FOOD PROCESSING
How to keep up with rapidly changing consumer habits Consumer needs and wants are constantly changing and successful producers must find the right food processing equipment to increase output and quality. Food & Beverage Industry News discovered.
The primary meat industry is an example of how Marel creates value via by-products and off-cuts.
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arel, global experts in food processing, is constantly adapting to the needs of its customers and helping grow markets on the back of innovative products which add value to otherwise wasted material. A key focus for Marel has always been centred on sustainability and value adding for clients. “For example, every new machine we develop is required to meet sustainability benchmarks,” said David Bertelsen, regional managing director Asia and Oceania at Marel. “We measure those and if it doesn’t tick the right boxes than we don’t allow the development to continue, so it is built into the machines from the very start.” Bertelsen used cod, the first food product Marel took on after its creation in Iceland in the 1970s, as an example of how the company creates more value for its clients. “When we started, we were getting just over half of each piece of fish was
being turned into valuable sold products and today in Iceland as much as 99 to 100 per cent of the fish is used in different formats and that is due to capturing more in the yield and using the by-products,” he said. “Sustainability is central to our mission.” Bertelsen said an important part of the above process was having an in-line processing system that looks after main products and quickly refrigerates valuable by-products. Meanwhile, Greg Bulluss, regional sales director, retail and food service solutions at Marel, said the company was always innovating new versions of its machinery, and machine pieces, to constantly create greater innovation for customers. The RevoPortioner 1000 is a good example of this, Bulluss said. “Most of our large 1000mm lines have two RevoPortioner’s at the moment, typically TPR 500s and 570s,” he said.
58 Food&Beverage Industry News | May 2022 | www.foodmag.com.au
“We can replace two machines with the RevoPortioner 1000, and this doesn’t use the same amount of power. There are savings just by going to the larger machine, including less energy and less services from factory point of view, and less materials for us.” Bulluss said that Marel doesn’t aim to reduce the workforce in place of automation, but the use of Marel’s machinery has proven to reduce the cost of labour in factories. “Not that we want to cut labour from factories but as many in the industry are aware, labour is hard to come by,” he said. “It still takes one operator per machine but with one larger machine there is the labour saving and the other area we are really focused on now is the renewal campaign on our machines. “Where machines come to end of life or service where we can actively trade those machines in, retrieve some of the components, if they are applicable, and then get the customer to upgrade to
more modern technologies which create further savings.” Bulluss said the primary driver behind Marel’s innovation always hinges on using modern technology for a lesser cost. The primary meat industry is a perfect example of how Marel helps create value through by-products and off-cuts. “It’s about taking off cuts and using them to value add, that is where we see our involvement. There is always a way to take secondary or off-cut products and value add through use of our equipment,” he said. “Without technology we can increase yields, for example more meat will stay on the fillet to begin with, and then the off cuts can be formed for other products whether be salmon nuggets, potato scallops, and those sorts of things. Marel is also increasing its focus on customers supplying into retail and food service, which is becoming a more important market for the company. It
