Food & Beverage Industry News - December 2019

DECEMBER 2019

DECEMBER 2019

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PLUS: Exports: One company’s journey | Food waste | Cryogenic chilling

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one are the days where the bottom line for any company is how much money it can make for the shareholder – whether it be publicly listed or privately held. This is especially so for the food and beverage industry. Today, consumers no longer make purchasing decisions based solely on the brand or quality of the product. Once the purview of wine, consumers now want to know the provenance of the edibles they are consuming. And it’s not only because they want to know what is going in their body, they want to make sure their food has been sourced ethically – whether that is how an animal is butchered for consumption, or whether plant-based proteins are being harvested sustainably. The main feature

story in this issue involves confectionary giant, Swiss-based Nestle, which has to look at the whole picture, not just the products moves off the shelf.

Our other main feature is on exports, and this article looks at Queensland-based Trisco Foods, a family-run business that has more than a century’s trading under its belt. Under family member and CEO, Mike Tristram, the company exports to many countries throughout the world. It has gone so far as to open a manufacturing plant in the US to meet the demands of its hero product as it makes waves in its niche market. Tristram gives a range of insights on the company’s export journey and how it has become successful.

Have a great holiday season.

INSIDE Copyright Food & Beverage Industry News is owned by Prime Creative Media and published by John Murphy. All material in Food & Beverage Industry News is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published.

The opinions expressed in Food & Beverage Industry News are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated. © Copyright Prime Creative Media, 2019 Articles All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

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www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 5

NEWS

Barossa Cider awarded Best in Show at Australian cider awards B arossa Cider Co’s Squashed Apple Cider was awarded “Best in Show”, “Best Australian Cider” and “Best New World Cider” with a score of 97 in the New World Medium Sweet Class at the 9th Australian Cider awards, held on November 8 in Melbourne.

Hosted by Cider Australia, the show promotes and rewards excellence in cider production and brings together the Australian cider community in a celebration of the cider category’s rapid advancement.

“As a family-owned business, we are really proud and humbled to receive these accolades after the past 6 years of hard work,” said Oscar Bowen, co-owner and director.

“After an idea around the dinner table that lead to my brother, Hugo and me travelling Europe and the UK for some enjoyable market research, we decided on a production style inspired by best-in-class techniques already being used in the Australian industry combined with our family and our own wine-making experience,” said Bowen.

“Our aim when we started this business was to produce the best possible easy drinking cider that would appeal to a broad demographic using only 100 per cent Australian apples and pears, and we are extremely proud to receive this validation of what we originally set out to achieve.”

Barossa Cider is a family-owned business.

SMC provides 4.0 solution for New Zealand-based manufacturer

SMC’s solution helped with Hawk’s production processes.

R

esiding in Hawkes Bay, Hawk Packaging is a New Zealandowned and operated company.

Sustainability is at the heart of the organisation and as one of the leading moulded-fibre packaging suppliers, all their products are made from 100 per cent recycled paper. Its packaging

solutions are used for, among other things, apple trays in the horticulture industry.

“Our paper is deliberately sourced from kerbside collected recycling paper. We don’t use any nasty bleaches, pigments, biocides or toxic chemicals in our manufacturing.

Our products are recyclable and compostable after end use,” said David Styles, engineering manager of Hawk Packaging.

“Our facilities are located in the centre of the largest apple growing region to ensure minimised transport requirements and a lower carbon footprint,” Styles said.

With this unique approach to business, energy savings remains a fundamental focus and partnering with like-minded suppliers is key. As a preferred supplier and in collaboration with East Coast Automation, SMC offered an innovative solution to a problem that was hindering Hawk’s production processes.

6 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Area sales manager for SMC in New Zealand, Dirk Siekmann, explained that a fault in a stacker robot designed to stack bundles of finished products on top of pallets was causing downtime.

“An intermittent fault in the control of this particular robot was instigated by a communication cable failure,” said Siekmann.

“The robot had seen its fair amount of wear and tear after years of rotation and bending.”

Working together with East Coast Automation, SMC recommended its recently launched Wireless Fieldbus System, EX600-W. The EX600-W met the brief to deliver on time, on spec and on budget.

“The installation was simple, and the solution was the perfect match for this particular application,” said Chris Robertson, director of East Coast Automation.

Answering to the call for more robotic applications, the EX600-W is

currently being used in the packaging industry, and the response from the market has been positive.

According to Siekmann, this decentralised solution is EtherNet/ IP and PROFINET compatible, can withstand electric noise and is suitable for harsh, industrial environments.

“This wireless fieldbus system can manage both digital and analogue signals, as well as pneumatic products – making it a flexible solution for all applications.”

The EX600-W was designed to make robotic applications easier.

The EX600-W is small and light weight, fits onto the robot head, has minimal wiring, offers remote control and fault finding, among other features.

“The EX600-W uses the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band and every 5msec frequency hopping. The noise resistance design makes it even suitable in welding environments,” said Siekmann. “We are pleased to say that we have a happy customer.”

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NEWS

Little Green Panda and Stroh tackle drinking straw issue T wo Australian companies offering competing products, Little Green Panda and Stroh, have joined forces in a bid to eliminate disposable plastic straws from the food service industry by replacing them with compostable, plant-based alternatives made from wheat stems.

Sharing a mutual commitment to eradicating single-use plastics in the retail and hospitality industries, Manon Beauchamp-Tardieu and Teresa Aylott, of Little Green Panda and Stroh respectively, have now become leaders in the plant-based product industry, selling a combined 1.3 million wheat stem straws to seven countries with a growth rate of 250 per cent in monthly sales.

“We are so excited to bring together our knowledge, resources, established relationships and most importantly, our passion, to tackle the pervasive problem of singleuse plastics within the retail and hospitality industries. We believe our business is more than just selling sustainable straws, we are

driving a movement to reduce waste,” said Beauchamp-Tardieu.

Committed to being a zero waste business, Little Green Panda’s straws are predominantly made from wheat stems, considered an agricultural waste product but when turned into a resource that is 100 per cent compostable, non-toxic, plastic free, gluten free and soggy free, making it a friendly alternative to both the environment and the consumer.

“We want our business to restore and replenish the environment, not deplete it,” said Aylott.

The company also makes straws from bamboo and sugar cane, with both options compostable and proving to be popular functional alternatives to plastic.

Focussing on the commercial mass use of plastic and paper straws, the duo have already made a mark globally, working with wholesalers and distributors across Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy and Hong Kong with clients including Marriott Hotels, Sofitel, Hilton

Two rivals have joined together to help get rid of plastic straws.

Hotel, Attica, and Australian Liquor Marketers. Little Green Panda also supplies to 50 supermarkets in France and are in talks with major supermarkets in Australia.

Manufacturing currently takes place on the borders of Mongolia; however, the company is hoping to eventually move the manufacturing process to Australia.

Off the back of Global Table, Asia Pacific’s largest international agri-food innovation event where

Stroh was an exhibitor, Little Green Panda is now in talks with a major scientific organisation to research the machinery which would allow for local manufacturing as well as farmers around Australia to produce the straws.

Already seeing good growth, the company hopes to continue along this trajectory, eventually taking control of the entire supply chain and expanding their sustainable product offering beyond straws.

Trade agreements critical to regions and red meat jobs T he Australian red meat industry urged both sides of federal government to proceed with ratification of two critical free trade agreements without delay, following the release of a Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) report.

The report into the IndonesiaAustralia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) and Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (A-HK FTA) determined that the IA-CEPA and the A-HK FTA are in Australia’s national interest.

The committee recommended binding treaty action in both cases.

“The Australian industry strongly

endorses the JSCOT outcomes for both the IA-CEPA and A-HK FTA,” said Red Meat Advisory Council (RMAC) chair Don Mackay.

“Indonesia is a vitally important trading partner for the Australian live cattle and beef industry – along with a steady requirement for sheepmeat.

Combined, the existing trade was worth over a $1 billion in 2018.

“The benefits of ratifying IA-CEPA and securing more trade certainty with a key export market are unsurpassed – particularly at a time of global trade disruption.”

In addition, the implementation of the A-HK FTA promotes a closer

8 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

economic relationship between Australia and Hong Kong and will “lock in” Australia’s current duty-free access for red meat products.

In 2018, Australia exported just over 7,000 tonnes of beef to Hong Kong, worth $96 million, demonstrating the importance of diverse markets to returning prosperity back to Australia’s red meat businesses and regions.

“We applaud the efforts of the Australian Government in pursuing trade reform globally and look forward to the ratification of these two agreements in the parliament, and the subsequent entry into force of both agreements at the earliest possible

opportunity,” said Mackay.

The industry represents in excess of 80,000 businesses and 405,000 jobs, with a large portion of these located in rural and regional Australia.

“For every 10 jobs in our industry, six rely on our trade with the world. Deals like the IA-CEPA are vital for these jobs and vital for our regions, especially Australia’s north,” said Mackay.

“Trade agreements such as these are integral to helping ensure the cost competitiveness of the Australian supply chain – at a time of weather-related challenges and mounting international competition.”

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NEWS

Coca-Cola brands use 100 per cent recycled plastic

All Coca-Cola products 600ml and under are now produced with recycled plastic.

C

oca-Cola Australia and Coca-Cola Amatil have announced that all CocaCola soft drink brands (600ml and below) and all water brands (600ml and below) preocessed locally are now being produced in 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles. This includes Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Mount Franklin and Pump.

This follows the announcement earlier in the year that Coca-Cola Amatil will make seven out of 10 plastic bottles from 100 per cent recycled plastic by the end of 2019. Coca-Cola’s juice and dairy brands are on track to transition and complete the goal before the end of the year.

Committed to helping close the recycling loop, Coca-Cola Australia has also ramped up its efforts to

promote recycling to all Australians, announcing its sponsorship of Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week, now in its 24th year. Russell Mahoney, director of sustainability at Coca-Cola Australia said, “The plastic waste crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time – one that we’re committed to help solve.

“We know actions speak louder than words, which is why together with Coca-Cola Amatil we have made a landmark investment in recycled plastic in Australia to help support a viable domestic recycling economy.

“The other important piece of the puzzle is supporting initiatives that encourage Australians to recycle, which is why we’re proud to be working closely with Planet Ark as the major sponsor of

National Recycling Week.”

As Australia’s biggest beverage company, Coca-Cola’s move to recycled plastic will reduce the environmental impact of its operations; ensuring plastic from existing bottles is repurposed, while decreasing demand for new plastic.

Peter West, managing director of Australian Beverages at Coca-Cola Amatil, said, “Earlier this year, we took our strongest step forward in reducing packaging waste by making recycled plastic the norm in seven out of 10 products in our portfolio.

“Today, we are well on track to meet that target and become...the first country in the world where all Coca-Cola bottles 600ml and under are made from recycled plastic.

“We’re meeting our target to bring our total use of recycled plastic to

16,000 tonnes this year,” West said.

Ryan Collins, head of sustainability resource programs at Planet Ark and spokesperson for National Recycling Week said, “By using more recycled plastic and encouraging Australians to recycle, Coca-Cola is leading the way and taking responsibility for the end of life of its products.

“We know this will help stimulate a viable local recycling industry, enabling highly valuable material like PET plastic to be meaningfully repurposed.

“Just like Planet Ark, CocaCola does not want to see valuable resources go to waste. It’s a perfect match for National Recycling Week, and we’re thrilled to be working together for the first time this year,” Collins said.

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 11

NEWS

CEO of Kurrajong Kitchen Lavosh wins gold in New York City K aren Lebsanft, CEO and co-founding director of the Kurrajong Kitchen Group, manufacturers of flatbread, the Kurrajong Kitchen Lavosh, has received the Gold Lifetime Achievement Award at the Stevie Awards for Women in Business in New York.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honour women executives, entrepreneurs, employees and the companies they run – worldwide.

Karen was the only Australian finalist, and overall winner, in the Lifetime Achievement Award category.

Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for “crowned”, the awards were presented to winners on November 15th during a dinner event attended by more than 550 people at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

“To win this award is such a thrill. It has been years of hard work, determination and commitment that

has seen Kurrajong Kitchen reach the success it has back home in Australia.

To be recognised for that success means so much to my husband, our family and the wider Kurrajong Kitchen team,” said Lebsanft.

“I’ve been very upfront about the challenges 2019 has thrown our way, with rising flour prices as a result of the drought and changes in the political landscape, but we remain 100 per cent committed to keeping our business manufacturing and employing onshore for as long as possible,” she said.

Established in 1993, Kurrajong Kitchen began as a small restaurant in the Hawkesbury town of Kurrajong, NSW. The flatbread they served to customers quickly grew in popularity to become an award-winning Lavosh stocked across major supermarkets nationally. Expansion was needed to meet the demand from customers, suppliers and the catering industry and the company relocated to a larger site in Windsor, NSW in 2001.

Kurrajong Kitchen Group’s Karen Lebsanft.

Glen Grant wins Scotch Whisky of the Year for fourth year in a row G

Glen Grant’s 18 year old single malt took out the top prize.

len Grant once again is awarded top honours for its category in the latest edition of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible – a world-reputed Whisk(e)y guide. Glen Grant 18 Year Old, the rarest variant in the Glen Grant single malt range, has once again been named “Scotch Whisky of the Year”, “Single Malt of the Year” and “Best Single Malt Scotch Aged 16-21 years” by the whisky writer and reviewer, taking home the top prize in the category for the fourth year in a row.

After sampling 1,200 whisky entrants for the 2020 edition of his guidebook, Murray chose this whisky to represent his number one rated whisky from Scotland. Building on last year’s remark that the 18 Year Old

12 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

single malt “carried the banner for Scotland,” and “displayed Speyside whisky in its most sparkling light,” Murray this year said that that he could find no faults in the liquid, and called it, “As usual, sublime,” adding that he, “didn’t think it possible. But this distillery has just upped its game.

Though, perhaps it does have two new challengers now: The Glen Grant 15 and The Glen Grant Rothes Chronicles Cask Haven.”

Calling this particular expression “technically perfect,” Murray explains it as “a malt which takes ‘understatement’ to a new level,” and remarked that it leaves the drinker “spellbound as its secrets slowly unfold. To do descriptors barely do it justice.”

Cask Haven joins the alreadydecorated Glen Grant 15 Year Old this year, which takes the prize for “Best Single Malt Scotch Aged 11 to 15 Years” in its category.

