that sometimes the kegs come back with leftover beer in them, which might not work well with the bands. “One of the things I stress for safety is to not use these bands for anything that has substantial weight to them, especially liquid that sloshes around,” McConnellogue says.

Meanwhile, Drake’s is using the rubber bands for nearly every process where it seems feasible to replace hand-applied stretch film, McConnellogue says. And Drake’s has changed the way it disposes of the remaining shrink wrap that still gets used.

“We are currently still receiving dirty kegs that are wrapped in machine-applied stretch film,” McConnellogue says. But with the savings in shrink-wrap waste, the brewery was able to invest in a baler to compact the waste from its incoming shipments. “We remove this and collect it in large sacks, and every four to six weeks we compact about 700 lb of it and sell it to a recycler.”

Aero Rubber www.aerorubber.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF AERO RUBBER

With the rubber pallet bands, Drake’s is able to stack empty kegs four high.

Rental Equipment Helps Plant-Based Jerky Bridge the Gap

Finding the right co-manufacturer was one hurdle for startup Jack & Friends. Frain was able to help provide the flexibility to find the right equipment.

AS WE TALK to startups and emerging brands throughout the food and beverage manufacturing space, arguably the most significant hurdle is figuring out how to get production scaled up—how to find a co-manufacturer or co-packer willing to work with them or how to find the capital to equip their own production lines.

Jack & Friends, a plant-based startup in Great Neck, N.Y., went through some headache and heartache to find the right co-manufacturer, but then also needed to find a way to fill in the gaps in that co-man’s production line. A key factor in making everything work has been the startup’s ability to test out which equipment will work best for its jackfruit-based jerky recipe with rental agreements through Frain Industries.

Meet Jack

Jessica Kwong, founder and CEO of Jack & Friends, launched the company’s first product in 2019, less than a year after graduating from Cornell University with a degree in food science. “Jack & Friends is really built on a larger mission to craft food, inclusive of di erent lifestyles, diets, and allergy restrictions, without having to sacrifice nutrition or quality,” she says. “This plant-based jerky was the perfect introduction—it’s vegan and Top 9 allergen-free, but still a good source of protein and fiber, with no added sugar.”

The company soft-launched its first SKU exclusively online in March 2019, and then had a hard launch with its full three-SKU set in June 2020. The products, all with a base of jackfruit and pea protein, are now sold online as well as in a few stores in New York and Massachusetts.

Jack & Friends has had its di culties, particularly trying to launch, as it were, during initial COVID-19 lockdowns. “At that time, we were still self-manufacturing in a facility in Long Island City,”

Kwong says. “We just didn’t have enough product to sell because we couldn’t make it fast enough. And we went through this whole zigzag of finding a manufacturer, and everything just took so much longer, given the state of the world.”

Jack & Friends had planned to work with a co-manufacturer before the pandemic hit, but then the co-man fell on hard times, and they found themselves back at square one. Now Jack is working with a manufacturer in Nebraska. “We’re finally in the place that we had hoped to be in before the pandemic set in, where we have this great contract manufacturing partner, we have scaled up production, and we have more inventory now,” Kwong says.

Although meat-based jerky is not made exactly the same as plant-based jerky, it has still helped Jack to find a co-manufacturer that already had a strong background in jerky manufacturing. “It made sense to have beef jerky manufacturers because they have all the ovens, they have the knowledge of the cook cycles and how to properly dehydrate jerky-like products,” Kwong says. “More upstream in the process, it’s very di erent. So we had to work with their existing production lines and figure out where there were gaps that we had to fill in.”

Try before you buy

Filling in those gaps has been made a whole lot easier with rental equipment from Frain. This gave Jack & Friends the flexibility to try out various types of equipment and capacities to figure out what might work best before purchasing.

Two key pieces of equipment that Jack & Friends needed to complete the manufacturing line at the co-man were a kettle and a slicer. The jerky maker rented a Groen kettle and an Urschel cutter slicer from Frain.

The co-manufacturer already had a slicer that it uses to produce meat-based jerky, of course, but

it didn’t quite work for Jack’s needs. “It’s almost like a water wheel. That works great for full cuts of meat and things like that. And we tested our ingredients on that, too. Obviously, if it would work, then there’d be no need to bring in other pieces of equipment,” Kwong says. “But it wasn’t giving us the right particle size and the right cut for what we needed, which is why we brought in this particular Urschel piece of equipment.”

As it turned out, the first Urschel slicer that Jack & Friends tried was exactly what was needed. “We actually ended up purchasing the same unit that we were renting from Frain from Urschel because we knew that we wanted this exact piece of equipment,” Kwong says. “It worked great when we rented it from Frain, so we figured it would just make sense to own it.”

