cocoa powder taste
A breakthrough in dark cocoa powder taste has been made with the introduction by Cargill of its innovative DB82 10- 12% Gerkens cocoa powder. Until now dark powders provided the much valued intense colour for a range of applications, but with such intensity of colour there can be an off-taste, sometimes associated with bitterness. In addressing this issue, Cargill’s specialised application centre in Baupte, France, has made a breakthrough that has produced a unique dark powder with a round, pleasant and smooth chocolaty flavour. Cocoa powder is used in coatings and spreads, bakery and dairy applications, with Cargill offering the widest range of powders in the industry. Produced at Cargill’s Gerkens cocoa plant near Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, DB82 has a relatively high pH, but tests across a range of applications have shown that this does not have a negative effect on taste, stability or processing parameters.
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Animal protein
Nölke Pure Ingredients focusses natural animal protein concentrates. The company does not offer its customers “ready-made products”, but emphasises service and a high level of flexibility. All items manufactured at the Versmold site can be customised to meet clients’ individual requirements and specifications. The targeted use of different batches of raw materials for example, influences solubility and amino acid composition; the functionality of individual protein factors is defined by regulating the temperature and pH value. Fresh and natural ingredients are exclusively utilised to produce broths, stocks and extracts. Chicken, turkey and beef, as well as game and fish, provide the raw materials for the variety of choice products manufactured by the company. Production at the Versmold site focusses on wet goods; poultry extracts are also offered in powder form. Approximately 50% of the broths and stocks produced are exported, including halal-certified goods, specifically produced for the Muslim market. Animal protein concentrates are an indispensable ingredient of many convenience products. They are used in all types of ready meals such as soups, sauces, stocks, as well as pasta and pan-fried dishes. As chilled foods and frozen meals have been achieving high levels of sales in recent years, Nölke Pure Ingredients is participating in the high growth of this trend segment by focussing on the product area. The potential for ready meals has not been exploited – by far. The company’s cooperation with industrial customers
constantly opens up new application areas for functional proteins.

Heinrich Nölke GmbH & Co. KG
Versmold, Germany

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Astepo HS-LA
In the compact Astepo High Speed Low Acid bag-in-box filler (HS-LA), filling cycles are shortened by the use of electric servo motors controlling the aseptic filling head and bag feeder. Bags and fitment tooling can be changed quickly and easily and the machine can fill a wide range of bags and products using any commercial 1” spout type. Designed to meet market demand for a faster, even more reliable machine, the Alfa Laval Astepo HS-LA linear bag-in-box filler is suitable for high acid (pH <4.5) and low acid products (pH >4.5), such as juices, beverages, concentrated juices, purees, and dairy products like soft ice mix and flavoured UHT milk. Specially developed for the sterile filling of aseptic bags, from 3 to 25 litres (1/2-6 gallons) the filler is fully automatic in operation and gives a continuous filling process with a high level of reliability. Thanks to the implementation of brushless electric servo motor technology in the new filler, all the movements of the aseptic filling and the bag feeder are controlled and adjusted with extreme accuracy and smoothness of motion. This is what gives the machine the capability to fill up to 500 bags per hour, based on 10 litre bags. It also enables changeover of caps and volume to be achieved in minimum time. The bags are delivered pre-irradiated with gamma rays, with a wide variety of commercial caps of the flat rigid type, or dispensing caps, both thermal and non thermal resistant, with high or low fitments. In the Astepo HS-LA filler the parts in contact with the product are in stainless steel AISI 316. The filling valve has EHDGE certification and the machine is FDA compliant (USA). The filling head and all food contact surfaces are sterilized by steam, and the machine is fully C.I.P. cleanable. The caps are sterilized in the sterilizing tunnel with a monitored jet of vaporized hydrogen peroxide before being introduced into the filling head. All moving parts are protected by monitored steam barriers and the aseptic filling head is maintained sterile at a controlled temperature by overpressure of air. Integrated in the machine skid, the air group comprises two sterile micro filters and food grade electric heaters for heating the air that goes into the chamber and the tunnel at a monitored flow and temperature. The Astepo HS-LA filler is managed by a PLC with an operator interface terminal featuring a touch screen. It is equipped with autodiagnostics for product traceability and a fail-safe system for continuous control of the sterile conditions of the plant.
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