Taking place in Chicago this week, FMI Connect and the collocated event United Fresh are tackling a range of topics of concern to food manufacturers, retailers, foodservice professionals, and others along the supply chain. Food safety is a top priority for attendees, no matter what their role; here are some technologies on display at the show tackling traceability, sanitation, and other safety-related issues.
Foaming sanitizers
Birko has reformulated its CL33 and FoamChlor 535 self-foaming, chlorinated alkaline cleaners. The products, designed for a range of processing environments, are especially suited for fresh produce environments, according to the manufacturer.
Elis Owens, senior chemist/microbiologist for Birko, told FoodProductionDaily the company updated the formulations based on feedback from food sanitation leaders.
“We use this information where appropriate to make changes in our products,” he said. “We saw an opportunity to make an improvement in the hard water tolerance and overall performance of these key sanitation products.”
The one-shot formulas contain sodium and potassium hydroxides, sodium hypochlorite and surfactants. They can be used in wall-mount and tank foamers; because users do not need to add components, the products reduce chemical handling and risks for sanitation team members.
Birko, Booth 2158
Label inspection
The Bizerba BVS vision system is designed to be integrated into food package label lines to check for label position, text, foil color, and more. The machine can verify package sizes, barcodes, and other aspects of food packaging.
According to the manufacturer, the system can check packaging from above or below in confined spots, check a range of OCR/OCV text (such as ‘best before’ dates, price, description, etc.), verify logo position and legibility, verify a pack is sealed properly.
Bizerba, Booth 815
Safety consultation
UL works with food processing and safety professionals to craft programs with an emphasis on preventing outbreaks and incidents. It offers auditing and inspection services, based on FDA Food Codes and current Good Manufacturing Practices regulations.
In addition to developing food safety programs, the company can assess prospective suppliers, pinpoint potential business interruption risks, and monitor adherence throughout the food supply chain. Also, the company holds several laboratories with analytical, microbiological, physical, shelf-life, and performance testing capabilities.
UL, Booth 3838
Supply chain tracking
Trace One’s T.Transparency is a collaborative, cloud-based technology connecting all parties along a food supply chain to foster traceability, accountability, and productivity. According to the manufacturer, having all relevant information about a food product, including ingredient information and sourcing data, is important to manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.
“T.Transparency provides visibility into the full supply chain, assuring all parties their products are compliant and minimizing the time to trace defective products,” said Jerome Malavoy, founder and CEO of Trace One. “With the growing number of food safety rules and regulations, retailers, manufacturers and suppliers want to stay connected at all times to protect brand image.”
The system is designed to enable managers to respond quickly to demands for information about products, suppliers, and other factors. Users can connect to the system to share real-time information about raw materials, compliance standards, factory audits, certifications, and more.