Additionally, The Glen Grant 10 Year Old wins in the “Best Single Malt Scotch Aged 10 Years and Under” category for a 7th time.

Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible is said to lay claim to being the world’s biggest-selling annual whisky guide.

The compact guide contains roughly 4,500 detailed, analysed and easy to understand tasting notes on the world’s leading and lesser known whiskies.

Each whisky is tasted by Murray himself and graded with an overall score out of 100.

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NEWS

Halewood Australia expands Yardhead Whisky offering H alewood Australia has added Yardhead Whisky to its ever-expanding portfolio of premium alcohol brands, in a move set to disrupt the spirit’s category.

Distilled in Scotland, Yardhead is a single malt Whisky and the first non-age declared spirit of its kind from the John Crabbie & Co company.

Each bottle of Yardhead is matured in 100 per cent ex-bourbon casks, sourced from the original sites frequented by founder John Crabbie in the 1800s, during his time as a blender and bottler.

The brand is set to revolutionise the way single-malts are enjoyed, claims the distiller. Created for the younger generation, the spirit’s distilling process produces a light flavour, making it the perfect entry-level whisky for traditional bourbon and rum drinkers.

Kelly Coughlan, marketing

manager of Halewood Australia, said, “Yardhead is the newest whisky brand on the market to be discovered. A brand steeped in heritage and Scottish distilling expertise, with a modern edge. We’re breaking boundaries within the category, by providing an accessible price point and an approachable way to enjoy the spirit.

“We recognise that dark spirits and classic cocktails are making a comeback, which is why we’re launching a single malt, made perfectly for mixing.”

Halewood International’s launch of Yardhead also sees the production of single malt whisky brought back to Edinburgh this month, after 93 years.

The new Bonnington distillery will be the new home for John Crabbie & Co. It is situated a few 100 metres from the original site and the new site will produce 3,500 casks of single malt a year.

Halewood Australia has added Yardhead Whisky to its portfolio.

Bill Heague to take up GM role at Mars Food Australia M

Mars’ general manager Bill Heague returns home.

ars Incorporated has appointed Bill Heague as the company’s new general manager of its Australian operations.

Heague originally joined the Mars company in 2008 as sales manager for Mars Food Australia, the manufacturer of many food brands, such as Masterfoods, Uncle Ben’s, Dolmio, Kantong, Promite and Seeds of Change.

Following a successful five-year stint with Mars Food in Australia, delivering continuous growth and gains in market share, Heague relocated to Europe to take up the role of market director, Multisales, for Mars in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

14 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

In that role, which was part of the newly formed Central Europe cluster, he helped with the integration of Wrigley into the Multisales business.

Heague has managed Mars’ Irish Multisales business in challenging times that were generated by Britain’s Brexit.

Heague said he is thrilled to be returning home to Sydney and taking up his new role with Mars Food Australia.

“I’m a foodie at heart and very excited about the major advances and significant challenges we are seeing in the food industry, both in Australia and around the world, and the innovation that our business can bring to the table,” Heague said.

“I’m a firm believer that dinner time matters, and we know that finding opportunities to cook and share meals with family and friends is good for both physical and mental wellbeing.

“It’s the foundation of our business, side by side with providing healthy, easy, affordable and tasty meal options.”

Heague took up the new role on November 1, 2019, and is currently in the process of relocating back to Australia.

He will be at Mars Food Australia’s head office and manufacturing plant at Wyong on the NSW Central Coast, and its satellite North Sydney office, from 13 November 2019.

NEWS

Axereal acquires Cargills’ malt business A xereal, France’s largest grain cooperative, has announced the acquisition of Cargill’s malt business on behalf of its subsidiary, Boortmalt.

This acquisition strengthens Axereal’s position globally, and makes Boortmalt the world’s leading player in the production of malt.

Jean-François Loiseau, president of the Axereal Group said, “This acquisition meets our two strategic objectives – firstly, to invest in the downstream of barley to increase the value of our farmers production in France and internationally, and

especially in growing markets.

Secondly, we have a long-term vision for our cooperative farmers. This acquisition will help ensure that our trajectory is competitive. We, at Axereal, are leading the way for the agricultural transition with industrial innovation that provides quality food whilst respecting the environment.”

Paul-Yves L’Anthoën, chief executive officer of the Axereal Group said, “This acquisition is a major step in our cooperative’s strategic plan: it allows us to diversify our sources of value, and it bolsters the group’s position in a

growing sector. It also strengthens our relationship with the financial community.”

This acquisition sees Boortmalt taking over all Cargill Malt activities – 16 malthouses in nine countries, nearly 600 employees, and with a total production capacity of 1.7 million tonnes.

This will bring the total capacity of the Boortmalt Group to three million tonnes with 27 malting plants on five continents making Boortmalt the world leader in the production of malt. The headquarters of Boortmalt will remain in Antwerp, Belgium as

well as the R&D centre, making the Antwerp malthouse the biggest in the world.

Yvan Schaepman, chief executive officer of Boortmalt added, “Such a takeover offers us new growth prospects and will enable us to better mitigate risks, particularly those linked to climate change.

It also allows us to accelerate the development of new malting barley varieties and to create new malts. With this acquisition, we are pursuing our primary ambition – to become the best Maltster in the world.”

Axereal’s purchase of Cargill’s malt business makes it one of the biggest players in that space. www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 15

NEWS

Cereal killer’s deadly touch could lead to new wheat threat

The CSIRO has helped solve a 20-year-old mystery.

S

cientists have uncovered the origins of the world’s deadliest strain of cereal rust disease which threatens global food security.

Researchers from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, together with partners in the US and South Africa have solved a 20-yearold mystery with findings published in Nature Communications.

Their works shows that the devastating Ug99 strain of the wheat stem rust fungus (named for its discovery and naming in Uganda in 1999) was created when different rust strains simply fused to create a new hybrid strain.

This process is called somatic hybridisation and enables the fungi to merge their cells together and exchange genetic material without going through the complex sexual reproduction cycle.

The study found half of Ug99’s genetic material came from a strain that has been in southern Africa for more than 100 years and also occurs in Australia.

The discovery shows that other

crop-destroying rust strains could hybridise in other parts of the world, and scientists found evidence of this in their study.

It also means Ug99 could once again exchange genetic material with different pathogen strains to create a whole new enemy.

While it was proposed that rust strains could hybridise based on laboratory studies in the 1960s, this new research provides the first clear molecular evidence that this process also happens to generate new strains in nature.

Rusts are a common fungal disease of plants. Globally they destroy over $1 billion worth of crops each year. Australian crops have largely been protected for the past 60 years by the breeding of rust-resistant crop varieties.

Group leader at CSIRO, Dr Melania Figueroa, said Ug99 is considered one of the most threatening of all rusts as it has managed to overcome many of the stem rust-resistance genes used in wheat varieties and has evolved many variants.

16 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

“While outbreaks of Ug99 have so far been restricted to Africa and the Middle East, it has been estimated that a nationwide outbreak here could cost Australia up to $500 million in lost production and fungicide use in the first year,” Figueroa said.

“There is some good news, however, as the more you know your enemy, the more equipped you are to fight against it.

“Knowing how these pathogens come about means we can better predict how they are likely to change in the future and better determine which resistance genes can be bred into wheat varieties to give longlasting protection.”

Earlier this year, CSIRO worked with the University of Minnesota and the 2Blades Foundation to achieve good results in wheat resistance by stacking five resistance genes into the one wheat plant to combat wheat stem rust.

This latest research is the result of a collaboration between scientists from CSIRO, the University of Minnesota,

University of the Free State, and Australian National University.

The breakthrough came as Dr Figueroa’s group was sequencing Ug99 (then at the University of Minnesota) and at the same time a CSIRO team led by Dr Peter Dodds was sequencing Pgt 21 in Australia.

Pgt21 is a rust strain that was first seen in South Africa in the 1920s and believed to have been carried to Australia in the 1950s by wind currents. When the two groups compared results, they found the two pathogens share an almost identical nucleus and therefore half of their DNA. “This discovery will make it possible to develop better methods to screen for varieties with strong resistance to disease,” Figueroa said.

“There was an element of serendipity at play in this work. We never expected that Ug99 and an Australian isolate might be related but only through a multi-continental collaboration was it possible to make the connections needed to achieve this discovery.”

NEWS

ommunities throughout NSW, including Sydney, the Central Coast, Mid-North Coast and North Coast, will take part in a program to reduce food waste in homes and businesses.

As part of Love Food Hate Waste NSW’s Love Food Communities grants, City of Sydney, Central Coast Council, Midwaste group and North East Waste group will each receive up to $250,000 to plan and deliver a two-year whole-ofcity approach to food waste prevention.

These plans will include the delivery of the Love Food Hate Waste Food Smart and Your Business is Food programs to support local households and businesses to tackle food waste and educate them on how working together as a community can make a difference.

As well as households and businesses, each project will target at least one other sector, including aged care, schools, hospitality or food manufacturers.

The four projects will reach 17,000 households and nearly 500 businesses and will be the first time a whole-ofcommunity approach is taken to prevent food waste in NSW. “Almost a million tonnes of food is thrown away by household and business in NSW each year, costing the average

The program has delivered almost $1.6 million to 54 grant projects.

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household an estimated $3,800 a year,” said Amanda Kane, acting director, Waste Programs, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment.

“We want to see less food being wasted across our communities and these grants will help to achieve this by changing behaviour and giving people and businesses the tools they need to make informed decisions.

“We’re excited to be able to help these four communities on their food waste reduction journey, while supporting our program goal to make food waste avoidance a social norm in NSW by 2021,” added Kane.

The Love Food Hate Waste program has awarded almost $1.6m to 54 grant projects and is an important part of the NSW government’s commitment to halve food waste by 2030, through the National Food Waste Strategy.

The Love Food Communities grants are funded through the NSW Government’s $105.5 million Organics Infrastructure Fund under Waste Less, Recycle More. This fund diverts food and garden waste from landfill by funding food waste avoidance education, kerbside organics collections, food processing and donations infrastructure and organics market development.

For further information and assistance with travel and accommodation planning Robert Laing _ Messe Reps. Pty. Ltd Tel. +61 427 353536 robert@messereps.com _ www.messereps.com

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 17

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NSW government gives $1 million to Love Food, Hate Waste C

NEWS

Credit: Shutterstock.com

Home delivery disrupts restaurants’ profits The Fork. This was followed by Now Book It (17 per cent), Dimmi (10.2 per cent), Quandoo (9.3 per cent) and Opentable (7.6 per cent).

Social and digital marketing channels Lambert said, “This is the first year we asked businesses how they use social and digital marketing channels and the impact this has had on their businesses.

This is clearly an important tool for their businesses because a significant number (65.56 per cent) indicated that they spend money in this area.

Facebook was most popular with half of our respondents naming it as their most used marketing tool.”

Payment systems

D

igital disruptors are damaging the restaurant industry by encouraging patrons to stay home and eating into profits, claims a report from Restaurants and Catering Australia (R&CA). Its 2019 annual Benchmarking Report, one of the areas of greatest concern indicated by restaurant, café, and catering business owners was the negative impact of digital disruption.

R&CA’s CEO, Wes Lambert, said, “High streets are falling silent and neighbourhood restaurants are pushed to their limit as delivery services discourage bums on seats. There is only one winner between the platform and the restaurant, the platform wins due to the exorbitantly high fees charged and the restaurants lose as they see their profits decline even as their revenue increases.

“Some restaurants are finding themselves pushed to the brink of closing – a bad outcome for our social precincts, restaurants patrons and, ultimately, home delivery consumers.

Others are ditching the platforms altogether,” said Lambert.

“Under the online delivery platforms, where under the ‘partner model’, the platform is profitable and the restaurant is not. Restaurants

have been forced into taking on an unwanted business partner they didn’t ask for and who takes a 35 per cent cut. At that rate, meals become unprofitable for the restaurant.

This year’s survey revealed ongoing and significant growth in penetration of online food delivery platforms – 53.8 per cent of restaurants surveyed use online delivery platforms. That is more than triple the number (15.4 per cent) from the same survey in 2017.

In 2018, the percentage using delivery platforms was 31.2 per cent.

Of the restaurants surveyed, 46.2 per cent said they didn’t use delivery platforms, compared to 68.8 per cent in 2018, and 84.6 per cent in 2017.

When asked which delivery platforms they prefer, 26.2 per cent said UberEats, 22.3 per cent said Menulog, and 3.8 per cent said Deliveroo. Of those surveyed, 32.3 per cent use a combination of platforms and 7.7 per cent use all three delivery platforms.

More than 63 per cent said their primary reason for signing up to a delivery platform was to increase their customer base. Others (32.03 per cent) said they were forced to participate because their competitors were using these platforms.

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Respondents overwhelmingly said that they had experienced an increase in revenue but a decrease in profit (53.9 per cent) and 32.8 per cent said they experienced an increase in revenue and profit and 13.3 per cent indicated no change.

More than half (55.5 per cent) said that fees associated with online food delivery were so high that it was impossible to make a profit using the platforms. Only a quarter of businesses (25 per cent) said that platforms provide a convenient service that allows restaurants to increase their revenue and 19.5 per cent indicated they encourage customers not to go out and buy directly from the business.

These answers indicate that more than 70 per cent of businesses surveyed believe that online food delivery is negatively impacting the hospitality industry.

An overwhelming number of businesses (92.3 per cent) indicated that card payment – either credit or debit card, was the most common payment method, followed by cash (2.56 per cent), then phone touch payment (0.9 per cent).

When asked about payment processing methods, the most common form of card payment was PayPass or Tap & Go, with 79.83 per cent indicating it was the method of choice for customers. This was followed by 12.88 per cent using PIN input, 2.2 per cent using smart phone payment, and 3.9 per cent use online payments (through booking platforms).

Credit: Shutterstock.com

Deliveroo is the third most popular platform according to a recent survey.

Online booking providers Just over half (50.7 per cent) respondents said they used an online booking provider within their business, down slightly from (55.6 per cent) in 2018. This is still up from 41.7 per cent in 2017. When asked which online booking provider they used, the top response (36.4 per cent) was

Uber Eats is one company said to be eating in to restaurant profits.

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Nestlé's Allen’s range of lollies now has a 25 per cent less sugar option.

Making profit no longer enough for big brands Nestlé has a reputation as a producer of some of the finest confectionary in the world. Food & Beverage Industry News talks to head strategist Martin Brown on how making subtle changes will help it continue to be at the top of its game.

