Dairy tech reports: programs offer innovations and applications at Worldwide Food Expo

Robotics for Manufacturing Ice Cream Novelties

Robotics play an increasingly important role in many manufacturing industries, where they can reduce labor and eliminate injuries caused by repetitive motion. The use of robotics in the making of ice cream novelties has, until now, been limited to palletizing and other end of the line and warehouse applications. With OEMs developing robotics that are wash down proof, lighter, and inexpensive enough to provide a solid return on investment, more applications further upstream are making their way into food plants.

Norse Dairy Systems (NDS), Columbus, Ohio, unveiled a new ice cream sandwich system at Worldwide Food Expo that uses Fanuc Robotics components to automate the repetitious task of loading sleeves of sandwich wafers into the equipment, and to automate the packing of finished sandwiches into cartons.

The new system was one of three new equipment solutions at the NDS booth, and Jeff Irwin, engineering mgr. at NDS, made a presentation in the Dairy Tech sessions. Irwin explained that the system automatically opens cases, picks, places and unwraps the sleeves and then disposes of the cellophane wrapper via a vacuum. A second robot is controlled by sensors that communicate that there is a row of sandwiches to be loaded into the box

Kim Gray, an ingredient scientist from Wild Flavors Inc., Erlanger, Ky., introduced an ingredient technology designed to curtail Light Activated Flavor (LAF) in dairy products.

LightShield[TM] is a proprietary ingredient system and Wild Flavors has applied for a patent, in anticipation of introducing it commercially.

While the system does not protect against fat oxidation, by minimizing or eliminating LAF it does reduce out of code material costs/spoilage. Gray said packaging solutions and supply chain protections are currently used to combat the problem, but LightShield will provide an alternative that might offer a cost savings or allow for the use of clear packaging.

She explained the LAF happens when ultraviolet light causes a reaction between riboflavin and oxygen that results in the production of Methionine Sulfoxide which adds a cardboard-like flavor to products.

Wild Flavors says that its LightShield technology Will prevents LAF in most dairy and dairy-based products including milk, milk and juice blends, protein based sport drinks, and even cultured products, cheese and ice cream. It is not approved for use in Grade A milk, however.

Gray presented a case study in which a major brand marketer was hoping to achieve 120 day shelf life for a dairy-based smoothie that had previously had a shelf life of just five days. Using LightShield, the company was able to achieve 60 days. The system is Kosher, and 95/5 organic compliant, and all ingredients are GRAS. Contact: Kimberly Gray, kgray@wildflavors.com

Building a Modern Cheese and Whey Plant

The Southwest Cheese project in Clovis, N.M. has drawn quite a bit of interest from the dairy industry since it was announced in 2003 by project partners Dairy Farmers of America, Glanbia Foods and Select Milk. While the scope of the project, by one measure or another has been known for some time, a Dairy Tech presentation by Tim High, President of Carlisle Process Systems (CPS), really put it into perspective.