A new plant which is using the latest refrigeration technology and a natural refrigerant has been set up by Prosper De Mulder for the processing of raw pet food materials.

A £1.5m contract has been completed by York Refrigeration, which has installed a cooling, chilling, heating, and ventilation system at Welsh Country Foods in Winsford, Cheshire.

Expanded ranges of cryogenic refrigeration and freezer systems are being introduced by German company Linde to strengthen its position in the food industry.

Platvis, a Dutch company specialising in frozen fish products, was seeking to increase its capacity by processing individual retail packs weighing from 250g to 1kg. Following investigations into freezing systems which allow the maintenance of good product quality and keep weight loss to a minimum, technical manager Nico Kwakman specified hybrid tunnel (HT) multi-belt freezing equipment from Starfrost.

A new concept in the supply of portion cutting equipment to processors of meat, fish, and poultry has been introduced by Scanvaegt. 'Pay-per-Cut' is said to incorporate the use of the latest products and is designed to save users from any capital investment.

Nearly three years of trouble-free operation have been achieved by a reciprocating cutter on the nougat production line at Trebor Bassett in Wakefield. Based on a servo actuator from Hoerbiger-Origa, the cutter replaced a system that worked at half the speed.

The Cheese Company, part of Milk Link, the UK's third largest integrated dairy business, has invested in a revolutionary cheese tower supplied by Carlisle Process Systems (CPS).

A new system has been installed by Charkman at its meat processing plant near Gothenburg in Sweden to handle the slicing, portion control, and packing of salami, ham, sausage, and other cooked meats.

Balances designed for weighing applications in food and other industries have been introduced by Avery Weigh-Tronix.

The production of mozzarella, ricotta, and other pizza cheese requires weighing equipment that can handle hot products which create a steamy atmosphere.

Developed for use with vessels, hoppers, and tanks in hazardous food and sterile environments, the Clevermount range of weighing assemblies has been launched by Applied Weighing.

Mettler Toledo Garvens has launched a new checkweigher, aimed at the food industry, which is claimed to optimise production flow and hygiene.

North London-based fresh produce supplier Stubbins is now meeting demand for variable weight products following a factory extension involving the installation of new handling, packing and labelling machinery.

A multihead weigher developed specifically for potatoes and gentle handling of other fruit and vegetables is providing a cost-effective solution for increased packing speeds at Mead Potato Company in Lobinstown, Navan, Co Meath in Ireland.

Berger Wild, based in Passau, Germany, is Europe's largest processor of European game and, among other products, supplies 2.5kg and 5kg bags of cubed deer to the foodservice market.

Two Krohne Optimass Coriolis mass flowmeters are helping to overcome the problem of ensuring that exact amounts of ingredients are added during the manufacture of ginger biscuits.

Already producing 17,500t of bread improver a year, Manchester-based Bakemark has increased its total plant capacity by 60% and can now also handle 10,000t of cake mix.

At the Glenfiddich whisky distillery the 'wash' which is created from fermentation of malted barley is distilled in copper pots that are the same size and shape as the original stills set up in 1886 by the company's founder, William Grant.

Combustion technology in the food industry has remained relatively unchanged for nearly 50 years. This is the view of Dave Walton who has developed new technology which produces a gas-fired, high-velocity flame and is being used in the char-grilling, searing, and bar-marking units made by Double D Food Engineering.

Compared with traditional methods the Microfilm confectionery cooker is claimed by APV Baker to offer greater product variety, better quality, and higher operational efficiency.

Suitable for products that require baking from bottom to top within a temperature range of 190ºC to 270ºC, the Mondial Forni Mondialmatic three/four-deck oven from Eurobake offers 100m²of baking space.

A new oven which uses carbon infra-red heaters has enabled Oscar Mayer to eliminate maintenance problems, improve energy efficiency, and save floor space at its plant at Chard, Somerset.

Chemineer has challenged claims that only a few high shear mixers are capable of reverse flow operation. The company's Greerco product, for example, has been available for decades.

Impulse Compact, a new family of small electromagnetic shakers designed for use in product mixing lines and ingredient feeding processes, has been introduced by Key Technology.

Stand-alone, wheel-out spiral mixers from Eurobake are designed for food processors and bakers seeking short mixing times, intense mixing of various doughs, batters, and mixes, and ease of unloading.

The Turbulizer, from Hosokawa Micron, is said to offer effective layer coating, solids-solids mixing, and the dispersal of liquids on solids for a range of products.

Available with a fixed or removable bowl, the Italian-made Polin spiral mixers for bakery processes are available in this country from Brook Food Processing Equipment. Dough capacity for both types ranges from 30kg to 400kg.

A specially configured agitator has been developed to ensure maximum product movement in all directions.

A stainless steel version of its Carrera 500 PC electronic flow-wrapper has been launched by Hapak. It is designed for use with fresh produce, sandwiches, pizzas, meat, and products which are packed in damp environments or where potentially corrosive cleaning agents are used.

DataLase from Sherwood Technology is a virtual labelling technique that does away with the need for adhesive labels on packaging.