W

hen you’re one of the world’s largest confectionary brands, you’re under the microscope.

We live in a time where a more discerning, informed public are not only interested in the products a company is producing, but how they are making them – where are they sourcing their ingredients? What sort of packaging are they using? What are the products nutritional health benefits?

It’s not lost on Nestlé’s Oceania director of eBusiness, strategy and marketing, Martin Brown. It’s his job to not only sell the company’s message in the local environment, but make sure it is adhering to the best practices he and other strategists have put in place.

Brown knows that the younger consumers are the ones driving the conversation – and not only in terms of whether a product tastes good or not.

“If you look at the diversity of our population and the expectations,

it is the younger consumers that are shaping our industry,” said Brown.

“They are shaping a couple of key forces that are really important for us to consider. One is, they make choices on brands and consumption based on beliefs. They’re very much looking at the actions of the brand – what is behind the brand – particularly with the supply chain.”

No longer is it good enough to make a great tasting product under the banner of a worldwide known and trusted brand. A lot of food and beverage companies – and those in peripheral arenas like packaging – are employing people whose sole purpose within the conglomerate’s structure is too look after sustainability and traceability. This is because companies like Nestle know that social media and other modern trends have a huge influence on purchasing decisions.

Nestlé is looking at a variety of ways of making sure that it not only provides products from sustainable sources and can be traced back to

20 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

the farm, but it is also taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint.

“As a company that operates 10 factories in the region, we have plenty of scope to influence that commitment. Part of those commitments is accelerating the use of renewable energy,” said Brown. “For instance, we use the spent coffee grounds in our Gympie factory as fuel to drive the energy in that factory.

“At our Smithtown factory, which is the home of Milo, we use sawdust from the local timber industry to power 85 per cent of the energy in that plant. These are good examples of clever renewable energy sources.

We’re also committed across all of those operations to have zero waste to landfill by 2020 and are pretty close to achieving that.”

Globally, Nestlé has signed up to the RE100, which is a group of companies that have pledged to use 100 per cent renewable energy. The accord means that Nestlé has agreed to zero net greenhouse gas emissions

Nestlé knows that it needs to nurture the next generation of cocoa farmers.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Nestlé's Martin Brown. by 2050 as part of the pledge to hold to the 1.5˚C maximum temperature increase through climate change.

When it comes to another hot-button issue for consumers – recyclability – Nestlé is committed to meeting its 2025 responsibility of its packaging being reusable or recyclable. Currently, 50 per cent of the materials it uses is recyclable, while 40 per cent is partially recyclable.

“We’re going to focus first on the 10 per cent that is non-recyclable,” said Brown. “We’ve got a negative list of materials that we are removing from all of our packaging. The cardboard is fine, however not all of the substrates used in flexible packaging are recyclable.

We have multi-layers of material that are not recyclable. That’s where we need to find solutions.”

These solutions will not appear out of thin air. Investment is needed, and Nestlé doesn’t mind putting its hat in the ring when it comes to spending money to find the answers that will lead to more sustainable packaging. Brown also realises that there are other issues that need to be addressed with packaging – recyclability is but one aspect.

“This is where the science comes in with regard to coming up with new packaging solutions because they’re not available right now,” said Brown. “We’ve invested in the Nestlé Institute of Packaging to work with the science community and the rest of the packaging community to develop novel solutions that are fully

"We’ve invested in the Nestle Institute of Packaging to work with the science community and the rest of the packaging community to develop novel solutions that are fully recyclable and/or compostable.

These will be the replacement solutions for that 10 per cent non-recyclable packaging." recyclable and/or compostable. These will be the replacement solutions for that 10 per cent non-recyclable packaging.

“If we can come up with solutions that meet consumer expectations of quality, tamper-proof food safety, and is relevant in a category that can fully eliminate packaging, that would be a good thing. We’re trialling those solutions already.”

Another hot topic is food trends.

Two that have caught the eye of Nestle’s hierarchy are confectionary products with less sugar [see box story Satisfying the Sweet Tooth], and plant-based proteins. Again, it is the younger consumer driving the issue. In the case of the latter, it is not about getting rid of meat

altogether, but about replacing one or two meals a week with plant-based proteins. Brown thinks there are many reasons for the growing trend.

“There’s health reasons,” he said.

“They may also connect the dots between meat and greenhouse gas emissions. Ultimately, for them, it might be about living in a more sustainable environment. With our Harvest Gourmet products, and along with the rest of the plant protein industry, we are providing alternatives that make that transition seamless in a way that is pretty surprising. We think that it is going to grow quickly as a market opportunity.”

Brown said that Nestlé is looking to develop a range of

SATISFYING THE SWEET TOOTH As ingredients go, sugar is a doozy.

It’s in almost every processed product – from confectionary and beverages, through to bread and even pizza. A survey by Food Insights, 2018 Food & Health Safety, showed that 33 per cent of people thought sugar was the main reason for weight gain. Sugar is a key ingredient in a lot of Nestle products.

The company realises that there is a wind of change coming. People are becoming discerning about what they put in their body.

Nestlé strategy head Martin Brown knows that there is a change happening. This doesn’t mean people are going to cut down on their favourite treats, but it behoves food manufacturers – especially those in the confectionary industry – to listen to consumers. Nestlé decided to create a range of products with reduced sugar; something that had been tried in the past, with little success. Now, with new food technologies, Nestle has found formula that has resonated with customers.

“In the case of our 30 per cent less

added sugar Milo we are delighted with the consumer response to this because it is absolutely proven to be a product people were looking for as an option when it comes to reduced sugar in their diet,” said Brown. “It took us two years to develop the Milo 30 per cent less added sugar product,” said Brown. “We removed the cane sugar.

There is still naturally occurring lactose in the milk and there’s still sugar that comes through the malted barley process, but it is still 30 per cent less added sugar overall and it is still with the Milo taste.”

Brown said that food is a pleasure but also knows consumers are becoming nutritional savvy.

“There’s a point at which if a superior nutritional solution cannot come with the taste delivery, it will not work,” he said. “It’s got to be underpinned by good taste. The performance in market with 30 per cent less added sugar Milo and 25 per cent less sugar Allen’s jellies has shown they are delivering to the needs of people who are looking for reducing sugar in their diet.”

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 21

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Nestlé’s new 30 per cent less sugar Milo has been a resounding success. meat alternatives – from chicken breasts to mince – that will give customers versatile options for food consumption. Then there are dairy alternatives, too.

“You can expect we will bring plant-based dairy options across a range of our beverage products,” he said. “We’ve seen that it is becoming popular in the way people are adopting plant-based milks into their out of home coffee consumption.

Climate could be an issue when it comes to harvesting cacao plants.

That is definitely an opportunity for in-home coffee consumption as well.”

And what about another, albeit minor, trend of insect-based proteins? Brown acknowledges that it is an idea the company might look at in the future, but there is nothing in the pipeline at the moment.

“We’re aware of insect-based proteins. They’re probably not mainstream enough for us to look at yet,” he said. “We’re blessed at being in a pretty resource-rich environment so we’re not quite yet at the insect level. It’s an imaginative solution, which is arguable very sustainable and we should never rule it out.”

Brown is confident that Nestlé is on target to not only continue meeting the needs of its traditional consumers, but also encompass new food technologies and trends that will be entering the food chain over the next 5 to 10 years. It is not only about keeping the taste great, but making sure the brand keeps its reputation.

“As we continue to offer more choice and lift the nutritional credentials of all our products, it is important to remember that any change has to be underpinned by great taste.

And with that, will come trust – something that is very important to any brand like Nestlé.” F

22 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Chocolate and coffee – two items that tick all the endorphin boxes when consumed. Debating traceability of products, sustainability in packaging, and energy efficiencies during the production process are all well and good, but what’s the point if the key ingredients no longer exist?

No ingredients means no products.

Coffee beans and cocoa plants are grown in a narrow window of land on the equator. The main producers are in sub-Sahara African and the equatorial climate of South America.

A recent article in Business Insider titled Chocolate is on track to go extinct in 40 years, concentrated on how the aforementioned strip of land is set to shrink due to climate change. Cacao plants, which product the cocoa for chocolate, need certain temperatures to grow and that is starting to change. However, that is not the main issue, because if humanity does get to reverse the more undesirable effects of climate change, there is another more urgent problem – will there be cocoa farmers to produce the crop?

It is an issue that the likes of Nestlé and Mars are taking head on. They realise without cocoa, a large portion of their business is affected. It is with this in mind that Nestlé’s Martin Brown explains why the company’s attitude towards its primary producers is holistic. The company knows that trying to buy the biggest amount of cocoa at the cheapest price possible is short-sighted. Long-term viability is needed and is something that the company champions. With more than 70 per cent of the world’s cocoa being produced on two million small farms in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, logistics can be challenging.

“The reality is that a lot of these communities are in undeveloped economies and live in challenged social spaces, so we have to help them resolve things such as unsafe work practices,” said Brown. “They’re complicated problems to solve that need total integration by the government across all industries.”

Brown said that in 2014 Nestlé was one of the first major companies in Australia to use 100 per cent sustainable cocoa. He said the company is committed to paying a premium to all farmers it buys

through. The company also likes to make sure its suppliers are in compliance when it comes to eliminating unsafe child labour work practices and ensuring children go to school.

“We are also eliminating the use of unsafe pesticides,” said Brown.

“We’ve built schools in farming communities to ensure that their kids are getting educated. We’ve distributed new cocoa plants. We’ve renewed the cocoa plantations to drive productivity in their farms.

We’ve educated farmers on how to look after their farms better.”

A lot of actions undertaken by food conglomerates are driven by consumer expectations. However, Brown also knows that goodwill in these communities goes a long way.

Because if climate change does get addressed, and the standard of living is accelerated, there are other issues that will also need addressing. Only collaboration between the farmers and businesses will solve them.

“There are a numbers of reasons why the cocoa supply has been under threat,” said Brown. “First, cacao trees are at their most productive between 2-20 years of age. If they are not renewed and the tree is not continuously replenished, productivity drops, and drops away sharply.”

Next, if the farming methods to optimise the layout of a farm – from ventilation between trees, right fertilisation methods, pruning and cropping of the trees – isn’t maintained, the productivity of the tree is reduced. Then there is the issue whereby farmers might not grow the crop anymore because they are not getting the economic outcome of it that another crop might provide.

“Another reason why you might have a compromised future with the cocoa crop is that the next generation don’t want to farm,” said Brown. “The next generation might leave farm communities because the conditions are just not good enough. They are not liveable and those meant to be taking over the farm have higher expectations of quality of life. And that should be everyone’s expectation – that the next generation gets to lead a higher quality of life or has the opportunity.”

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Pinjarra Bakery, Western Australia

FOOD SAFETY

Less mess with oil-free compressors ELGi makes no apologies as it extends an aggressive strategy into the food and beverage industry.

Mike Wheeler explains.

C

leanliness is a line in the sand that can’t be crossed when it comes to food and beverage processing plants. Regulations and by-laws that govern the manufacture of edible consumables are there to protect the public.

By their very nature, factories are not the cleanest of environments. This is why traceability of foodstuffs is becoming more prevalent, not only so consumers can see where their sustenance is being processed, but also if there is a recall, authorities can trace the cause of any food poisoning outbreak. Therefore it is incumbent on those that create food and beverage products to make sure the produce is prepared in the cleanest, most sterile environment possible One aspect of ensuring cleanliness is to make sure the equipment that is being used is up to scratch. Air compressors are an important piece

of equipment that are used extensively on production lines in many food and beverage factories throughout Australia.

ELGi has been in the air compressor business for more than 50 years, and been in Australia for the past eight years. Aimed at the higher end of the compressor market, the company offers a series of machines including it oil-free range, which is suitable for the food and beverage market.

Tom Fyfe, president of ELGi in Australia, is bullish about the company’s place within the industry and is excited about the potential it has going forward. This includes buying out a major distributor.

“We are determined to become one of the top three compressor companies,” Fyfe said. “And we are definitely up there, which is why we offer a lifetime warranty on the oil-injected units. We started to look at how we could expand in the Australian

24 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

market, so in August 2018 we acquired Pulford Air and Gas and Advanced Air Compressors, which was basically one company with two entities. This gave us a bigger footprint in the market so we now have offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It’s helped cement our position as a major player.”

He also sees food and beverage as not only an important market for the company but a growing one, too. He said ELGi is pushing more into the food and beverage and pharmaceutical arenas because they don’t see as much of a downturn in these sectors as much as some other manufacturing sectors.

ELGi has two ranges of oil-free compressors that are suitable for these types of manufacturing environments.

“They’re traditional oil-free units that are dry screw, and come in 75kW to 450kW configurations,” he said.

“We also have a new range of waterinjected units that was released in

Hannover in 2019, which go from 11kW up to 110kW. The dry-screw versions are both air and water cooled.

The 11kW and 110W versions are water-injected, air-cooled only.”

Planned maintenance Fyfe knows that planned maintenance is an important part of any production manager’s schedule. With that in mind, he said that ELGi has developed air compressors that not only work hard, but have extensive back-up service, which is just as important. The buying of the Pulford Air and Gas and the Advanced Air Compressors businesses means they now have more technicians on the ground.

“In Sydney, we have 16 technicians on the road plus two internal technical people,” he said. “In Melbourne and Brisbane, we have five in each.

And we work closely with regional distributors. We have very good

FOOD SAFETY

believes that ELGi offers an affordable option to a lot of small- to mediumsized manufacturers, not just the big players in the market.

“I think we are offering a machine at a better price point and a much better lower cost of service over the life of the machine than some of the other options out there,” he said. “With most of the oil-free units available from other companies, you’re required to change air ends after a really small amount of hours.

“For a food processer, you have to build that into your maintenance plan, which can be expensive.”

Into the future

ELGi’s oil-free range is suitable for the food and beverage industry.

ELGi has its own foundry where it produces air compressors. distributors in WA and SA, and each of those guys has four to six technicians.

There’s a huge amount of support for the product. I would say far more than some of our major competitors. I have colleagues who use some of our competitor’s products and they say the support is poor and they charge like wounded bulls.

“Support is a huge thing, and that is why it’s not only important to get assistance from the distributor but the manufacturer, too. As a distributor, you want support from the manufacturers as well. And we’ve experienced pretty poor service from certain suppliers Pulford have been with before. Because of that, we are very mindful of the service we provide to our customers.”

