Food Manufacturing Africa - latest Issue

THE CONTINENT’S GENERAL economic performance continues to improve, per a report entitled African Economic Outlook released by the African Development Bank. The area’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached an estimated 3.5 per cent in 2018, about the same as in 2017 and up from 2.1 per cent in 2016. Africa’s GDP growth is projected to accelerate to 4.0 per cent this year and 4.1 per cent in 2020. This is still not good enough to generate decent jobs. The 2019 Outlook shows that macroeconomic and employment outcomes are better when the industry leads growth.

Dairy 2019

To facilitate easy navigation at the trade fair, organisers introduced dedicated pavilions to group together relevant products and regions. Some of the key pavilions announced will be country pavilions. Top suppliers and manufacturers from these selected regions will offer a coherent overview of the region’s primary exports. Current country pavilions include China, Korea, Norway and Turkey. The Nigerian Enterprise Zone is another innovation. Specifically designed for SMEs, the pavilion will provide a great opportunity for companies looking to expand or enhance their existing reach in the West African region from the local market. This year’s exhibition includes dynamic features such as Drink Lagos as part of the colocated Nigerian Drink Event. This is a premier pavilion for those that source, buy or serve drinks from sommeliers to bartenders.

A brighter future with vanilla
Strategic partnership announced

Food whether fresh, canned, dry or vacuum packed has a shelf life. The longer it takes to distribute these products to retailers, the less time and probability exists to sell and consume them. There are two important lead times at play. The first is the time from factory to shelf or distribution lead time. The second is from shelf to consumer. This is referred to as consumption lead time. Effective logistics planning must manage the following: • Storage and movement of food to deliver best customer service • Deliver a brand promise in line with consumer expectation. Lead time contains both these elements. Activities must be planned and coordinated to prevent eating up usable shelf life. This is not as easy as it sounds.

Experts estimate approximately two to three per cent of total milk purchased by manufacturing facilities in the dairy industry is lost during processing. The good news is that a significant portion of this water can be saved.

Tomra Food, a manufacturer of sensor-based sorting machines has been selected to partner with Ardo, a supplier to the fresh-frozen vegetable sector. The company installed two Tomra Sentinel II optical sorting machines at its processing plant in Belgium.

DFS Process Solutions supplies, installs and services specialist food processing equipment for the poultry, red meat and fi sh processing industries. To keep up with customer expectations, the company has expanded its offering. Food Manufacturing Africa looks at what is available.

Ipco forms part of the Swedish-based Wallenberg group. The company is one of the largest suppliers of solid and perforated steel belts to the food processing industry.

The consumption of ready-to-eat meals is showing sustained growth. Globally, pre-prepared meals are flying off shelves at an unprecedented rate. This trend is set to continue in the future. We chat to Mikko Brunner of Renlaw on how this development is affecting consumption patterns in convenience food.

Processing equipment to captivate Africa
Angola celebrates its first industrial bread line
Crumb-coated snacks for a perfect crunch

The food and beverage industry has seen a rapid increase in demand for natural ingredients including fl avours and sweeteners. Consumers are becoming nutritionally aware and are seeking out simpler labels and natural solutions.

The company has been a contributing member of PETCO, the PET industry’s recycling body, since its inception in 2004. It actively participates on the PETCO board. In 2018, PETCO and member companies who pay the voluntary levy facilitated the collection and recycling of 103 tonnes of postconsumer PET bottles in South Africa.

Quality inspection of packaging is critical for perishable products. An unreadable barcode or an incorrect expiry date could result in perfectly good products being recalled and discarded. As production lines become more automated, so must inspection and quality control. These systems can improve a line’s effectiveness, by performing tasks quickly and accurately. The real benefits only materialise when smart automation is implemented. When applied to vision inspection systems, defects can be spotted and dealt with swiftly with minimal impact to the line. A smart vision inspection system can make a production line efficient and less wasteful. All production lines face challenges regarding inspection and quality control. Governments want to protect their citizens and are enforcing tighter restrictions on package markings, especially in the food and pharma sector.

The debate about food safety policies is unlikely to end soon. While the obvious objective of setting food standards is for consumer protection, it is interesting the world cannot agree on common regulations.