Problems with stapled boxes has caused Drivers Pickle & Vinegar to specify an Endoline 221 case erector to handle boxes on its processing lines.

A printed film outer wrap which can be added to, for example, large tins of biscuits to eliminate the need for specially printed tins, is being used by German manufacturer Bahlsen. The technique, developed by Marden Edwards, is used in its LX series overwrapper equipment which produces an extremely tight wrap without the need to shrink the film after its application.

AEW Delford Systems' TS250 modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) tray sealer has been designed for fresh produce, meat, fish and ready meals.

Retail Ready Line is described by Ishida Europe as a fully automated solution for packing fresh produce, meat, and fish into trays. The system covers the entire weighing and packing process: tray denesting, weighing, filling, check-weighing, tray sealing, metal detection, weigh/price labelling, label inspection, and packing into crates.

Inspection for correct features, regardless of a product's orientation or position in the sensor's field of view, is one of the advantages of using the PresencePlus P4 GEO system from Turck Banner.

Quaker Oats has installed three Safeline 21 X-ray inspection systems at its Southall site to ensure that cereal bars are free from contamination caused by metal, glass, stone, and other dense materials, and to confirm their correct length, width and mass.

The Sentry VF metal detector, introduced by Cintex at the Total Processing and Packaging Show last year, is now in full production, says Carla Whyte, marketing manager. It is claimed to be the first to feature true variable frequency capabilities when compared with previous equipment, which was limited by the restrictions caused by single frequency and 'limited frequency' detectors.

Sealed to IP 67 and capable of withstanding high-pressure hose cleaning conditions, the X-treme metal detector liner from Lock Inspection Systems offers protection against water ingress. Thus, the tendency for false readings caused by damage to the detector head has been eliminated.

To improve product quality and reduce manual handling, Swiss chocolate maker Chocolat Frey has installed a new robotic line, supplied by Sigpack Systems, part of Bosch.

A spiral conveyor, supplied by Spiroflow, has been installed at Thomas Tunnock, Glasgow, as part of a chocolate pre-blending plant.

A new generation of its ServoForm depositors has been launched by APV Baker for the production of hard and soft candies, toffees, gums, jellies, and lollipops.

An 18-year relationship between Bourne Stir Fry, part of the Geest Group, and Allibert Buckhorn has recently seen the latter company's containers being specified for use in the processing of ingredients.

Monica Gimre has been appointed md of Tetra Pak Processing UK. She replaces Paul Wirtz who is moving to be md of the company's Dairy and Beverage Systems Division in Sweden.

Niro Soavi, the Italian supplier of homogenisers for the dairy sector, has set up a UK office at Dinnington in Sheffield headed by Steve Huntington.

Festo's hygienic pneumatic valve terminals and cylinders are widely used in the automation of the dairy process chain handling fresh milk and cheese. For example, Swedish-based FlexLink is using Festo's ADVU compact cylinders as rotary and clamping stopper units on conveyor and distributor systems which link stations in a bottle filling set-up.

Damrow, which is part of the Carlisle Process Systems group, has designed and commissioned a new 18,000-litre enclosed cottage cheese vat at the production facility of Arla Foods in Skovde, Sweden.

A contract to install a range of production facilities at the Dairy Crest specialist product plant in Chard, Somerset, has been awarded to FMA Process Engineering.

Rather than stop production for a major overhaul of existing equipment, Guernsey Dairy invested in a more efficient separator. It specified the Centri H610HGD, from Tetra Pak Processing, for use in the separation, standardisation, and clarification of hot milk.

New technology is available from GEA Filtration which helps to improve cross-flow microfiltration separations that are sensitive to variations in trans-membrane pressure.

Problems coping with aggressive citrus oil have led Alfa Laval to use new polymer support plates for its DSS plate and frame membrane filtration systems. Working in collaboration with one of the world's largest processors of orange juice, the company has developed and improved its DSS M39 ultra-filtration units for use in the pre-treatment of orange concentrate at a plant in South America.

Almatec's latest product development, the Biocor series of pumps for sterile applications within the food and pharmaceutical industries, is available from Chemical Process Solutions.

The need for processors to handle food waste in an efficient and hygienic manner has led Mono Pumps to identify a range of uses for its progressing cavity pumps.

Fluid control equipment, used as part of a new automated dosing system to add minor fluid ingredients to the dough-making process, has been specified by a leading UK bakery.

Upgrading of Spirax Sarco's pilot-operated, pressure-reducing valves has been achieved by the introduction of a variable rate pressure control spring.

Pumping media which contain large solids can create major problems for food processors. However, AxFlow believes that it has overcome such problems with the introduction of the Saniflo VC pump which is capable of moving compressible solids of up to 6in while protecting product integrity. "The pump's flap valve technology can help to move muscle meat products, fruit, and vegetables trouble-free," says product manager Peter Carfrae.

New moves in Europe to tighten control of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) could spell the beginning of the end for today's refrigerant gases. The HFC gases now used in refrigeration and freezing systems, including air-conditioning, account for 2% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, political and environmental pressure is mounting on the food industry to green up its refrigeration, chilling, and freezing processes.