Fyfe is also aware quality is a key driver in the food and beverage market. He said ELGi’s offerings are now up there with the best compressor manufacturers due to a couple of reasons. First, it has undertaken quality improvement measures. For example, one of the biggest factors with the

water-injected ranges of compressors is that the company produces its own air-ends, which will need servicing after 4,000 hours. This gives it a longer pre-maintenance working life than most other models on the market.

Second, ELGi also builds its own water separator in the unit, which is a proprietary piece of technology.

It allows the company to have more control over the success or failure of the parts. This is why it has its own foundry. It doesn’t outsource the manufacturing of its critical components to third parties.

“We have control over the foundry,” he said. “The foundry is unbelievable –

you can eat off the floor it is that clean.

And by doing that, we’re controlling the quality right at the start of the process.

Take the air-end for example, which is the most expensive part of the machine. ELGi took over complete control of that component because it wanted to get the quality right and the right cost, too.

The company casts the exterior of the air-end housing and the rotors themselves. The new water-injected range has an aluminium housing, with stainless-steel rotors in it.

The oil-free range has a cast iron housing with steel rotors that have a proprietary coating on them. Fyfe

How does Fyfe see the next few years? He said there has been a little slow-down in some of the smaller manufacturing industries – especially for the 5kW to 30kW air compressors.

But he is seeing some really good things happening in the larger markets – like the 55kW to 250kW market in both the resources sector and manufacturing. Then there is the foray into the food and beverage space.

“At the moment we have about 20 per cent market share in the oil-injected range. Over the next five years, our goal is to be either number two or three in that oil-free range.

We have an incredibly good oil-free range that is low cost of ownership and reliable, which we hope can penetrate the market with good sales and good reference customers that see a benefit of switching over. Things are still going good for us but we have a long way to go.” F

ELGi compressors go through a Total Quality Management process when being manufactured. www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 25

EXPORTS

How to grow overseas market share There is no magic formula when setting your sights on exporting overseas. Resilience is the key, according to Trisco CEO Mike Tristram.

Mike Tristram has navigated the sometimes difficult world of exports for Trisco.

I

ndonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Fiji, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam – if there is one thing Trisco knows about, it’s exporting.

The Queensland-based company is a fifth-generation company that has been producing food and beverage products for more than 140 years and is always looking for new markets in which to expand.

CEO Mike Tristram has a plethora of dealing with the red tape and bureaucracies when sending products overseas. The first thing he points out is that no two countries are the same – whether they be first or third world.

With some countries, getting approval is easy, another might be require more time, while yet others may rely on another country’s approval system.

“For example, the US,” said Tristram. “Officials in another country might say ‘well, if you’re approved by the FDA in the US, there’s no problems here’.

Every country has its own little idiosyncrasies. In Pakistan, you need to have specific approval by some office that has to have a physical stamp. Trying to get that physical

stamp instead of a photocopy and approval is very difficult. Dealing with those sorts of idiosyncrasies from country to country, can be interesting.”

One of Tristram’s favourite quotes is from LinkedIn founder, Reid

26 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Hoffman, who described start-ups as like jumping off a cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down.

“Exporting is a little similar but not quite as dramatic,” he said. “It is one of those things you have to figure out on your own depending on your market and depending on where you are going and what you have to sell. It is how unique or not unique it might be and where your strategic advantage is.

“You need the boldness to be able to go into the adventure and find your own pathway within that and be prepared to solve those problems as and when you see them. Even with speed bumps along the way, you need to keep going and learn from them and not give up.”

He believes resilience is the biggest thing that gets a company through the export journey. Also, it is important to get someone on the ground. It is not something that can be discovered, nurtured and expanded upon while sitting in an office in Australia.

“That is the hardest thing – staying on the path and keep slogging,” he said. “You can’t follow a market you don’t understand so you have to go there. And if you are not prepared to go there on a regular basis, then don’t attempt that journey. If you are not prepared to leave the country – at least initially and put a good bedrock down – you will not be successful.”

However, once the connections have been made, it is possible to tone down the travel schedule as long as there is someone on the ground that can be trusted. These are usually locals who know how local regulators and the laws surrounding imports work.

“Some of those places you can handle through agents once you have forged a relationship,” said Tristram.

“As long as you have a trusting relationship with the local agent you can pull back a little on those sorts of visits.”

What does help is Australia’s reputation not only as a quality food

EXPORTS

Precise Thick-N Instant is a Trisco product that helps those who suffer from dysphagia. producer, but as being upfront and honest.

“Australian products are recognised throughout the world as high quality,” he said. “And being relatively clean and green, we’re recognised as being reasonably easy to deal with and we are straightforward. There are a lot of advantages to being Australian.”

The main reason companies try and get into exporting is to grow their Trisco exports to many corners of the world.

company financially. Australia has a finite number of markets within the continent, so expansion is the only way to grow. And while Trisco is happy to manufacture in Australia, the company is going one step further to magnify its footprint in the US – building a plant over there.

“One of the disadvantages is we are still one of the highest costs of manufacturing in the world,” said Tristram. “Until we solve some of these issues, such as energy and utility costs, we are going to continue to struggle. And until we are competitive with the rest of the world on red tape and tax and that sort of thing, there’s not a huge incentive to come to Australia and manufacture. We need to change that.”

One of the products that the company produces is Thick-N Instant, which is under the company’s Precise brand. It has been on the market for three years and doing well. It is designed for those who have dysphagia, which is a condition whereby people have difficulty swallowing. There are many different types of dysphagia, but it usually impacts on those who are aged over 65. It also has a high correlation with people who have Parkinson’s Disease, motor neuron issues or are a victim of a stroke.

“The market that manages the condition, thickens products to four distinct levels that are internationally

“You need the boldness to be able to go into the adventure and find your own pathway within that and be prepared to solve those problems as and when you see them. Even with speed bumps along the way, you need to keep going and learn from them and not give up.” recognised as part of the diet,” said Tristram. “We take those products up to those viscosities depending on what the problem is. Then they can swallow safely, which means the food goes into their digestive tract and not into their lungs, or into other areas that can cause fluid on the lungs, which can lead to pneumonia.”

It is this demand for the product stateside that lead the company to build a plant over there. Thick-N Instant is protected by intellectual property including patents, some of which are still pending.

“We need to build a plant a little closer to one of our largest customers in the US,” said Tristram.

“And we’ve done that for a couple of reasons. First, Thick-N Instant is a product that is unique and is for a vulnerable population and there is nothing like it in the world that we compete against. Nobody makes anything like it.

“The other issue for us is that you have to have some redundancy, so if

something catastrophic happened to the plant we would be in trouble. You have to have that redundancy. Plus of course, seven to nine weeks on the water to another country is a long time for something that only has a shelf life of 12 months.”

Does Tristram feel the company has reached the apex of its export potential? No, but there are other issues he can see on the horizon “The food industry is contracting a little bit,” he said. “What we are seeing now is ingredient suppliers not being as flexible as they used to be.

The variety of the products on offer are there. They’re bringing them in from all over the world – Europe, Asia, US – everywhere.

“But getting consistent supply and variety that we can use to draw off the same sort of spec is becoming more difficult. For example, if you have 40 tonnes of strawberries and you need another 20 tonnes, trying to find it locally is going to be difficult.” F

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 27

FOOD PROCESSING

Refining the sugar cane production process A range of bearings has been developed to meet the rigours of the tough sugar refining business.

Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

Processing sugar cane requires high-quality products.

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ustralia produces about 35 million tonnes of raw sugar every year, with 80 per cent of it exported. Sugar cane farms run from the north of New South Wales through to northern Queensland, mainly on the east coast.

Sugar cane came to Australia via South Africa on the First Fleet in 1788. It is a hardy ingredient, made for hot, humid conditions with plenty

of rain. In other words, the northern climate of Australia’s east coast is ideal for growing the plant.

Over the years, the industry has become part of the Australian industrial landscape, providing much needed foreign currency as well as jobs. Those in the industry work hard, and expect the equipment and machinery they use to do the same.

In order to process the cane into

Sugar cane farming is a key industry in Queensland and northern NSW. 28 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

raw and then refined sugar, plant and machinery needs to be top quality and able to handle the rigours of working day-in and day-out to process the product. A whole range of equipment needs to be utilised to make the industry run. This includes crystallising machines, material handling equipment such as conveyors, fume extraction systems, as well as a raft of other tools. The

companies involved in the industry need to know they can rely on certain brands and back-up service in order to ensure their operations run smoothly.

Schaeffler is one such company that has an excellent reputation when it comes to plant equipment. Highend brands such as INA, FAG and LuK are included in the Schaeffler portfolio. German-based, Schaeffler is renowned for producing high-end, long-lasting industrial products that can handle the pressures that the sugar industry brings to bear.

One of the company’s products is its FAG spherical roller bearings, which are ideal for the sugar processing industry, where the factories themselves create harsh conditions.

These products come into their own by not only being high performing due to their engineering, but handle high loads – something that is a necessity in this industry.

Junior Eltagonde is a regional manager for CBC Australia and is based in Townsville, which is right in the heart of the sugar industry. As a distributor of Schaeffler products, he can testify not only to the quality of the product, but how it keeps

FOOD PROCESSING "The products have a great reputation and many customers know the quality of them.

They are well-known and well-regarded throughout the sugar processing industry.

They have been tested over time and last as well as any other product. With bearings, it’s all about different applications. Schaeffler would be in the top five brands in the world when it comes to this type of gear." industry moving.

“The products have a great reputation and many customers know the quality of them,” he said. “They are well-known and well-regarded throughout the sugar processing industry.

“They have been tested over time and last as well as any other product.

With bearings, it’s all about different applications. Schaeffler would be

in the top five brands in the world when it comes to this type of gear.”

These bearings have a design in which the inner ring that runs inside the outer ring on two rows of

rollers. They also have an angular adjustment of up to two degrees, which not only helps when it comes to the aforementioned highload carrying capacity, but it also can compensate for misalignments.

Schaeffler spherical bearings also offer increased operational reliability and raise the average service life by up to 60 per cent. They save on space because smaller sizes deliver the performance of larger bearings.

Eltagonde said that another key to using Schaeffler products is that the company doesn’t rest on its laurels. It offers great local support, but also on a developmental level, the company knows that moving ahead is important when it comes to making sure they are at the cutting edge of these technologies.

“They’re always upgrading their technology and the materials they use,” said Eltagonde. “They’re

Roller bearings can handle the wear and tear associated with processing sugar cane. constantly looking at upgrading the coatings they use on their bearings, especially the ones they use in gearboxes.”

Schaeffler’s bearings are but one of its reliable products. They offer an array of solutions to the sugar processing industry where hardworking machinery is a necessity. F

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 29

EFFICIENCY

Speed of the essence with cryogenic temperature control The benefits of cryogenically chilling meat, dough and dairy are many, not least users are not tied down to a single piece of equipments. Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

A small amount of cryogen can be the difference between a good batch of dough and one that doesn’t make the grade.

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n different parts of the food industry, various techniques to give foodstuffs the required temperature during or after mixing have been developed. These include adding chilled water, brine, or water ice to the product, using overchilled or frozen ingredients, or most commonly using mechanically refrigerated mixing equipment.

Spraying or injecting a cryogenic fluid onto the product in the mixer while it is being mixed is also an efficient and safe ways of chilling.

Industrial gas company Air Liquide specialises in the latter – utilising

liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide to chill produce quickly and effectively. There are several benefits to using cryogenic freezing, according to Stephen Crawford, who is an Air Liquide senior engineer and expert in food cryogenics.

“It’s not hard to implement,” said Crawford. “Either liquid nitrogen or liquid carbon dioxide can be sprayed onto merchandise being chilled either from the top or the bottom. Both methods are used in industry and can be installed on existing equipment.

“Usually they are injected into some sort of mixer – for example,

30 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

protein mixing, such as beef or chicken mixing, which is being made into patties or nuggets. It’s cheaper to install top mixing than it is bottom mixing, but the bottom injection method is more efficient.

“We use this type of injection to maintain temperature. As food is mixed, you get friction between the product and the blades so heat is generated. You need to maintain temperature below 4˚C so you don’t get bacterial growth.”

Another benefit is that the gases have direct contact with the food.

If an ammonia chiller is being used

in a mixer, users might be able to cool down the walls of the mixer but there is no direct heat transfer that is possible when liquid nitrogen is injected into the mixer itself.

“From a heat transfer point of view it’s much more efficient,” said Crawford.

As mentioned, speed can be a key.

Crawford cites the example of one of Air Liquide’s clients that specialises in producing goat cheese, a produce that is temperature sensitive.

“When the milk comes out the goat, it’s at room temperature or above. The longer it takes to get

EFFICIENCY

Cryogenic chilling is easy to set up and can target products more precisely than conventional chilling. down to 4˚C, the shorter the shelf life will be,” he said. “The company puts it into a mixer and injects liquid nitrogen at -196°C through a cryoinjector. They get liquid nitrogen coming up, which rapidly cools the milk. As a comparison, mechanical chillers can only reach a temperature of -35°C with ammonia refrigerant.

“What would have taken them hours if you had put buckets of it in a mechanical chiller happens in just a few minutes in the mixer. You have blades inside stirring it. You don’t end up freezing one portion and having another portion still warm.

They are constantly stirring it while injecting liquid nitrogen. It brings down the temperature of the whole product much quicker.”

Some of the mainstays of cryogenic chilling are chicken nuggets and meat patties, which are popular with those who process fast-food items. However, cryogenic chilling can also be used for dough mixing.

Most large flour mills have the flour stored in big silos outside.

Industrial bakers blow it around pneumatically to get it into the mixer. It is the most efficient way for them to move the flour. The flour then comes into its mixture where it is combined with water and other ingredients. It’s mixed mechanically.

But the temperature of the product in

"What would have taken them hours if you had put buckets of it in a mechanical chiller happens in just a few minutes in the mixer. You have blades inside stirring it. You don’t end up freezing one portion and having another portion still warm." pastry has an impact on the texture and the final outcome, according to Crawford.

