New dough project to give substantial savings
According to a new project, dough production companies can cut their waste by half through monitoring the processes.
A new project, which Innovation Fund Denmark has invested 6 million DKK in (806,000 Euro), will half the waste and ensure the quality for companies producing dough. This will be possible through monitoring of the ingredients as well as the manufacturing process itself. The food waste in the production of dough-based food products such as pasta and biscuits in Demark, costs a daily amount of up to 250,000 DKK (33,500 euro) in loss of revenue and causes an unnecessary waste of food products. This is due to the natural variations in quality of ingredients which influences the production of the dough only shown in the finished product, which is cause for rejections, states The Danish Technological Institute in a press release. The institute has collaborated with Kelsen Group, Orkla Foods Denmark and Copenhagen University through the past three years to increase the knowledgebase of how ingredients and dough cultures have an influence on the end-product.
Through testing directly on the raw material and the dough during the preparation it should be possible to adjust the dough before the product is finished which then is expected to reduce the waste in the production companies by more than half.
“We have big changes through the seasons in the production with a lot of new workers, therefore it is important for us to have as much professional knowledge as possible made objective and measurable so that our clients experience a homogenous high quality, as well as a simultaneous reduction of waste in the production,” says supply chain manager Tove Kjeldsen from the biscuit producer Kelsen Group.
New knowledge about ingredients
Orkla Foods Denmark, producing and developing pasta with a high substance of vegetables, looks forward to the project:
“We hope to reduce the food waste in our production by half and at the same time gain more knowledge on ingredients normally used in white pasta. It might be vegetable’s fibres playing a significant part in the way it acts with other ingredients. The measurements during the actual production can help us stop an undesired or failing product in the start-up phase of the production and thereby reduce the waste,” says developing manager Jeanette Gottlieb Nielsen from Orkla Foods Denmark.
According to The Danish Technological Institute it is expected that the project’s participants will have halved their waste and reduced the expenses for waste with 130 million kr. (17.5 million euro) five years after the project close out. On a national scale, it is expected that there will be millions to save – as well as a significant reduction of food waste.
Source: Food Supply