The kettle was a piece of equipment entirely foreign to meat-based jerky production, so Jack & Friends knew it would have to incorporate in something new. “We have a unit process that requires a pre-cook step, so we needed some type of jacketed vessel, like a kettle, that could mix and heat up some of our ingredients prior to everything else that comes along with the process,” Kwong says. “For us, the kettle was the best option because it had both mixing and heating elements, and we needed something that could provide a decent amount of shear—so mixing quite fast to make sure there was no burning on the sides and it was being properly homogenized.”

There has been more trial and error with the kettle, so Jack is still renting that from Frain.

“We’re still in talks with Frain to see if there might be a bigger option that we could rent,” Kwong says. “We’re looking at total capacity so that, as we continue to grow, we have the most e cient piece of equipment possible. But we also have to keep the other considerations in mind, like the mixing speed, we have to make sure any piece of equipment will have the proper shear action. We’re also looking at things that could have a jacketed heating element and some type of mixing, but isn’t necessarily a kettle. Anything that could be more vertical so that we’re utilizing the ceiling height and not necessarily taking up such a large horizontal footprint is something that we’re con-

sidering as well because, with our co-man, they have to be mindful of floor space.”

In the meantime, Jack & Friends will continue to rent the Groen kettle from Frain so that production can continue while the food company figures out what the most e cient solution will ultimately be. With each piece of equipment, Kwong explains, there’s an initial three-month contract period, not to mention setup and installation. “We want to be sure that we would have something with a very high probability of working,” she adds.

Solid partnerships

Although it might seem fortuitous that the slicer was a one-and-done deal, it was also the result of guidance from Frain, Kwong notes. “We were pretty confident that that particular piece of equipment would work for us. And Frain’s group, they’re super knowledgeable,” she says. “We had a lot of conversations like, ‘This is what we’re trying to do. What equipment do you have that could do this?’”

Frain thought the Urschel slicer would be a good fit for Jack’s production needs. “They connected us to Urschel to do a test run at their R&D facility to make sure that it actually would process the ingredients as we intended, with our specific set of ingredients,” Kwong recalls. “So that whole process went very smooth, and we were pretty confident that that particular piece of equipment would work for us.”

Frain Industries www.fraingroup.com

Groen Process Equipment www.gpeequipment.com

Urschel www.urschel.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF JACK & FRIENDS Jack & Friends makes jerky based on jackfruit and pea protein. The company launched its three-SKU set of products in mid-2020.

MICHAEL COSTA | SENIOR EDITOR

Batch Mixer Enables Precise Powder Formulations

for Nutraceuticals

Munson Machinery’s rotary blender solves a manufacturing challenge for the contract manufacturer by reliably microencapsulating supplement powders, increasing their potency while reducing production downtime in the process.

THE MARKET FOR NUTRITIONAL supplements has grown substantially in recent years, due to many people prioritizing preventive self-care in their daily lives since the pandemic. The global market for supplements was valued at nearly $359 billion in 2021, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% into 2030, according to Grand View Research.

One of the major players in North America for nutritional supplements is Nutraceutical Research Sciences (NRS) in Tempe, Ariz. The contract manufacturer produces a wide variety of products for a number of clients, including anti-aging supplements, sports nutrition powders and drinks, vitamins, and meal replacements.

The company was founded by John Anderson, who spent more than 40 years in the dietary supplement industry before he passed away last October. Anderson had many innovative ideas and formulations that helped his company grow over the years. In 2020, Anderson identified an alternative use for a rotary batch mixer from Munson Machinery that had been used primarily in the baking industry. He thought the machine could help NRS process supplement powders with aqueous and oil-based liquids.

“We found that micro-encapsulating the particles in powders with certain liquids increased their potency, so we needed a fine spray when we were blending, but nobody was really doing that at the time. So, we got together with Munson and told them what we wanted to do,” says Brian Martin, vice president of operations at NRS. “I believe we were the first nutraceutical company to customize this kind of mixer for nutraceutical production.”

Because Munson’s 50-ft3 rotary batch mixer was geared toward the baking industry to spray bakery products, the NRS R&D team tweaked the Munson mixer to work with some of the oils

NRS uses the Munson Machinery 700-TS-50-SS Rotary Batch Mixer to produce 500 kg of supplement powder per batch. The continuous blending option coupled with a variablefrequency drive saves time and energy between batches.

they were using. “We had to do a lot of R&D to figure out what spray nozzles and spray pressures worked best for us,” Martin says, adding that a dehumidifier was also attached to the mixer to remove excess moisture from the machine between batches.

