Revealed by DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft/German Agricultural Society) the awards recognise those deemed to have the most innovative systems and processes.
Companies picking up gold awards include GEA Food Solutions for its MultiDrum, which can produce ‘homestyle’ or ‘southern-style’ breaded products, such as fried chicken.
Sealpac will also pick up an award for its Easy Lid packaging system, developed together with Naber Plastics. It combines lidding and sealing in one step, therefore doing away with the need for a snap lid, and can be used for meatballs, deli foods and snacks for example.
Another gold award winner is Vemag Maschinenbau, with its AML272 meatball loader, which is a new universal attachment for its vacuum fillers. This new addition to its flexible fresh meat line can be used to make perfectly-shaped meatballs, skinless sausages, croquettes and many other products at high speed, said the firm.
Silver award winners include the Danish Meat Research Institute for its ‘3D deriding of pork loin’, with costs and yield dramatically improved thanks to a new robot developed by the Institute, it said.
The new robot produces a precise 3D picture of each individual loin and calculates where the fat meets the meat. A patented cutting system, consisting of eight knives, then automatically trims the meat, taking approximately four seconds to carry out the trimming.
K+G Wetter has also picked up a silver award for its MW 200 mixer-grinder, which it said saves production time, space and costs compared to having two separate machines.