“If you’re trying to make a product that has a certain amount of ingredients and you mix them all together at 15˚C instead of 20˚C, the texture of the final product will be quite different even though the ingredients are the same,” said Crawford. “The bakeries find – especially if they have days like in the middle of summer where it is 35˚C – when you introduce that into the dough, the dough is far too hot and melts the butter. If you can inject a small amount of cryogen, then, depending on the temperature, it can make all the difference. If it is 20˚C you know to inject nitrogen or carbon dioxide for 10 or so seconds, or if it’s 35˚C you might have to inject for 40 seconds. During the process, it brings the dough to a consistent mix. This means there will be the right chemical reactions with the yeast. Over the years,

Air Liquide has acquired a deep knowledge of process parameters through hundreds of references in cryogenic chilling worldwide and knows how to implement the right recipe to reach desired outcomes.”

Crawford also talks of the safety aspects the cryogenic chilling can offer. Most large commercial chillers have ammonia in them, which means they have a refrigeration cycle, so they’ll have a pump that is compressing the ammonia. Like a fridge at home, the wires on the back get hot. There’s a heat pump that takes the heat energy from inside the box and puts it into the grill at the back. An industrial refrigerator works the same way but ends up with large cooling towers to get rid of all the excessive heat.

“This means factories have these ammonia lines running through their plants which you wouldn’t want to spring a leak,” said Crawford.

“However, with cryogenics, if you have a minor leak of nitrogen, it

must be repaired, but it is not an immediate hazard. Eighty per cent of the air we breathe is nitrogen.

Ammonia is a corrosive and toxic chemical and customers require ammonia sensors around the place.

Often they spend a lot of money maintaining it, and then you have the cooling towers and all the other issues with the cooling water side of it.”

Some synergies are also possible with other processes down the chain, such as food freezing and modified atmosphere packaging that also use nitrogen, carbon dioxide and mixtures thereof, which further reduce the cost of operations compared to mechanical chilling.

“Another advantage is that it is very reliable because there are very few moving parts when working with cryogenic chilling,” said Crawford.

“The injectors can be retrofitted on customer’s existing mixers.

“With only a valve to open and close, there is no compressor that needs to be maintained like on a mechanical system. The servicing requirements just aren’t there. The cooling equipment we have is better.

There is nothing hard about what we are doing. It’s an easy method for people to learn to do. We can even maintain the equipment for our customers.” F

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 31

FOOD WASTE

A new way of doing business When food warrior Katy Barfield launched Yume, she knew it would be a risky proposition.

Now, she sees it as one of the best decisions she’s made. Food & Beverage Industry News explains why.

Fruit and vegetables have a place on the Yume platform.

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magine a stack of pallets full of surplus food – 4.1 million tonnes worth. And imagine you could stack those pallets on top of each other one at a time. Now, imagine that once stacked, these pallets would reach all the way from Earth to the International Space Station – 14 times over. That is how much commercial food waste there is every year in Australia alone. Remember, that is only commercial food waste, and doesn’t include household waste, which makes up another 34 per cent.

It’s a staggering statistic that still amazes Katy Barfield, who set up the Yume marketplace because she knew that there must be a better way of utilising surplus commercial food waste than throwing it away. It is not Barfield’s first foray into food waste

recovery having started food rescue organisation SecondBite back in 2006. Although the organisation does a great job, Barfield soon realised that SecondBite, along with other food rescue organisations OzHarvest, Foodbank and Fareshare, only managed to move less than two per cent of that 4.1 million tonnes.

Barfield knew there had to be a better way. Therefore, Yume was born. The interactive website offers a platform where food and beverage manufacturers and processors, who would usually throw away production runs for a variety of reasons – wrong labelling, batch over-runs, cancelled orders – can put it on the site to be sold to interested third parties. When the idea was first mooted, Barfield thought it sounded pretty simple.

32 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

“It is the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire career,” she said at a speech she gave at the Waste & Recycling Expo held in Sydney recently. “Because when I came up with the idea of doing this – whereby big brands and farmers could put this stuff onto the platform – and put it up for sale to a new cohort of new suppliers, people told me I was mad.

They said, ‘no one will go for that.

You’re cuckoo. Bonkers. Think you better start again’. Their reasoning was, ‘who was going to buy products unseen off an online platform?’”

It was a fair point at the time.

In theory, the idea was great. Who wouldn’t support an initiative where food waste was lessened – it sounded like a win-win. The manufacturers and food processors get money for

products that they would have to pay to get rid of, and third-party vendors get a quality product they can on-sell or utilise. However, Barfield also knew that, especially with some of the bigger name manufacturers, branding is more important than being seen to be eco-friendly.

Barfield and her team found a way around it.

“Suppliers can white label their product on our platform,” she said.

“You might not know who the brand is, or the history of the brand, but you will have all the history of the product you are receiving. It might say “quality cream cheese from South Australia”. They have to show you the certificates of analysis, so you know it is absolutely edible, and has passed food safety standards. It

FOOD WASTE "Yume is what I would call an opportunistic marketplace. You couldn’t rely on it to supply all your needs because it is part of an irregular supply chain. You can’t hop onto the platform and buy your entire shopping basket from Yume every week because the nature of surplus is that it changes all the time – sometimes hourly." is quite hard to be a supplier on the Yume platform because we do need to protect everybody in the process including the people who sit on the other side, the buyers.”

And you would be surprised who has turned up on the site to buy produce. Accor is one company that has bought food via the platform, plus a number of industrial catering companies. Barfield admits it wasn’t easy to convince the bigger brands to come on board. Once she gave them guarantees that the items would not appear on any of the major retailers, they began to list items on the site.

And what sort of dent has the site made on the food waste mountain?

There is still a long way to go, but with more than 400 suppliers and 2,500 buyers registered on Yume, Barfield is confident that the site will only grow. Then there’s the environmental impact.

“The amount of embodied water we’ve moved through the platform is more than 86 million litres.

That’s nearly 2500 tonnes of CO2 that hasn’t been released into the atmosphere,” she said. “There has been a trifold growth for Yume in the past 12 months.”

Sometimes it takes some lateral thinking to get rid of a product.

Barfield cited an example involving cereal manufacturer Kellogg’s where the company had 7.5 tonnes of dried fruit that was at risk of being dumped. It came about because the company changed one of its cereal recipes and no longer needed the dried fruit. Kellogg’s specialises in making cereals for the mass market, and therefore didn’t have a ready market for left over ingredients.

“They put the dried fruit onto the Yume platform and that product sold within 48 hours to a whole raft of other, smaller manufacturers who could use that in the manufacturing process. It was a win-win-win,” said Barfield.

And just because it is a platform

for foods doesn’t mean those who buy from the site aren’t thinking outside the square on how to move on similar products and find an end use for them in the marketplace.

“A lot of the companies we work with ask us if we could try and find a solution away from the norm,” said Barfield. “One of my personal favourites was about a substance called Maltitol, which is an artificial sweetener.

“We were asked to help find a home for it and we weren’t too sure.

However, it was eventually sold to a pharmaceutical company that used it in coating some of its pills to make them easier to swallow.

It was 14 tonnes worth of product that would have been wasted if it hadn’t found a home.”

One aspect that Barfield is pushing, and she thinks needs to be amplified, is that just because a product appears on the site, it doesn’t mean it is not of

high quality. Yume recently facilitated the selling of some top-branded salmon to an industrial caterer because the salmon missed its delivery window by a day. Because it missed the delivery, it no longer met the requirement to have a shelf life of 10 days. However, it was still top quality and was consumed well before it’s use-by date.

One issue that Barfield had to think about was the impact of those that already supply to some of these areas.

After all, if you’re a regular supplier to an aged care facility, but the chef who is in charge of the kitchen decides to buy cheaper food from Yume, where does that leave the regular supplier?

“We have thought about that. We knew that when we went into the market we had to think about what we were displacing. There is always some displacement that happens,” she said. “Yume is what I would call an opportunistic marketplace. You couldn’t rely on it to supply all your needs because it is part of an irregular supply chain. You can’t hop onto the platform and buy your entire shopping basket from Yume every week because the nature of surplus is that it changes all the time – sometimes hourly.”

Barfield said that Australia is leading the world with this technology and that the country needs to get more people wrapped around it and talking about it. She also believes

Yume founder Katy Barfield that the government could do its bit to reduce food waste.

“The biggest change that can happen is to engage with the government,” she said. “The government is the largest procurer of food in the country – if you think about defence, education, aged care, health care, corrections facilities.

That is taxpayers money that goes to fund the food for these institutions.

Day in, day out, three times a day.

If they just mandated that a certain percentage of product that was surplus had to be bought through a platform like Yume, we would significantly impact the amount of food currently going to waste. We would return more money to Australian farmers and manufactures. We would save taxpayers money.” F

Yume finds a home for high-quality produce like Tasmanian salmon. www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 33

EQUIPMENT

Food and beverage specialist spans three centuries J.L.Lennard is turning 140 years old. The food and beverage machine specialist’s managing director, David Boekemann, talks to Food & Beverage Industry News about the company’s history, and its future.

Company founder William Boekemann.

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t’s not too often you get to talk to a person who is the third-generation owner of a local company – one that is celebrating its 140 year anniversary in 2019.

Starting life as a company that imported disinfectant in 1879, J.L.Lennard has grown to be a major distributor of food equipment and packaging machines.

Managing director, David

Boekemann, is the third generation from his family to run the company that was taken over by his grandfather William from original founder Julius Levy in 1905. Boekemann’s father, Bob, became managing partner in 1953, before David himself took over the business in 1988.

Over that time the Boekemann family has seen a raft of changes throughout the company, Australia and the world. It has traded through the Great Depression, two world wars, and has won and lost several distributorships, but has always survived.

William Boekemann had an entrepreneurial streak that saw him import an eclectic bunch of products during the company’s formative years.

This included goatskins, menthol crystals, celluloid fountain pens, cheese, bottles, vials, caps, waxed paper, and cellophane, to name a few.

Building on this success, during the post-World War I era, William started to import machinery including flour-packing plant, tea-packing and confectionary-wrapping machines and chocolate-processing machines.

J.L.Lennard help set up Ricegrowers’ high-speed packaging line.

34 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

A flour packaging plant that used J.L.Lennardsupplied machines – circa early 1900s.

Eventually the company would pioneer such machinery as those used in tablet making, capping, and labelling products, as well as those that were capable of cartoning ice cream and filling beer bottles.

In order for the business to thrive, relationships needed to be built, and this the family did with great aplomb, especially with high-end manufacturers in Europe. Over the years the company has been the distributor for such wellknown and reliable brands as Krones, Rovema, Manesty, CE King, Glatt and an array of others.

When the company celebrated its 125-year anniversary in 2004 it not only had a grand history in the annuls of Australian food and beverage machinery, it had worked with some of the biggest consumer brands in Australia and the world. This included the likes of Kraft, McDonald’s, Carlton United Breweries and Arnott’s Biscuits.

Since it celebrated that landmark anniversary 15 years ago, David Boekemann has not rested on the laurels of the company’s history. He has been busy expanded the business, moving away from aspects of the industry that don’t show profit and continuing to build what has been, and continues to be, a sterling reputation within the food and beverage space.

Recently, Krones made the decision to start their own business in Australia and New Zealand which was a logical move for them.

It was however very disappointing for David, especially as J.L.Lennard had been a champion of the brand for over half a century.

It was a very friendly change and not only was David appointed a director of the new company, but Krones Pacific still operate out of J.L.Lennard’s offices in Sydney and Melbourne.

As is often the case in business, as one door closes another one opens. In this instance, David saw an opportunity when he received a call from the receiver of Walls Machinery, which had hit hard times financially.

“We were very interested in this business in particular the agencies of Fuji, Anritsu and Toyo Jidoki which had been very successful for Walls over many years with a huge customer base. After discussions with the three manufacturers and the staff in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, we came to an agreement just before Christmas in 2018 and took over 10 staff and the agencies,” said David.

Some of the bigger projects the company has worked on include rolling out 800 sets of equipment

EQUIPMENT

for McDonald’s Deli Choices brand; supplying the same company with 340 Taylor grills as McDonald’s changed the way it ran its business from pre-prepared fast food to cooking to order; selling 600 Taylor frozen yoghurt machines during the height of the food trend in 2013; being at the heart of the Arnott’s Biscuits’ Queensland Rovema packaging project; and helping Coca-Cola Amatil set up its PET blow fill lines across Australia.

David is proud of the company’s history. In 1970 it had a staff of 24.

Fast forward almost 50 years and those numbers have grown to more than 100, with 55 of them having notched up more than 10 years’ service, while 10 have 25 years’ of service. David is optimistic about the future. He knows there are hurdles ahead, but nothing that cannot be overcome.

“Packaging is under attack from all sides – from environmentalists, the sustainability side of the world, and the politics is interesting,” he said.

“There is a lot of pressure for film manufacturers to make biodegradable and compostable films. That includes the likes of PET bottles. There’s still going to be a big demand for

William Boekemann’s son, Bob, was appointed managing partner in 1953.

packaging, it just needs to be more sustainable. The packaging industry needs to sell their message better.”

And David is not one to wax lyrical about making packaging more sustainable.

Already J.L.Lennard is leading by example with its Pod Pack business, which it started in 2006.

“With our ESE coffee pod business we are about to launch a pod that includes a film which will make it a

fully compostable product,” he said.

He is also a practical man, in the sense that packaging is going nowhere in the near future. It is necessary for so many reasons, but the main one is down to consumers themselves.

They have certain expectations and demands. Sure, these days they are more interested in what a product is packed in, but the reality is it does have to packed in something.

Sound governance and having

good people on board is shown by the fact that the company has lasted for 140 years. David’s son Henry joined the company in 2004, so the next generation is ready to step into the senior management of the firm.

Does he still think there is room in the modern world for medium-sized family businesses when a lot of the multinationals like nothing better than to take over successful businesses and add them to their portfolio?

“These types of businesses are great to work for. I think there’s a lot more loyalty in family-owned businesses than there is in public companies,” he said. “If times are tough, family businesses work hard to retain their people. I think that is very important. People appreciate it and the loyalty is a two way street.

“Family businesses are much more reactive too. We make decisions quickly and don’t necessarily have to wait for board meetings to get things approved.”

David believes the company will be around for the next 140 years as it builds on the resilience that has seen it through many good times since its inception all those years ago. F

Krones’ machinery played an important part in the history of J.L.Lennard. www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 35

TRACEABILITY By working together, companies can have a better chance of supplying reliable information about foodstuffs.

The trusted foundation for global food safety Traceability is intrinsically entwined with food safety. Peter Carter, director of business development and innovation, GS1, explains why traceability systems need to be interoperable and easy to use.