Continuous blending

Prior to NRS purchasing a Munson rotary mixer, the company was using a V-shaped blender, which had several limitations related to what NRS was trying to achieve in production. “The way the [Munson mixer] is shaped, it actually scoops and tumbles our product, where the V blender kind of splits it apart and then brings it back together,” notes Martin. “A rotary mixer is constantly flipping the powder, so the rotary gives us a more consistent blend compared to a V.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF MUNSON MACHINERY

That continuous blending also allows NRS to reduce downtime during production. “Because our mixer is 50 ft3, we can only fit about 500 kg into it at a time. But we can blend it for 20 minutes and unload it while it’s running, and then load it with another 500 kg of product,” Martin explains. “We can continuously run it and not stop/start like you do with a conventional blender.”

The Munson mixer runs on a variable-frequency drive (VFD), which Martin says helps NRS save energy costs over time. “We use the VFD to softstart or stop-soft very slowly during production. If we don’t want to run it at full speed, we can actually dial it back down to half speed if we want to,” he says. “That saves us energy by not having to run it at one speed.”

Simple sanitizing

Cleaning the Munson mixer is another time-saver, with large doors allowing easy access to the interior, while the spray nozzles used for production double as a built-in washing mechanism. “We spray our cleaning agents through that, and then flush and rinse it clean,” Martin says. “Our cleaning time with the Munson mixer is probably half of what it used to take for our V blender.”

NRS’s customized Munson mixer was nicknamed Gemini 1 by the company’s late founder, John Anderson, due to its resemblance to a NASA Gemini space capsule from the 1960s.

Anderson playfully nicknamed the Munson mixer Gemini 1 because it resembles a 1960s

NASA Gemini space capsule turned on its side. Martin says NRS has had its eye on adding separate 90- and 300-ft3 Munson mixers at the company’s 40,000-ft2 production facility, but those plans are still in progress. Martin says those mixers would be named Gemini 2 and Gemini 3 to keep Anderson’s memory and innovative ideas alive at NRS.

Munson Machinery www.munsonmachinery.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF MUNSON MACHINERY

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Exclusion Is the Key for Keeping Rodents at Bay

Xcluder uses a polyester blend woven with steel fibers to keep holes, gaps, crevices, etc. sealed tight, keeping critters and other unwanted environmental factors out of your facility.

AS FOOD SAFETY DEMANDS intensify, it’s important not to forget your little furry friends— the mice and rats who are looking for a warm place to sleep and perhaps something to nibble on. One company hit upon its background in steel wool blends to create a rodent remediation that focuses on exclusion—keeping them out in the first place.

Founded in 1896 as American Steel Wool Manufacturing, Global Material Technologies (GMT) is the oldest and one of the largest steel wool manufacturing companies in the world. There are several di erent brands under the GMT umbrella, making all manner of steel fiber-based products from car brake liners to soap pads to filters.

Xcluder is one of the company’s more recent brand developments. Almost 20 years ago, GMT got an order from New York City for a trailer load of its steel wool blend, which was typically used for polishing glass, marble, and other surfaces. When they found out the city was using the blend to plug holes in the subway system to keep rats and mice out, GMT decided it was a market worth pursuing, says Troy Bergum, Xcluder sales manager for GMT.

Bergum was at the Food Northwest Process and Packaging Expo in Portland, Ore., earlier this year to talk about the need for rodent control in the food and beverage industry.

PROFOOD WORLD: You talk about holes coming into commercial buildings. What types of holes can rodents get into?

BERGUM: What I mean by holes is conduit chases, so electrical chases coming in, HVAC lines, ammonia lines—all of these things that cause you to have penetration points coming into your building. A lot of times, what you see is a contractor will drill a 2-in. hole for a 1-in. conduit, put some spray foam in there, or nothing at all. None of those things are

going to be a deterrent, especially if you don’t have anything in there, from the outside elements coming into your building.

There are products that are available in the marketplace that can really take care of the exterior of your building, and seal those openings against the unwanted infiltration of four-legged critters, rodents in particular, but also the environmental aspect of things—meaning outside elements like heat, humidity, cold temperatures, snow, salt, ice, sand, depending on what part of the country that you live in, or what part of the world you live in. There are also other outside contaminants, including bugs and things like that. With food-grade applications, in particular, you cannot a ord to have the infiltration of any of these elements, because it goes against your food safety measures, it goes against the FDA establishments, and all the rules and regulations that are in place that you guys have to contend with every day as a food processor or manufacturer.

Troy Bergum of Xcluder speaks about pest exclusion techniques at the Food Northwest Process and Packaging Expo.

PHOTO BY AARON HAND

PFW: Your presentation at Food Northwest focused speci cally on exclusion principles. Why is that so important?

