Food Manufacturing Africa - latest Issue

THE BURGEONING AFRICAN consumer sector offers attractive opportunities for businesses looking to enter new markets. The key to unlocking these opportunities is sound commercial navigation and strong sector insights. An understanding of the intricacies of the local consumer landscape is also critical. Frutarom, known for its aggressive acquisition trail has identified Africa as a favourable landscape for food and beverage production. The company is aligning its product range and services to the continent’s growing appetite for good products. Turn to page 10 now to see how Frutarom’s range of taste solutions impact the market.

Cooling systems that work

EABL invests in long term growth

Restructure strengthens markets

Saudi Arabia’s increased corn capacity

Firmenich recognised by CDP

Integrate passion and good taste 

FORTIFICATION IN PRODUCTS can contribute 50 per cent and more of daily diet requirements. In Europe, functional dairy products are impacted by health claims regulations. Claims regarding popular functional ingredients like pro-or prebiotics are restricted.

THE SYSTEM PRODUCES coated products, which are considerably healthier than traditionally fried products. Most critical is that it still retains its excellent taste and appetising appearance. JBT’s Dry-Fry System can deliver controlled amounts of oil to products following the coating or breading stage. This enables processors to manufacture or market low fat or lower fat options on a wide range of food. The range can include poultry, fish fillets, vegetables and re-formed products. The system is geared at retaining an appetising appearance coupled to maximum flavour delivery.

IN THIS ARTICLE I’ll focus on advancements in technology, particularly in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) space. ERP will track how the product can be brought through the supply chain, from endto- end; crop to consumer.

MANY ORGANISATIONS lack the insight and visibility to refine operations in a costeffective and proactive way. Asset managers are under severe pressure to keep equipment performing, despite constrained budgets and ageing infrastructure. Advanced enterprise asset management (EAM) solutions offer companies deep visibility into their assets. It allows them to plan and prioritise maintenance activities more effectively. This could curb the tendency to overspend or underspend on maintenance practices.

ACROSS THE GLOBE, there are a variety of different regulations for food processing plants. North America and Europe have strict regulations for safety in these potentially dangerous environments. This also applies to the safety of employees in the processing plants and employers who fail to make adequate safety considerations can face large fines. Authorities can enforce these in the case of accidents, they can also be enforced during regular inspections. In Europe, the Machinery Directive 2006/42/ EC requires machinery to be designed and built so it can be used safely. In food processing plants, there are many dangerous machines for which plant managers should follow safety regulations, or the plants may face closure or high fines. Machines such as decanters operate at high centrifugal forces and it is not unknown for the machine’s g-forces to reach more than 2 000 times gravitational force. This is clearly a dangerous environment for employees to work. As these machines are essential for use, the key concept is risk management.

RECENT SURVEY* indicates that 65 per cent of consumers will purchase a product for the first time when the packaging speaks to them. This shows how the development of the right decorative solution is a decisive factor for achieving maximum brand awareness, resulting in the success of a product. Future oriented companies understand the impact of packaging and are progressively boosting demand for modern high-quality decoration. CCL has been serving the packaging and promotional industry for more than sixty years. The company has the expertise, network and know-how to support companies of the consumer goods industry on a global and local scale.

CHANGING CONSUMER AND market trends represent a challenge for industry as they mean increased amounts of product variants, recipes and brands developed, produced and managed. This makes food and beverage products (typically mass produced) much more complex. It is mandatory to consistently monitor raw materials and product over the entire production process. Managing a huge product variety, smaller batch sizes and maintaining high quality levels requires a major change in the way these items are produced. Both discrete and process workflows can benefit from Digitalisation. Siemens refers to this portfolio as the Digital Enterprise. It is based on a holistic approach that transforms the traditional value chain of a product into an integrated product and production lifecycle – from product design to production planning, engineering, execution and services. Only a fully digitised business model with a consistent digital thread has the power and flexibility to speed up processes and optimise production operations.

MOST POPULAR SPORTS drinks contain high glycaemic carbohydrates like maltodextrin, glucose syrup and sucrose. This mix releases sucrose into the bloodstream at a fast rate, aiming to maximise carbohydrate utilisation. On intake before sports, these drinks can result in large spikes and drops in blood glucose levels. This is not an ideal situation for athletes to start their exercise and the value contribution of fat utilisation in the fuel mix is suppressed during exercise. Low glycaemic carbohydrates, such as Palatinose are exciting alternatives as they deliver a balanced release of energy. Palatinose has been shown to have a sustained effect on normal blood glucose levels, compared to other fully digestible carbohydrates.

WWHILE PLASTIC AND styrofoam are popular packaging materials across South Africa and other African countries, they create a huge problem for waste disposal because they are very difficult to recycle or destroy. The impact is being recognised and acted upon by many governments, industry representatives and manufacturers. Even the ProPak Cape exhibition promoted sustainability as the core focus of its 2017 event.

THIS GOAL IS the centerpiece of the company’s new packaging vision for a world without waste. The Coca-Cola system intends to back it with a multi-year investment that includes ongoing work to make packaging 100 per cent recyclable. This begins with the understanding that food and beverage containers are an important part of people’s modern lives but there is much more to be done to reduce packaging waste globally. ‘The world has a packaging problem and we have a responsibility to help solve it,’ said James Quincey, president and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. ‘Through our World Without Waste vision, we are investing in our planet and our packaging to help make this problem a thing of the past.’

ARMOR AFRICA’S NEW range of branded thermal transfer ribbons is called inkanto. The range became available globally and in South Africa at the beginning of the year. It is the first time since the company’s establishment that it has introduced branded range of thermal transfer ribbons. ‘The rationale is to provide added benefits to our channel partners so they can add value to what they offer their own customers,’ says Armor Africa’s managing director, Andrew Fosbrook.