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s the challenges of food safety intensify throughout the world, so does the need for global traceability. Consumers put their trust in the food they eat, and the supply chains that deliver those products. Yet, supply chains are becoming more complex, and with that complexity comes risk.

Digital supply chains Brands are faced with difficulties like managing product recalls and meeting the demands of consumers wanting to know more about the food they buy.

As digitalisation in the supply chain accelerates, alignment between trading partners is essential to

achieve transparency.

There is a renewed sense of urgency for collaboration to create an “ecosystem”, where traceability solutions can easily “talk” to each other and share information between trading partners and consumers.

Senior global food industry influencers, including director at Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Veronique Discours-Buhot, shared their view on the future of traceability and the need for information sharing, “In order to really demonstrate value, traceability systems must be interoperable, easy to use and a real turnkey solution for collaboration,” said Discours-Buhot.

GS1 traceability - a solid foundation

Traceability systems need to be easy to use and a turnkey solution.

36 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

GS1 has developed a technologyneutral framework that uses common identifiers, such as barcodes, to automatically collect and provide access to information across every step of the food supply chain, delivering visibility of products as

they travel from grower to customer.

The information captured by GS1 barcodes, Data Matrix or RFID tags, contains unique global identification numbers.

These form the foundation to enable collaboration between producers, manufacturers, trading partners, consumers and regulators.

It also helps link corporate and customer information in a clear and systematic way. In the future they will also enable the automation of laws and regulations.

GS1 Australia provides organisations with the added advantage of national “building blocks” and making traceability implementation possible in full alignment with other stakeholders in their sectors. These building blocks consist of: • HACCP-certified national recall system • National product catalogue • National locations registry • Consulting and Training network The GFSI and GS1 serve the

TRACEABILITY "In order to really demonstrate value, traceability systems must be interoperable, easy to use and a real turnkey solution for collaboration." same members of the global food supply chain. Both organisations are grounded in a belief in standards and collaboration, working together to shape a better ecosystem of traceability solutions.

GFSI focusses on setting highlevel food safety requirements, while GS1 focuses on how organisations can design and implement traceability solutions. Solutions that meet industry best practices and enable end-to-end interoperability and transparency.

Interoperable traceability Retailers, suppliers, distributors, and consumers are all demanding fast, accurate and complete information that can be seamlessly accessed from anywhere across the supply chain.

Questions from trading partners, consumers and regulatory authorities such as; Where was it grown?

Who was involved in the supply chain? Was it produced following food safety practices? require

accurate and timely responses.

Information to respond to these questions is often spread across different areas and systems in the supply chain. If traceability systems are interoperable, they can easily collaborate and share information, providing greater visibility across the entire supply chain.

Another key factor for interoperable traceability is adaptable solutions.

These solutions should leverage investments based on proven technologies and make use of what is already in place (e.g. logistic labels, barcode scanners) within each company and/or its trading partners.

Big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and smart everything Emerging technologies are bringing new opportunities for managing food safety. Yet technology alone will not provide global traceability.

Those developing blockchain

solutions for supply chain challenges need to understand that, without common identifiers, the latest technology and devices will not be a cure-all. They run the risk of becoming another isolated system unable to integrate with existing systems.

For traceability to thrive, all stakeholders must come together and cooperate. Open, global standards, such as the GS1 Global Traceability Standard, will enable the use of technologies and automation within food production, processing and delivery processes for end-toend traceability.

A foundation for interoperable traceability The GS1 Global Traceability Standard provides a foundation for interoperable traceability systems, making it possible for: • Different traceability systems to use a common language to talk to each other.

• Organisations to access, combine and interpret data from a variety of sources across the end-to-end supply chain.

• Each trading partner to choose the GS1-enabled traceability solution that best meets its specific needs.

Barcodes carry an array of important information.

We all win with traceability When we collaborate, recalls can be faster and more precise, sustainability efforts can be strengthened, and customer trust can be elevated.

All of this is possible with GS1 interoperable and transparent traceability. F

Consumers are demanding that accurate information about their food be available immediately.

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 37

Packaging initiatives designed to reduce food waste Innovation is key to good packaging. At the recent Australian Waste and Recycling Expo, a panel of experts discussed not only how to make packaging better, but offer up practical solutions. Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

Zero waste is achievable, especially if food producers research the type of packaging they use.

38 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

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he scale of food waste globally is epic. It is a huge amount of waste.

It is probably one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. Not only because of the food waste itself, but the resources and the cost of that waste. Not only the food that people don’t use and consume, but all the resources wasted going into producing that food.”

Thus said Sealed Air’s sustainability director Alan Adams.

He was speaking on the Food Waste Stage at the Australian Waste and Recycling Expo in a session titled The Role of Packaging in Minimising Food Waste. Emceed

by FIAL’s manager of food sustainability, Sam Oakden, Adams was joined by the Australian Institute of Packaging’s (AIP) executive director, Nerida Kelton, as well as Mark Barthel, who acts as a special advisor to the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).

Being a plastics packaging specialist, Adams knows that Sealed Air and other companies that use the multi-purpose product are fighting an uphill battle with regard

to public perceptions of packaging.

Not just plastic, but any type of packaging that is not seen as being biodegradable (at a minimum) or compostable. However, as his title suggests, he, along with the other panellists, champion sustainability.

It is no longer in anybody’s interest to have what can best be described as a laissez faire attitude towards packaging.

For some time now, industry bodies such as the AIP have been pushing for designers to produce smarter and more environmentally friendly packaging. And it’s beginning to pay off. But Adams still belts out statistics that show there is still a long way to go.

“Food that is wasted consumes up to 25 per cent of the world’s potable water,” said Adams. “That’s the environmental cost. Alongside that, the decomposing food we don’t eat generates greenhouse gases, another significant environmental challenge.

Then there are the costs including the social cost.

“Every country around the world has some people with food insecurity. It’s criminal that

Food waste expert Mark Barthel. we waste so much food.”

To encourage packaging designers to put their ideas out there, and at the behest of the World Packaging Organisation (WPO), the AIP created the Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design Awards (PIDA).

The awards, which are now in their sixth year, not only reward those designers who think outside the square, but have a more practical purpose – making sure that any ideas that contribute to sustainability and the reduction of food waste become

The AIP’s Nerida Kelton. part of the mainstream.

And it’s not just about extending shelf life – although that certainly adds to a reduction in food waste – but other criteria also need to be considered.

A more recent example is how packaging affects people with disabilities.

“If you look at the Arcadis baseline report this year, we have quite high losses in food waste in hospitals and aged care facilities,” said Kelton.

“Anybody designing packaging

Tonnes of food is wasted, yet tens of thousands of Australians need food assistance. www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 39

in Australia and New Zealand has a responsibility to consider this. What we can do to craft better and intuitive designs that can minimise food waste for people who have difficulty opening a package? It is not only the ageing population that has issues with difficult-to-open packaging; it is also people with disabilities, arthritis sufferers and even children. People can’t grip, open or close the product, which can be a huge issue.”

Having spent quite a bit of time in the UK recently, Barthel had some interesting insights into that market – some of which he wishes he could implement here. He worked in a behavioural interventions lab in the UK whereby they spoke to businesses and consumers about some of the challenges around food waste and came up with interesting ideas on how to reduce it.

“For example, with a standard size loaf of bread, we were finding that, more often than not, the last quarter of the loaf was ending up as waste,” said Barthel. “We worked with a couple of bakery companies

"Food that is wasted consumes up to 25 per cent of the world’s potable water...

That’s the environmental cost. Alongside that, the decomposing food we don’t eat generates greenhouse gases – another significant environmental challenge. Then there is the cost of it. Then there is the social cost. Every country around the world has some people with food insecurity. It’s criminal that we waste so much food." and tested some visual cues. By the time a consumer got to the last part of the loaf, there was message on the packaging that said ‘freeze me, and toast me later’.

“It was mapping into a clear visual clue. It’s normalising behaviour – in this case freezing bread to store it properly so you don’t waste it.

“It is really a neat piece of behavioural intervention. It’s a combination of understanding behavioural science and how you communicate that science to consumers, and the language, and

using visual cues that they will get.”

Adams also came up with an example of the avocado, which made up part of entry in the Save Food Packaging Design Special Award in the PIDAs. One company had packaged avocados in such a way that the shelf life was extended markedly.

“Extending the shelf life of a product should be an obvious thing to do to reduce food waste,” he said.

“It gives us more time to consume the product, more time to buy it, more time to enjoy it.

“What this company did was

effectively make a guacamole product that had a shelf life of 90 days. An unseen win for this, was that when adding more shelf life, they also increased the processing window of the avocado industry.

This enabled the industry to create products they can sell, therefore increasing the amount of harvest it utilised,” Adams said.

A lot of food that is produced, particularly in fresh produce, doesn’t even get off the farm, according to Adams. It doesn’t get sold or a chance to be eaten. Some packaging strategies can enable solutions that can help consumers use a larger slice of harvest.

Kelton also outlined how criteria for the Save Food Packaging Design special awards are evolving, with food waste playing an important part when a product is being considered for an award.

Measures include its resealability, openability, portion control, consumer convenience, extension of shelf life and barrier, recyclability, as well as smart and intelligent packaging and more.

Packaging design has become more important when it comes to product development.

40 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Foodbanks still make up an important part of reducing food waste.

“One of the most discussed criteria at the moment is; how do we meet the 2025 National Packaging targets , offer small portions, and provide consumer convenience?” said Kelton.

“That is where we hope the Save Food Packaging CRC project, led by the AIP, will engage with surveys, research, PhDs etc, as part of a project to better understand how it works and come up with really smart and intuitive design ideas that we can start implementing.”

Another topic covered during the session was that of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), which all three panellists agreed, that while laborious, are important in the designing process. While LCAs are not mandatory, the amount of information that can be garnered from doing one can be invaluable to both the designer and the customer.

“When it comes to LCAs, very few companies that I come across and I work with have a defined sustainable packaging strategy,” said Adams. “And if you don’t know where you are going, LCAs can be a waste of time, or potentially give the wrong result. I think it is incumbent on all of us to figure out what our objective is for the environment.”

“Optimisation, recycled content, functionality, shelf life extension – all of these things are important

when it comes to designing packaging,” said Barthel. “An LCA is a really good way of underpinning that, although in saying that, I would be happy if I never had to do another LCA study in my entire life because they are so detailed. But, they have to be.”

“For the institute, LCAs are really important for all packaging designers and packaging specialists to do,” said Kelton.

“If you are not doing LCAs at the moment, you are going to miss out. How you are going to help customers? Because if you can find what the true impacts are across your value chain, then you can communicate that.

“It’s really important to the tell the customer what you are doing and why you are doing it. If you are extending the shelf life of meat because you are using vacuum

packaging, tell them.”

One thing all three agreed on – and has been a theme being pushed by the AIP especially over the past 12 months – is that processors and manufacturers have to do a better job of selling packaging to consumers.

A lot of the time it is seen as the “bad boy” of the supermarket shelf space, when in fact most companies are doing their utmost to not only reduce the amount of packaging they use, but also trying to extend the life of on-the-shelf products. Barthel put it succinctly when he summed up the packaging versus food waste conundrum.

Barthel has the last word on where food waste stands in the pecking order of having an effect on greenhouse gas production in the UK, but whose numbers can be easily transposed to Australia, too.

“The latest WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Plan) estimates that the total carbon footprint of food and drink consumed in the UK is 130 million tonnes CO2 eq per year,” he said.

“This is approximately equivalent (eq) to a fifth of UK territorial emissions, or two tonnes of CO2 eq per person per year.

“Excluding emissions from wasted items, the average impact of a tonne of food and drink purchased is 3.4 tonnes CO2 eq, rising to 3.8 tonnes of CO2 eq per tonne of food alone.” F

Well-designed food packaging can help reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfill. www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 41

HYGIENE

Putting the best floor forward Meat processing plants can be some of the most challenging environments for floor covering.

Food & Beverage Industry News looks into why it doesn’t have be that way.

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he word “hygiene” is critical in the meat processing industry; mandatory Hazard Analysis and Critical Control point (HACCP) controls were introduced into meat abattoirs in 1996, these requirements are set out in the New South Wales Meat Food Safety Schedule, which the Food Authority and abattoirs jointly manage. Plants are subject to fines, and even plant shut downs for failure to comply with regulations. It is critical that facilities that deal with meat deigned for human consumption not only keep up to these standards but also make sure that everything is in top condition throughout the whole meat processing process.

Meat processing facilities provide some the most challenging and harsh environments for concrete flooring, which are subject to significant thermal recycling.

Key considerations are: 1) cleanable – constant high-pressure washing; 2) c hemical resistance – a range of chemicals and PH variations; 3) high compressive strength – flexibility to handle heavy loadsand abrasion; and 4) h ygienic conditions – cannot contribute to growth of bacteria, mould or mildew.

Challenging issues for plant floors Ambient Conditions The ambient conditions in a meat processing plant are at two ends off the extreme. The “clean” sides of meat processing plants are generally cool during production, while the “dirty” sides are generally warm. Most areas on both sides are constantly wet or immersed in water or water slurries of animal waste, animal blood, fat and other by products. Further processing areas include cooking operations and/or cryogenic processes that can subject flooring to major temperature variations. Cleaning and sanitation operations can also subject the floor to thermal cycling.

Chemical exposure Strong alkaline cleaners are used in most meat processing plants due to their effectiveness on grease, oil and organic matter. Some plants use live steam to clean and degrease, which can subject the floor to thermal shock and spalling of concrete – this can be costly for the processor.

Animal fat, sugar, vegetable oil, animal and vegetable proteins, wheat gluten, and countless other foods and flood additives will attack exposed

Meat processing presents a range of challenges for flooring.

42 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Food additives can attack flooring in processing plants. concrete due to their acidic nature.

These acidic compounds react with the alkaline cement paste, which is a binder for the concrete. This weakens the concrete and makes it more susceptible to damage from impact, abrasion, thermal cycling and further chemical attack. Over time, all these inputs can lead to degradation of the concrete.

Anti-slip requirements Another consideration is that meat processing floors present constant slip hazards for process workers.

They are almost always wet or damp, and combined with animal fats and/or oils, can compromise the safety of the working environment.

Plant personnel must have a secure footing, particularly when working around hazardous equipment and/or heavy moving loads.

