30% more poultry based foods from one chicken

30% more

poultry-based foods from one chicken

Finnish food tech startup SuperGround has invented a food production technology that is claimed to enable up to 30% more poultry-based foods from one chicken compared to existing methods. This is achieved by harnessing the nutritional benefits of bones in an unnoticeable way.

The food production technology is designed to help the food industry offer commonly known food choices, such as chicken nuggets and meatballs, that are nutritious and reduce the burden on the environment by creating less waste.

According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), by 2050, we will need to produce 60% more food to feed a world population of 9.3 billion. But at the same time, 800 million people globally are undernourished.

“Our food production line technology enables the food industry to instantly produce well-known poultry-based foods more efficiently and sustainably, without major investment or an increase in production costs,” said Tuomas Koskinen, Chairman of the Board of SuperGround and one of the investors in the company.

The SuperGround food production line provides a closed process where zero raw material is lost, reducing food waste.

How to crack the use of bones

For centuries, humans have used bones for dietary purposes, such as bone marrow soups. But previously, it has not been possible to use the nutrition and dietary aspect, such as high calcium content, of bone more broadly in food production.

Producing up to 30% more poultry-based food from one chicken is possible due to SuperGround’s food production line technology. It uses an extrusion method enabling the use of bone in food production in a safe and non-visible way. The extrusion process can also be used for producing many vegan proteins. The company’s first implementation of the technology is with poultry products.

“We evaluated and tested various food raw materials and then quickly settled on chicken. Chicken is among the most environmentally efficient grown terrestrial animals, consuming the least land and water resources. Around 35–40% of chicken net weight is bones after guts and feathers are removed, making it optimal for our process. Let’s take a chicken nugget as an example. The nuggets look and taste the way consumers are used to but are more nutritious due to higher calcium content, and are produced more efficiently with less environmental impact. It is the same nugget, just better in numerous ways,” said Santtu Vekkeli, CEO and Founder of SuperGround and inventor of the solution.

The company has previously gathered seed funding from angel investors for R&D purposes and now the food production line technology is ready.

The SuperGround team demonstrated the technology at IFFA 2022 in Frankfurt, Germany, in May.

Subscription-based condition monitor

The Alfa Laval CM Connect uses digitalisation to drive innovation and growth for users in the hygienic processing industries. The CM Connect is a subscription-based condition monitor and cloud gateway. It enables plant operators to access data of rotating equipment on processing lines from a remote location.

With data on actual runtime, trend analysis and time to next service close at hand, it allows plant operators to make informed maintenance decisions using their personal computers and mobile devices.

With complete visibility of all connected assets, plant operators can detect issues that impact future performance, prevent unplanned downtime and improve asset management.

Acting as a gateway communicating via Bluetooth, the CM Connect can link up to 10 Alfa Laval CM wireless vibration monitors launched last year. It then transmits the data over a 4G cellular network to the cloud for review and analysis on an intuitive, user-friendly dashboard.

Advanced vibration analysis enables detection of any deviation from preset equipment threshold values. Should deviations occur, an SMS or email notifies users who can take action in real time based on data analysis.

It can also act as a sensor, measuring vibration, inboard temperature and total runtime when mounted on Alfa Laval LKH, SRU, SX and DuraCirc pumps, or other rotating machines, such as agitators or mixers.

Alfa Laval Pty Ltd

www.alfalaval.com.au

Conveyor belts

Regal Rexnord Corporation has launched three new products in the Rexnord KleanTop line — the PacTitan Pro Belt, a new series of Active Drive Spiral Belts and the 1600 Plastic Belt Series.

The PacTitan Pro is a robust, food-safe stainless steel metal belt designed to stand up to harsh applications like frying, battering and breading with a design that can extend the life of the belt for longer than average metal belts.

The new series of Active Drive Spiral Cage Belts is designed to be actively driven from the inside edge by the drum via canonical tips, reducing the risk of overdrive. Users can choose from three different belt styles to meet the needs of their application: grid-style, linkstyle and rod-only belts.

The Rexnord 1600 KleanTop Belt Series of food-safe plastic belts are designed for strength and stiffness and can be dropped in as a replacement part for most similar belts without switching out sprockets.

Regal Rexnord Australia

www.regalrexnord.com