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Product Development

 

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Implementation of removing trans fatty acids originating from PVHO

6 November 2012 | By Sergey Melnikov, Lead Technologist and Oil Processing and Fat Blends Team Leader and Hans Zevenbergen, Nutrition & Health Europe and Cross-Category Nutrition & Health Director, Unilever

Trans fats (also known as trans fatty acids, or TFA) are formed in the digestive system of ruminants. In the food industry, a similar process called ‘partial hydrogenation’ is used to convert vegetable oils into solid fats for enhanced functionality and shelf life stability. The main sources of TFA in…

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Unravelling chocolate aroma

6 September 2012 | By Angela Ryan and Alison Hemesley, Nestlé Product Technology Centre

It’s been almost 500 years since Aztec Emperor Moctezuma reputedly introduced Hernando Cortéz to his favourite cocoa-based beverage Xocolatl, but our demand for cocoa and more recently chocolate has continued to grow ever since. Today, world cocoa production is estimated to be 3990 million metric tons and the major cocoa…

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Packaged chillers with ammonia as a refrigerant: the natural choice

6 September 2012 | By René van Gerwen, Global Lead Engineer Refrigeration & HVAC, Unilever Engineering Services

Industrial chillers for the supply of chilled water, cold glycol or brine, are frequently used over a long time, and have become even more attractive for several applications to replace direct refrigeration systems. Greenhouse gas footprint and lifecycle costs of ownership of industrial chillers can be significantly reduced by using…

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Innovative freezing technologies for foods

6 September 2012 | By Stephen J. James & Christian James, Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Research Centre, Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education

Freezing is a well-established food preservation process that produces high quality nutritious foods that offer the advantage of a long storage life. However, freezing is not suitable for all foods and freezing does cause physical and chemical changes in many foods that are perceived as reducing the quality of the…

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Hygienic design of pumps: an EHEDG perspective

5 September 2012 | By Maxime Chevalier, EHEDG Member

Historically, maintaining the hygiene of a food process required a complete or partial disassembly and manual cleaning of every component (Cleaning out of Place: COP). The 1950’s saw the development of a method to clean the equipment without dismantling (Cleaning in Place: CIP) with the benefit of better repeatability, reduced…

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Membrane and microchannel emulsification

4 July 2012 | By Dr Henelyta Ribeiro, Global Project Leader, Unilever

The production of emulsions with very low mechanical stress and a lower energy input than conventional mechanical methods have been developed in recent years and will be presented in this overview, the so-called membrane and microchannel emulsification. They are efficient processes due to their operational flexibility, reproducibility, straightforward upscaling and…

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Extrusion of precooked pasta

1 May 2012 | By Mian N. Riaz, Head Extrusion Technology Program, Food Protein R&D Center, Texas A&M University and Brian Plattner, Process Engineering Manager, Wenger Manufacturing Co

Pasta is a common source of carbohydrates in our diet today. Production and consumption of pasta products vary depending on the region of the world and culinary traditions within a society. Italy ranks as the highest consumer of pasta in the world at nearly 26 kilograms per capita, which is…

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Emulsifiers in food

4 January 2012 | By John Coupland, Professor of Food Science, Penn State University

Very often, the most important ingredients in food are those present in the smallest quantities. Flavours, phytochemicals and micronutrients compounds may only be added at parts per million levels but their presence is essential to determining the functional properties of the food. While these molecules differ in both structure and…

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Chocolate aeration – Art or science?

6 September 2011 | By Josélio Vieira, Principal Research Scientist, Nestlé Product Technology Centre and Venkata R. Sundara, Group Leader for Aerated and Filled Confectionery, Nestlé Product Technology Centre

Bubble inclusion into chocolate results in a foam in which the gas is dispersed in the continuous fat phase of mainly cocoa butter, which also contains sugar, cocoa and milk powder particles. Aeration allows chocolate products to have a low weight in relation to volume, thereby reducing the calories in…

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In a nutshell: Mario Becker, Sartorius Group

6 September 2011 | By Mario Becker, VP Marketing and Product Management, PAT & Automation, Sartorius Group

Founded in 1870, the Sartorius Group is an international leading laboratory and process technology provider focused on the biopharma, pharma and food and beverage industries. In their strategy to help customers efficiently implement complex lab and production processes, Process Analytical Technology (PAT) is an essential contribution to process and quality…

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Rheological properties of chocolate

13 May 2011 | By Bettina Wolf, Division of Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham

Chocolate is a multiphase confectionary product which is consumed as a treat or in-between meals to overcome hunger. The popularity of chocolate is almost certainly due to its unique eating characteristics. It melts in the mouth, imparting a sensation of cooling. The surfaces of the oral cavity are coated by…

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Open innovation and technology scouting

13 May 2011 | By Simon Woolford, Jasper Peters & Matt Hogan, Mars

Open innovation has grown as a topic of interest over the last few years – the phrase is broad and ambiguous enough that many people have claimed its importance for doing business in the new millennium, while at the same time drawing very different meanings from the term. Chesborough coined…

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Nestlé confectionery Journey with colours

15 December 2010 | By Steve Tolliday, Principal Product Technologist, Nestlé Product and Technology Centre

Colour in food is important. It is one of the drivers for the consumer in selecting specific foods and when combined with flavour and texture, adds to the overall enjoyment of the consumption of food. Historically, confectionery has been full of bright, exciting colours to ensure its appeal to the…