Some 2,000 professionals recently attended the 18th Snackex trade fair and conference in Barcelona. The 160 exhibitors at Europe’s largest snack industry event included many machinery and measuring device manufacturers, snack pellet producers and suppliers of raw materials and seasonings, all presenting their latest wares.
By Oliver Numrich
One of the most interesting technical innovations for snack production was on display by Swedish mechanical engineering company Rosenqvists (www.saltroaster.com): The RoastR system roasts snack pellets in large grains of salt using salt’s special heat conductivity properties. Granulated salt is transferred in a mechanical loop through a 2-way process screw and heated by infrared heating elements positioned below the screw. The pellets fed into the system are gently expanded, and steam that arises is dispensed through the exhaust. Afterwards, the product is filtered out. Roasting in salt produces a crispy snack without the need for frying oil. Salt’s exceptional heat conducting properties mean low temperatures can be used, conserving more of the product’s nutrients and proteins. RoastR is also suitable for producing vegetable-based snack pellets. But what about with the salt content? “No worries”, reassured Sales Manager Fredrik Rönnberg, “the salt absorption in the process is only 0.1 to 0.4 percent in relation to the raw pellet, depending on the surface smoothness and the degree of starch gelatinization”.
Another advantage of salt roasting is the elimination of expenses related to disposing of used oil, a problem for which there is now also a new innovative solution: the silicate powder produced by American company Filsorb (www.filsorb.com) purifies cooking oil of free fatty acids, seasoning residues, food dyes or flavourings and other residues so the oil can be reused. The old oil is mixed with the Filsorb powder in a special mixing tank and then filtered. A filter cake forms on the filter fleece which then can easily be disposed of in normal rubbish. Filsorb European Division Manager Stephanie Hoffmann assured: “The filtration reduces the free fatty acids by 70 percent. And afterwards, the filtered oil is virtually virgin”. This saves snack producers the cost of new oil and the expenses associated with disposing of the old oil, all without any fear of sacrificing quality.
The Italian company CDR Foodlab (www.cdrfoodlab.com) presented two differently equipped mobile laboratories to determine the level of free fatty acids in frying oil or the peroxide and anisidine value. Other exhibitors including Moisttech (www.moisttech.com) and Carl Zeiss (www.zeiss.com/spectroscopy) have taken a different approach: instead of the chemical measurement of ingredients their measurement methods use nearinfrared spectroscopy. The advantages of these devices over mini-labs are that measurements conducted permanently and contact-free without the necessity of taking samples by hand. Measurement data such as the proportion of free fatty acids in the frying oil along with the amount of moisture, starch, salt and sugar in the product can be continuously monitored. “Our software makes it possible to include the data in the in-line process monitoring”, explained Ralf Vogt from Carl Zeiss Spectroscopy. The latest feature is integration in the Microsoft cloud, making the measurement results available to operational affiliates around the world in real time.
US company Heat and Control (www.heatandcontrol.com) is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of food industry machinery. The company’s Sales Manager Nathan Bower proudly pointed out its new modular RDR Rotary Dryer Roaster: “The appliance is equipped with rust-free steel per-forated drum walls through which heated air is blown, and it can be used for a wide variety of different products.” For instance, fruits and meats for jerky snacks can be dried, and grains, seeds or nuts can be roasted. The system comes with three individually adjustable temperature zones. An integrated cleaning system makes “cleaning in place” possible.
Heat and Control’s new Masa Maker machine is also an innovation created for accelerating the production of corn paste like that used for products such as tortilla chips. Nathan Bower pointed out: “We have reduced the process from eight hours to eight minutes. This is a genuine revolution in this field”. In addition, the Masa Maker does not require
any water for softening the corn as is the case in traditional corn paste production.
Also from the USA comes the company Urschel (www.urschel.com), which claims the top position as market leader in food cutting and slicing technology. Sergio Gil Alarcón, Sales Manager Spain, presented a number of products including a new cutting head for the company’s CC Slicer machine model. Its 14 blades can be removed, cleaned or replaced without additional tools thanks to quick-release fasteners. Depending on the individual model, cutting thicknesses ranging from 0.76 to 2.1 mm are possible, as well as various flat plate patterns, from V and Z plates through to Flat-V and “wrinkle” plates.
“Our Easy-Pack packaging system is a flagship killer”, stated Arno Wördemann, Sales Director at Wolf Verpackungsmaschinen (www.wolf-pack.de), and not without good reason: the machine, which fills free-flowing bulk goods into pillow bags or flat bags, features great flexibility and is very affordable. Instead of the EUR 100,000 usually required for a system with this range of functions, Easy-Pack shall cost only EUR 55,000, while maintaining the same level of quality. Other Easy-Pack benefits include easy access to all of the machine’s components and pneumatic format fixation without the necessity of having to use screws or keys.
As was the case at the previous Snackex event two years ago in Vienna, the issue of ingredients revolved largely around the inclusion of vegetables in snack production, with the result that numerous pellet vendors are now using ingredients that were not previously found in snacks or only used rarely. The Egyptian company Almounajed offered pellets with vegetables such as fennel or green asparagus added (www.almounajed.com). Spanish company Leng-D’or presented pellets in a variety of shapes with a basis in apples, peas, lentils and pinto beans (www.lengdor.com). And Quality Pellets from Denmark exhibited a selection of pellets which even included algae, seaweed or insects (www.qualitypellets.com).
www.cdrfoodlab.com
www.moisttech.com
www.zeiss.com/spectroscopy
www.heatandcontrol.com
www.urschel.com
www.wolf-pack.de
www.lengdor.com
www.qualitypellets.com
