Innovation consortium - Optimized heating and cooling of meat, shellfish and cheese products

One of the biggest challenges facing the Danish food industry is to retain the current level of domestic production at a time where high wage levels, relatively low increase in productivity and high manufacturing costs are forcing the outsourcing of production, leading to a loss of Danish jobs.



The Danish agriculture and food sector is among the world’s most export-intensive, and in- vestments in new production methods or smarter use of existing equipment are needed to en- sure and improve the Danish position as one of the world’s leading exporters of food. However, without a strong learning basis from production in Denmark this position is in danger of being eroded. Research and development in production technology is crucial for the food industry in order to increase productivity and competitiveness and create jobs in the future.



For over a century the heating and cooling of solid food products have been performed using traditional technologies which have not evolved. The consortium involved in the current proposal aims to exploit the commercial potential of new heating and cooling technologies and identify new industrial approaches involving their usage. Based on a more systematic under- standing of a selection of novel heating and cooling processes, this will increase the possibilities for improving process productivity, energy economics and reduce carbon footprint while also improving product yield, quality, safety and batch uniformity and allowing the development of new product types.



Specifically the aim of the consortium is to optimize time consuming heating and cooling processes in the food manufacturing area concurrently with an improvement in quality and a reduction in environmental load. The work will be based on case studies from three different food areas: cooling of cream cheese from the dairy industry, heating and cooling of logs of sausage and cold cuts from the meat industry and heating and cooling of shrimps and seafood from the fishing industry.



The potential impact of optimizing heating and cooling in Danish food plants is enormous. The different companies in the market manufacture at least 200,000 tonnes of heat treated meat, shellfish and cheese products annually with more than 85 % thereof destined for export.



For companies manufacturing equipment to the food industry the results from the consortium will furthermore show a ’proof of concept’ of innovative, new use of not adapted equipment and of new technologies, capable of optimizing either heating or cooling processes.



The consortium will improve the innovative possibilities of the participating companies in a wide range of business areas, just as development possibilities in non-participating companies will be created based on generic results and knowhow. New products lie within the areas off:



Equipment for improved heating and cooling

Concepts for minimally processed food

Software for temperature profiling of novel manufacturing methods

Probes for online temperature measurement

These innovative concepts will be created on the basis of results from trials in existing, but not adapted, equipment, and in new equipment in close cooperation between the participating food and equipment companies, universities and DMRI – Danish Technological Institute.