The floor topping must provide

the required anti-slip properties in order to prevent slip and fall accidents. Processing floors are also subject to heavy forklift and palletjack traffic. Most damage occurs near isolation joints, construction joints and similar cross-sections of the floor. Heavy traffic will also degrade non-slip performance of a floor system over time due to wearing.

Roxset HACCP Flooring Systems offers a whole range of solutions that can address these issues and has the best coatings to handle all the complex and harsh challenges of dairy and meat processing plants.

The specially formulated resin system offers a fast-cure, moisturetolerant solution with no strong odours or flammability hazards. To top it is all off, these solutions can withstand organic acids and common cleaning and sanitation chemicals. F

CONSUMER

Research shows dairy in need of refreshment Mintel’s Purchase Intelligence shows that a refreshing approach is needed when it comes to yoghurt and milk products. Food & Beverage Industry News explains.

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esearch on consumer purchase intent by Mintel Purchase Intelligence reveals that there is an opportunity for yoghurt and milk to be positioned as “refreshing”, in order to meet the demands of Australian consumers who value the refreshing qualities of these products.

In China, lactobacillus drinks already offer refreshment and health benefits. According to Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD), China accounted for a quarter of the world’s dairy products launched in the three years to June 2019 with “refreshing” in their

Amul Masti Spiced Buttermilk is said to be easy to digest.

descriptions – of which most were lactobacillus drinks. The described refreshing feeling of these products is delivered by their sour taste, which triggers salivation.

In Australia, Mintel Purchase Intelligence research shows that the top four attributes that drive purchase intent of yoghurts among consumers are value; how tasty the product is; the excitement around the purchase; and how refreshing it is. Interestingly, spoonable yoghurt is slightly – yet significantly – perceived as more refreshing than drinking yoghurt, suggesting that refreshment cues are not only linked to texture, but also to flavour.

There are a few examples that meet the criteria of refreshing, which is due to how the yoghurt’s packaging and eye-appeal to the public. For example, there is the transparent pot from Gippsland Dairy’s Luscious Strawberries & Cream Twist Yogurt. The visual swirl in a transparent container means that consumers can see real, fresh-looking fruit.

Then there is the cocktail-inspired flavours of Chobani’s Pineapple Lime Greek Yogurt. The refreshing positioning of this yoghurt is reinforced by its cocktail-inspired flavour, and the packaging design, which is designed to evoke the vibe of an exotic beach holiday.

Purchase Intelligence research also reveals that the top four attributes driving purchase intent of flavoured milk and plantbased drinks for Australians are the same as yoghurt. However, flavoured milk is more likely to be seen as more refreshing than plantbased drinks, likely because milk is more often chilled than shelfstable. For example, Califia Farms Go Coconuts Coconut and Coconut Water Blend is perceived as refreshing by 61 per cent of surveyed Australian consumers reviewing

Luscious Strawberries and Cream meets eye-appeal criteria. launches of plant-based drinks on Mintel Purchase Intelligence.

Meanwhile Coco Mojo’s Berry Refreshing Strawberry Flavoured Coconut Milk Drink with Added Protein contains coconut milk and coconut water and is perceived as refreshing by 59 per cent of surveyed Australian consumers on Mintel Purchase Intelligence.

Mintel research also indicates that the “refreshing” positioning can lead to other positive associations.

For instance, in the UK, as many as three in five carbonated soft drink users associate refreshing drinks with hydration, while half associate them with being cooling.

Then there is the Amul Masti Spiced Buttermilk, from India, which is seen as spicy, cool and refreshing. It is said to be rich in natural minerals and easy to digest.

Another is Arla Organic Free Range Kefir, from the UK, is described as a nourishing fermented milk drink with a mild and refreshing flavour and a touch of fizz.

Mintel’s Intelligence shows that through packaging design, chilled storage and flavours that are perceived to stimulate salivation to deliver an invigorating and cooling sensation, yoghurt and milk can be positioned as refreshing. F

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 43

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INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS

EtherCAT G – ultimate I/O performance for high-performance machines A new take of EtherCAT increases the performance of industrial networks. Beckhoff’s Guido Beckmann and Thomas Rettig explains the features of EtherCAT G. EtherCAT G slaves can be operated on an existing EtherCAT master.

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he EtherCAT G technology extension can superimpose itself on Gigabit Ethernet for data-intensive applications.

It is compatible with EtherCAT, which uses 100 Mbit/s. In addition, the operation of parallel network segments is possible with the branch concept introduced for EtherCAT G. EtherCAT G uses the 1 Gbit/s data transmission rate of standard Ethernet; while the EtherCAT G10 variant, achieves data rates of up to 10 Gbit/s. The increase in data rates compared with the standard 100 Mbit/s EtherCAT increases the possible data throughput.

In conjunction with the new branch concept, EtherCAT G (1 Gbit/s) enables a two- to sevenfold increase in performance in relation to communication times and up to 10 times the bandwidth, depending on the application. A hundred times the bandwidth is even possible with EtherCAT G10.

A fully compatible technology extension With EtherCAT G, the success principle of EtherCAT can be used to leverage the high Ethernet data transmission rates that are technologically available today – without any changes to the EtherCAT protocol itself. The telegram sent by the EtherCAT master continues to pass through all network devices. Every EtherCAT slave reads the output data addressed to it on the fly and places its input data in the forwarded frame, but now with data rates of 1 to 10 Gbit/s. As before, the last device in a segment (or branch) will detect an unused port and send the telegram back to the master. The full-duplex property of the Ethernet physics is utilised for this capability.

All other EtherCAT properties are also retained. Devices with three or four ports (junctions) make flexible topologies possible that can be individually adapted to the respective machine architecture. Optional

46 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Guido Beckmann, technical marketing manager at Beckhoff. machine modules can be plugged in or out by Hot Connect as required.

An internal network diagnostic function helps to minimise machine or plant downtimes and therefore increase availability with familiar efficiency. The integrated distributed clocks concept also remains available and enables synchronisation accuracies of better than 100 ns

Thomas Rettig, Beckhoff’s senior product manager, EtherCAT technology. between devices. Conformity with the Ethernet standard IEEE 802.3 is also guaranteed.

Rollout of EtherCAT G made easy Performance is key to EtherCAT G. Not only the protocol, but also the fundamental mechanisms and the configuration options remain

INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS "Performance is key to EtherCAT G. Not only the protocol, but also the fundamental mechanisms and the configuration options remain the same. Only the function blocks necessary for physical access to the communication cables have been replaced by corresponding Gbit/s variants." the same. Only the function blocks necessary for physical access to the communication cables have been replaced by corresponding Gbit/s variants. The master therefore requires no new software, just one Gbit/s port. The existing cable types can also continue to be used: Cat.5e cables for EtherCAT G or Cat.6 cables for EtherCAT G10.

Consequently, EtherCAT G slaves can be operated on an existing EtherCAT master, provided it has the aforementioned Gbit/s port.

Several special protocol extensions for EtherCAT G are currently being prepared that will allow for even higher-performance use.

However, the extensions required for this on the master side will not be mandatory for the network to be operational.

for this purpose and enable the interconnection of several EtherCAT and EtherCAT G segments. The individual branches are addressed with a single telegram from the master, which will then be processed simultaneously. This makes much shorter signal propagation times possible and therefore shorter communication and cycle times, because the telegram of a segment travels directly from the branch controller back to the master and not through all other connected

segments as well. In most applications, the parallel operation of network segments results in an improved performance increase compared to a slight increase in the transmission bandwidth would render possible.

Application and performance examples For most present-day applications the high performance of standard EtherCAT is fully adequate.

Accordingly, EtherCAT G communication was developed with large-scale applications and many devices in mind, as well as the increasing use of particularly data-intensive devices such as vision cameras, complex motion systems or measurement applications with high sampling rates. Machine vision, condition monitoring or the innovative transport systems XTS

and XPlanar require transmission of several hundred bytes of process data per cycle for each device. In conjunction with short cycle times of less than a millisecond, the high transmission bandwidths provided

by EtherCAT G are called for in this context.

The first practical EtherCAT G application is the XPlanar transport system, which was shown for the first time at the SPS IPC Drives 2018. This planar motor system enables motion control and highly precise positioning of passive freefloating movers with six degrees of freedom. Due to the continuous position feedback required for the unique new system, extremely large data quantities are produced that have to be transmitted within a few microseconds. This would hardly be possible without the high performance of EtherCAT G. F

Branch concept for mixed operation with maximum efficiency EtherCAT and EtherCAT G can be operated within the same network, i.e. EtherCAT G slaves will work in a 100 Mbit/s EtherCAT network and vice versa. However, all EtherCAT G devices will switch back to the 100 Mbit/s mode in such a mixed network. In order to prevent this, the new branch concept makes EtherCAT branches possible, which enable the parallel operation of 100 Mbit/s segments in a 1 or 10 Gbit/s network through appropriate speed implementations. In this way, a branch of an EtherCAT G segment can be implemented on a 100 Mbit/s network, for example, using the new EK1400 EtherCAT G Coupler, therefore allowing the wide range of standard EtherCAT terminals to be used within the EtherCAT G network environment.

The 1 Gbit/s speed of EtherCAT G communication segment is retained.

The EtherCAT G branch concept offers efficiency benefits that minimise propagation times. The CU14xx multi-port branch controllers are designed www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 47

FOOD & BEVERAGE AWARDS

Taking the hassle from scratch: authentic protein cuisine Italian-style meatballs in Napoli sauce made it to the finals of the 2019 Food & Beverage Industry Awards. Food & Beverage Industry News looks at the journey that got it there.

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ountry Cooked Meats specialises in a range of products including sous-vide fully cooked added value proteins.

One such solution is its Italian-style meatballs in Napoli sauce, which was a finalist in the Meat, Poultry and Smallgoods category at the 2019 Food & Beverage Industry Awards.

National sales and marketing manager, Nat Perri, said that the company deliberately targeted this particular meal format because it saw a gap in the market for an Italian dish that uses Australian products and is ready to be used by simply heating.

“As part of our prepared meal format, we look at opportunities that we can develop proteins, or a restaurant meal, that people can eat at home,” he said. “The Italian meatballs was a more obvious one. Most similar products in the marketplace are a raw product that you have to finish off. This is a 100 per cent beef product. If you were doing a traditional meatball, you’d probably use pork in the product, too. However, because we wanted it to be sold across the whole spectrum of consumers, we stuck to beef. The

"When it came to the first test, we found that we were authentic as we could get.

Then we took the product to retailers and chefs – and they did their own sensory tasting of the product. The only feedback they gave us was that if we were making a traditional Napoli sauce you might get away with a few more herbs like basil or similar if you were an Italian." sauce is also made in Australia by a local manufacturer.”

When it was originally developed, it was sold into Costco in 1kg packs. Currently, it is being sold at IGAs and Foodworks supermarkets in 400g version.

How did the company ensure its authenticness and taste?

The company develops a lot of its products with help from chefs, according to Perri, especially when it comes to ethnic-based products. They try and get the flavour profile as close to being as authentic as they can. It helps that a lot of in-house staff at Country Cooked Meats are from an ethnic background, said Perri.

48 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

“Especially when it came to the meatballs,” he said. “There is a number of Italians in the company – including myself and the director who owns the business. The good thing with our New Product Development (NPD) team is that we have a mixture of people and personalities so when we come out with a product, we do separate assessments internally.

“When it came to the first test, we found that we were as authentic as we could get. Then we took the product to retailers and chefs – and they did their own sensory tasting of the product. The only feedback they gave us was that if we were making a traditional Napoli sauce

you might get away with a few more herbs like basil or similar if you were an Italian.’

However, the general response was that while those of Italian background might love the original take on the recipe, it was suggested via feedback that the ingredients be slightly tweaked in order to appeal to the masses.

“We had the same issue with our Japanese-style teriyaki chicken,” said Perri. “We made a traditional version of the chicken. We worked with a Japanese company and made two versions of the teriyaki and took it to them. They gave us the thumbs up on the traditional one, but they felt that the Japanese restaurants they deal with tend to make their own and each have a different spin on the dish. They suggested that we replace the soy sauce from a bitter Japanese style to a sweet version.

That way it would appeal to the mass audience, which we did.”

The main idea behind the range is to have a fully-cooked protein ready to eat after being heated, while the rest of the meal is prepared by the consumer. The manufacturing

FOOD & BEVERAGE AWARDS

process is quite ornate because the company considers it a premium eating experience.

The meatballs are manufactured on site using a nozzle filler that shoots out little balls. The staff gently roll the meatballs with palm of their hand to get make sure they are round.

They are then layer stacked and placed in a freezer to keep them firm and ready for next stage. The meatballs, along with the Napoli sauce, are placed in a tumbler and both are tumbled for a period of time to ensure the flavour of the sauce covers the meatballs.

The combined mixture is packaged in vacuum bags, which are then placed in ovens and cooked sous-vide style for a slow cook of up to three hours. As well as tenderising the meat, this method of cooking ensures the flavour of the Napoli sauce infuses with the protein.

Then there is the packaging, which Perri said has not only been designed to make the finished product the highlight, but also to make sure the consumer could clearly see what they are buying.

“The heating instructions are simple and basic so as to give the consumer confidence that they can prepare the product ready to be served,” said Perri. “The packaging is of a steady E-flute format so as to allow those that stock the product the ability to multi stack in a dairy case cabinet.”

Perri also wants to make it clear that it is a ready to eat type meal and it is not the complete package,

but itis the hero.

“We call our products Centre of Plate,” he said. “The customer heats it up and makes their own meal around it, whether that be a salad, vegetables or whatever they want to create, they become the chef.”

The final aspects that Perri said makes this product a stand out are its longevity on the shelf and that the meatballs – or any of the company’s

other products for that matter – have no antibiotics or preservatives.

“When chilled, the shelf life of the product is about eight weeks,” he said. “The reason it retains its shelf life and tenderness is because it is slow and low cooked for a long time – it is cooked in the bag so it keeps its tenderness. It is pasteurised.

When you try the product the taste profile is very tender because

it retains all its juices. It’s not processed; it’s not pumped with anything – if we say it’s meatball it’s meatballs, if it’s chicken, its chicken.”

Based on the successful roll out of the meatballs product and its other proteins, Country Cooked Meats plans on creating many more dishes that will fall into the same category using a range of different proteins for that restaurant at home experience. F

Country Cooked Meats’ meatballs in Napoli sauce was originally sold in Costco stores. www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 49

MARKETPLACE

Deal activity remains high Corporate activity in the food and beverage industry remained high in September and October 2019 with 11 transactions announced over the two-month period.