BERGUM: Something that most people don’t realize is that a mouse can fit through a hole the size of a dime, so your pinky finger. And a rat can fit through a hole the size of a quarter, so about the size of your thumb, or a little bit bigger than that. That’s the issue. And these guys are built to survive. They’re built to thrive and live in tough conditions. But all they need is food, water, and shelter.

Mice and rats have scouts—usually the alpha male and female, a lot of times, will be the ones who are going to find shelter because they’re the protectors of the family. Their sense of smell is incredible, and they find an entry point into a building. They find out that it’s safe, that they can go in there, and they can get the stu that they need. They will lay down a trail of pheromones that is now the roadmap for the rest of the clan that’s hanging out in your shrubs. ‘Hey, this is the entry point. Come on in, the smorgasbord is open, we got this.’

If you don’t block o that entry point, they will continue to go into that entry point until you stop them from doing that. So here’s the kicker: You may seal o that entry point, but if you don’t seal o the entry point that’s 2 feet away from there, they will go to that one. They will know it’s around in that space where they’re very comfortable with going in, they know it’s safe.

That’s where exclusion comes into play—is to identify all of these cracks and crevices and door openings and all this type of stu and put up that layer of defense on the exterior of your building, because that’s where you’re getting invaded. It is really shocking to me the intelligence level that these animals have. They know how to avoid traps, they know how to avoid bait boxes, they know how to avoid glue boards—all of these things that pest management companies are telling you is the solution to try to take care of the problem. That’s why exclusion continues to be hammered home. If any one of the pest management providers that you’re working with are not having that conversation with you, then they may not be as invested in your business as you think.

PFW: What have people typically used to seal off gaps they have in their infrastructure?

BERGUM: The answer in the industry forever, since the industry began, is to install a brush weather seal on the bottom of the door or some sort of a vinyl flap, which is purely cosmetic. They may block o

some air infiltration, potentially, depending on the thickness of the brush, or how hardy the vinyl seal is. But does it block anything else? The answer is no. Unfortunately, there’s a misclaim out there that rats and mice don’t like the feel of brush weatherseal on their nose or their whiskers or their eyeballs. I was actually told that by an AIB [American Institute of Baking] inspector when I first got in the industry 20+ years ago that if you put brush weatherseal on a door, you don’t have to worry about rats or mice coming into that spot. Well, I found out about seven months later, as I saw a brush weatherseal destroyed by a rat, that that was not right. We have plenty of video examples of a very narrow crack with brush weatherseal protectant, and a rat blasting through that like it’s their day job—not only sliding right through it but also chewing a hole through it.

If you see something that’s a halfmoon shape, from a chewing standpoint or an entry point, that is a rodent, guaranteed. What they’re doing is their nose is the pry bar. They get their nose into a spot and they continue working with their nose and they can push something out of the way, and then get their teeth in there, and they’re working on that spot. If they’re undisturbed, they’ll work on that spot for hours.

PFW: How do Xcluder products help?

BERGUM: How do you seal the bottom of the door? How do you seal the vertical seam on the door? We have solutions for that entire area. The fill fabric is at the core of our product. That’s what’s used in the roll form to fill cracks and crevices. You can put it around pipes, all those type of things.

It’s not steel wool. Steel wool is not e ective in terms of sealing up any type of opening. Steel wool is very bulky, it doesn’t want to bunch up or anything like that. It’s very loose. If you stick it into a hole, it’s very easy to push out of the way for a rodent. No problem. Steel wool also has a certain odor to it that actually attracts rodents. And when steel wool gets wet, it maintains moisture.

Our fill fabric is a polyester blend material. We use polyester because it’s very springy. You actually ball our material up, you can shove it into a hole, and poof, it expands and it locks into place. Polyester is also very breathable, so it does not maintain moisture. And then the magic sauce within the whole polyester blend is that we needle punch and weave core stainless steel fibers into that material. So if a rat or a mouse was to chew on it or nose into it, they’ve got a bad surprise coming their way.

Xcluder www.buyxcluder.com

Discover Countless Solutions for Packaged Foods

Whether it’s groundbreaking end-of-line automation, flexible front-of-the-line processing equipment, innovative materials or sustainable supply chain solutions, you’ll encounter the latest advances in food packaging and processing up close at PACK EXPO Las Vegas. Get ideas from other industries and discover surprising solutions for your food products.

2,000 exhibitors 40+ vertical markets 100+ free show floor sessions

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Featuring Newly Expanded

Clean.

Hygienic drive solutions for areas subject to frequent cleaning

The stainless steel gear units from SEW-EURODRIVE keep things moving wherever machines and systems are subject to particularly intensive cleaning. Regardless of whether the gearmotors are used for material handling, intralogistics or sanitary

applications, their hygienic properties, long operating life, and maintenance friendliness make them optimally suited in the food and beverage and pharmaceutical industries, and in permanently wet environments.