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he standout transaction was Mengniu Dairy Company’s $1.5 billion takeover offer for Bellamy’s Organic. The offer was priced at a 59 per cent premium to Bellamy’s trading price before the offer was announced. The offer represents a 30x multiple of Bellamy’s FY19 normalised EBITDA. The offer from China-based Mengniu Dairy Company is subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Perfection Fresh acquired Berry Yummy Marketing, one of Australia’s foremost strawberry marketing businesses. The acquisition increased Perfection Fresh’s market share to 10 per cent of the Australian strawberry market.

Keytone Dairy acquired frozen smoothie brand Super Cubes for $726,000 plus an earnout subject to performance milestones. Omniblend, a subsidiary of Keytone Dairy, is expected to manufacture certain Super Cubes product lines over time.

Bega Cheese acquired a minority stake in online breakfast subscription company, Hummingbird Superfoods.

The investment will complement Bega’s breakfast foods portfolio, which includes Vegemite and peanut butter.

Fonterra sold its 50 per cent stake in DFE Pharma for NZ$633 million to CVC Capital Partners. DFE Pharma is a joint venture with Royal FrieslandCampina. DFE Pharma is a pharmaceutical manufacturer that partners with pharmaceutical firms to develop pulmonary drugs.

Investment fund, Point King Capital, invested $10 million in The Beauty Chef for a significant minority interest. The Beauty Chef is a beauty brand that focusses on cultivating good gut health for healthy skin and sells a range of wholefood and nutrition beauty products.

Rinoldi Pasta, owner of The Byron Bay Cookie Company, acquired the Old Colonial Cookie Co, best known for its Butterfingers range of shortbreads.

Synlait Milk acquired Dairyworks for NZ$112 million.

Dairyworks is a New Zealand-based manufacturer of cheese, butter, milk powder and ice cream. F

Ben van der Westhuizen and David Baveystock are directors of Comet Line Consulting, an advisory business that specialises in acquisitions and divestments within the Australian food and beverage industry. For more information, visit www.cometlineconsulting.com.au.

Date

Target Name

Acquirer

Sector

2 Sept 2019

Tradition Smallgoods

Undisclosed buyer

Smallgoods

3 Sept 2019

Original Juice Co label

Food Revolution Group

Beverages

11 Sept 2019

Hummingbird Superfoods

Bega Cheese

Health and wellness

16 Sept 2019

Bellamy’s Organic

Mengniu Dairy Company

Infant formula

18 Sept 2019

Super Cubes

Keytone Dairy

Health and wellness

18 Sept 2019

Berry Yummy Marketing

Perfection Fresh

Fresh produce

25 Sept 2019

DFE Pharma (50%)

CVC Capital Partners

Manufacturing

1 Oct 2019

The Beauty Chef (minority stake)

Point King Capital

Health and wellness

21 Oct 2019

G&K Fine Foods

Royal Foods

Food distribution

22 Oct 2019

The Old Colonial Cookie Co

Rinoldi Pasta

Baked goods

30 Oct 2019

Dairyworks

Synlait Milk

Dairy

8 June 19

Marley Spoon

Woolworths

Meal kits

13 June 19

180 Nutrition

Bega Cheese

Healthy and Natural

17 June 19

Omniblend

Keytone Dairy

Dairy

Commodity Outlook WHEAT – Wheat prices to average lower due to increased

global production.

COARSE GRAINS – Barley prices to fall due to rising global

production

OILSEEDS – Oilseed prices to fall, reflecting constrained

Chinese demand and high North American stocks.

SUGAR – Sugar prices to remain low due to record

carryover stocks.

BEEF AND VEAL – Australian cattle prices to rise due to

higher global demand for beef and reduced supply of cattle in saleyards.

50 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

SHEEP MEAT – Lamb prices to rise to historical highs due to strong saleyard competition and lower Australian supplies.

DAIRY – Farmgate milk price higher, supported by falling

dollar and competition for milk.

Source: Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (ABARES), Agricultural commodities September quarter, 2019

DAIRY REPORT

Global dairy commodity update T

he slowing of global trade continued in August, especially if some one-off effects that boosted fats and cheese trade are taken into account. Slowing trade comes as milk output in major producers starts to expand, economic conditions and trade disputes get a little worse. The outlook for commodity product values is mixed as fat values seek demand traction and protein values firm with reducing stocks.

slowed, although the EU’s share of available trade remains high.

Skim milk powder

Cheese

SMP prices should steadily trend firmer, despite improving growth in fresh product availability and slower expansion of trade. SMP demand growth in Asian markets has

Cheese prices continue to diverge reflecting different stream return economics in each major producing region. August trade lifted 3.5 per cent year-on-year, which was back to

Whole milk powder

Milk production in New Zealand will be close to prior year levels through the peak of the season but, as always, postpeak weather will be a huge determinant. WMP markets remain finely balanced, highly dependent on sustained Chinese demand, in turn helped by changing milk use and rising local s milk prices.

the average rate of expansion in trade over the prior 10 months. Despite the growth in month, trade in the August quarter was flat against the 2018 comparable after two quieter months. However, this is not a return to stronger underlying activity. Trade between the EU and US was the biggest contributor to growth in the month with the rush to get stock into the US market before the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on EU cheese.

All other markets cancelled each other out in August.

Butter Butterfat prices have steadied as domestic EU demand rallies. The EU balance sheet should improve but demand and supply growth will

be closely aligned. While EU prices have steadied with better domestic demand, export demand remains weak and may not gain traction without further falls – especially for NZ product.

Whey The decline in global trade in whey products in 2019 was 7.1 per cent, mostly the result of weaker shipments into China which imported 27 per cent less, due to the culling of their pig herd to address swine fever and the imposition of punitive tariffs.

Chinese trade was also down 27 per cent in August. F

By Dustin Boughton, procurement, Maxum Foods

The decline in whey products was 7.1 per cent.

www.foodmag.com.au December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 51

NEW PRODUCTS

Anti-static air knife is CE, UL and RoHS certified Exair’s new Gen4 Standard Ion Air Knife eliminates static electricity 30 per cent better at low inlet pressures which saves compressed air and money. Production speeds, product quality and surface cleanliness can improve dramatically. It eliminates static on plastics, webs, sheet stock and other product surfaces where tearing, jamming or hazardous shocks are a problem.

Gen4 products have undergone independent laboratory tests to certify they meet the rigorous safety, health and environmental standards of the US, EU and Canada that are required to attain the CE and UL marks. They are also RoHS compliant. New design features include a metal armoured high voltage cable to protect against abrasion and cuts, integrated ground connection and electromagnetic shielding. A new selectable voltage power supply has been designed to operate Gen4 products.

The Gen4 Standard Ion Air Knife incorporates Exair’s Standard Air Knife, which minimises compressed air use by inducing surrounding airflow at a ratio of 30:1.

The unique amplified airflow carries the ions to the target, making it possible to eliminate static charges in less than half a second. Air volume and velocity are infinitely controllable from a “breeze” to a “blast” to gently wipe or forcefully blow away debris.

Exair’s Gen4 Standard Ion Air Knife product line is available from Compressed Air Australia in 3-inch to 48-inch (76mm to 1219mm) lengths. The electrical ion source is shockless and there is no radioactive element.

Applications include surface cleaning, neutralising plastics, bag opening, printing machinery, packaging operations and elimination of painful static electricity shocks.

Compressed Air Australia 1300 787 688 www.caasafety.com.au

Winmate’s M900P 8-inch rugged tablet Backplane Systems Technology has released Winmate’s M900P – an 8-inch rugged tablet crafted for lightweight mobility. This compact, rugged tablet has been designed for tough industrial operations and environments. It is designed for mobile rugged use and helps fulfil the needs of those that want maximum portability and ease of carry with no compromises to their application use.

This Windows 10-based device comes equipped with an Intel Pentium N4200 Apollo Lake processor and genuine Intel graphics for high processing performance, low power consumption and extended battery life. Its brilliant 1280 x 800 display features a projected capacitive touch screen with optical bonding and allows for outdoor viewability.

Built for operations in harsh industrial environments, the device is MILSTD-810G certified, and its lightweight (900 grams) yet rugged design features a wide operating temperature range (-20 to 60°C), IP65-rated water and dust proof enclosure, and five feet drop tolerance.

Communication options such as GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 and optional 4G LTE enable records to be updated in real time, ensuring the most up-to-date information is always available. With user configurable data capturing options such as built-in barcode or RFID readers, and an optional smart card reader module, the M900P rugged tablet is crafted to suit any user specific requirements in field service, warehousing, or transportation applications.

For a transportation and in-vehicle based solution, the M900P comes with a built-in DB15 interface connector that will enable the device to be connected to Winmate’s Vehicle Gateway, which is able to read vehicle data for more powerful information integration.

52 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

Key features: • Intel Pentium N4200 Apollo Lake processor; • 8-inch 1280 x 800 IPS LED panel with direct optical bonding; • projected capacitive (P-Cap) multitouch; • default D-sub for vehicle gateway connection; • USB 3.0 Type A, USB 3.0 Type C connectors; • 8MP rear camera with autofocus and LED light, 2MP webcam; • optional built-In 1D/2D barcode reader and HF RFID reader for data collection; • IP65 waterproof and dustproof; and • optional MSR and contact EMV card reader.

Backplane Systems (02) 9457 6400 www.backplane.com.au

NEW PRODUCTS

New Bluetooth stick delivers direct benefits The Nordac Access BT will have enhanced IIoT technologies. The product is set to be launched in Australia in the months to come.

Project engineer, Delfio Barbarino, mentioned that this product has received praise globally, and he believes that in Australia it will do equally as well. The Nordac Access BT is a Bluetooth stick used for mobile commissioning and service solutions, applicable to all Nord drives. It offers mobile access to drive data as well as full access control for improved communications and safety.

The Nordac Access BT can be used to save the parameter data without using the app or a PC. Using the BT-stick, users can transfer parameters from one frequency inverter to another. Parameter transfer between a drive and a PC is also possible.

The Nordac Access BT speeds up commissioning, simplifies maintenance and enables faults to be remedied faster. This ensures that down times and costs are reduced.

Features include: • Dashboard-based visualisation for drive monitoring and fault diagnosis.

• Parameterisation with help function and parameter quick access.

• Oscilloscope function for drive analysis individually configurable.

• Backup and recovery function for easy handling of drive parameters.

NORD Drivesystems (03) 9394 0500 www.nord.com/cms/en/home-au

FCI ST80/ST80L mass flow meters ST80 is a high-performance, rugged thermal dispersion technology air/gas flow meter that combines ultra-reliable, feature-rich electronics with the industry's most extensive selection of application-matched flow sensors to provide a truly superior solution for industrial processes and plant applications. The ST80 further combines these features with a robust, rugged transmitter enclosure and industry’s broadest selection of process connections to provide longest service life and ease-of-installation in your installation’s pipe or duct.

The ST80 Series transmitter’s outputs are a match to your DCS, PLC, SCADA, recorder, or alarm system. Whether your output needs are traditional 4-20mA analogue or advanced digital bus communications such as HART, Foundation Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, or Modbus, the ST80 will suffice. Then for local display, the ST80’s graphical, backlit LCD is unmatched in showing what’s happening in the pipe. Flow rate, totalised flow, and temperature are continuously displayed in both a digital and bar graph presentation, while alarms and/or diagnostic messages will display as needed to alert operators.

AMS Instrumentation and Calibration (03) 9107 8225 www.ams-ic.com.au

www.foodmag.com.au | December 2019 | Food&Beverage Industry News 53

NEW PRODUCTS

Multitude of uses for Endo spring balancers A spring balancer as many uses in the food and beverage industry. They can be used to hang or hold products in place. They can hold tools suspended in hollow and work for flexible positioning of the tools.

This means workers can enjoy comfortable operation with less fatigue. They can be used for suspending a tool on a product assembly line; for frequent fastening of screws, bolts and nuts; and suspending a jig, tool or welding gun.

Advantages of the balancers include making the position of the tool stable, which in turn helps makes sure work is accurate. They can help lessen damage of products in a working environment, and pneumatic and/or electric power are not needed.

In order to adjust the spring tension, there are worm-gear, ratchet or handles systems available, depending on the model being used. Clockwise adjustment of the system increases the spring tension, while counter clockwise adjustment decreases it.

There is a large range of sizes available.

KitoPWB 1300 792 262 www.kitopwb.com.au

AI training system with Intel Xeon W family processor ICP Australia is proud to introduce iEi’s GRAND-C422-20D AI training system with Intel Xeon W family processor and PCIe expansion ability.

The GRAND-C422-20D is an AI training system which has maximum expansion ability to add in AI computing accelerator cards for AI model training or inference.

Powered by an advanced 14nm Intel Xeon W processor with an Integrated Intel C422 PCH, and up to 256GB DDR4 ECC RDIMM/LRDIMM RAM, the GRAND-C422-20D storage server delivers good performance for data transmission and applications.

Storage spaces support up to 20 2.5-inch/3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s drives, allowing for SATA hard drives and SSDs. Businesses can create the most cost-effective storage by implementing suitable drives based on their needs.

The AI training system GRAND-C442 is dedicated for these tasks because it offers a wide range of slots for storage expansion, acceleration cards and video capture, Thunderbolt or PoE add-on cards for unlimited data acquisition possibilities.

In order to develop a useful training model, existing and widely used deep learning training frameworks such as Caffe, Tensor-Flow or Apache MXNet are recommended. These facilitate the definition of the apt architecture and algorithms for a distinct AI application.

Key features include: • Intel Xeon W family processor supported; • 6 x PCIe slot, up to four dual-width GPU cards; • water cooling system on CPU; • supports two U.2 SSD; • supports one M.2 SSD M-Key slot (NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4); • support 10GbE network; and • IPMI remote management.

54 Food&Beverage Industry News | December 2019 | www.foodmag.com.au

ICP Electronics Australia (02) 9457 6011 www.icp-australia.com.au

NEW PRODUCTS

We bring colour into view!

Compact pressure sensors and switches with 360° custom-colour status display

256 colours Individually selectable: Measurement in progress Sensor switching Process malfunction

15 cm

Compact design

Hygienic adapter system

Adjustment via smartphone

$ 547 VEGABAR 39 Clamp 1"

www.vega.com/vegabar