When Spanish Esfosa needed to upgrade their chilling facilities they found the necessary design and supervision competencies in Denmark. A solid system design was key, but so was the design of the process itself. 

The importance of the chilling process at the abattoir cannot be overrated. The final meat quality reflects vital steps like the chilling of carcasses. When upgrading the chilling facilities at existing slaughterhouses, the possibilities are determined by existing building design as well as the desired slaughter capacity.

So, designing the right system is crucial – but so is the design of the implementation process itself. There is no easy way to converting and upgrading your slaughter facility without stalling or otherwise impacting negatively on the existing production.

Getting the process right
This was, however, the task given to Danish Meat Research Institute (DMRI) by Spanish pork processor, Esfosa. Detailed specifications for the chilling process, influencing meat quality and chill loss levels positively, was essential for the success of this complicated project.

The scope included complete documentation of all parameters relevant to ensure low chill loss and high meat quality in the chilling process from the new Quick Chill Tunnel to the final chilled carcasses. Further, DMRI provided specification for the chilling areas, including extensive guidelines for correct construction of the insulated structure and, not least, supervised the installation and the final commissioning.

Esfosa now keeps chill loss to a minimum and has increased the production capacity

Minimum loss, maximum capacity
Esfosa now keeps chill loss to a minimum and has increased the production capacity. The successful implementation of a new Quick Chill Tunnel and the assisting cooling area was conducted while ensuring that production could continue undisturbed throughout the project. DMRI also provided support on demand throughout the construction period.

For the pig industry, animal welfare is not just about ethics and humanity, but also about good economy. This is common knowledge and a guideline in the Danish pig production, not least in the pre-slaughter processes in the sector. Now, the approach is increasingly being implemented abroad. 

In the abattoir, a major key is keeping a constant focus on animal welfare while also securing efficiency at the pre-slaughter handling. The two may be conceived as opposites. But with the right efforts, the management and operations of the pre-slaughter line, the two go fruitfully together.

In Mexican pork export association, PROAN, there was a need to address issues with welfare and meat quality. The solutions were provided through the consultancy and guidelines by Danish Meat Researching Institue, the DMRI.

DMRI educate and train slaughterhouse operators and managers around the world in correct animal handling. In Mexico the DMRI Welfare and Quality Check (WQC) was used and implemented as the tool for surveillance, benchmarking and communication of the animal welfare.

Evaluation of animal welfare and meat quality
Animal welfare standards can be measured and calibrated for maximum efficiency. The WQC protocol developed by DMRI evaluates animal welfare using a setup of parameters that combines management related issues with practical arrangements, animal-based measures, and meat quality.

With the WQC app, PROAN slaughterhouse processes now ensures less loss, ability to meet customer demands and continued improvement

The slaughterhouse operators were educated in correct animal handling with focus on improving meat quality. The WQC protocol includes observations and graduation of indicators within all areas of the slaughterhouse from unloading to sticking and meat quality.

Optimal animal welfare can improve your bottom line
Reduction in drip losses, reduction in waste and trim, improved water holding capacity and improved tenderness are a few of the benefits that can be achieved using the principles in the WQC protocol.

In Mexico it has improved animal welfare with significant benefits to the meat quality. With the WQC app, PROAN slaughterhouse processes now includes better control of animal welfare using the technology at different areas of the plant from the beginning to the final result ensuring. This ensures less loss, ability to meet customer demands and continued improvement.

Warmer weather is increasingly affecting agricultural production, leading to challenges in maintaining feed quality and efficiency in dairy systems. During hot periods, feed rations for dairy cows can heat up rapidly on the feeding table, causing yeast and mould growth. This reduces feed intake, leads to nutrient loss and increases waste, ultimately impacting animal health and milk production.

Vilofoss has developed the feed solution FreshFoss to address these challenges by stabilising rations and protecting their nutritional value. FreshFoss consists of acid salts in powder form that are mixed into the feed before distribution. The acids inhibit the growth of yeast and mould, reducing the biological activity that causes heating. As a result, the feed remains palatable for longer, retains more nutrients and can be used more efficiently by the animals.

Preventing feed overheating helps reduce nutrient loss in dairy production

The solution is particularly relevant during periods of high temperatures or for feed mixes that are prepared less frequently, such as those used for young animals. By extending the time before heating occurs, FreshFoss supports better feed utilisation and reduces waste.

Field observations from Bulgaria indicate that dairy cows offered FreshFoss-treated rations consumed more dry matter and that ration temperatures remained significantly lower up to eight hours after mixing. Farmers also reported improved average daily milk yield, highlighting the potential benefits of feed stabilisation for productivity and resource efficiency.

FreshFoss demonstrates how targeted feed innovations can support farmers in maintaining production efficiency while minimising nutrient loss and feed waste.

Constant improvements in the slaughtering processes meets the ever-present concerns of hygiene and quality on the kill line. An alternative to knife cutting is ergonomic and has proven efficiency.

Hygiene and quality control are an ever-present concern in the pork abattoirs. The traditional removal of visible dirt on carcasses by knife cutting is time consuming and risks inconsistent product safety and quality.

Frontmatec, a world leader in customized solutions for automation in the food industry, has developed the Steam Vacuum Handle in cooperation with the Danish Technological Institute. The device is the result of microbiological tests showing that use of the steam suction for removal of visible feces contaminants such as dirt, hair, etc. results in lower aerobe bacterial counts and lower numbers of positive E. coli tests, than achieved by use of knife cutting.

Use of the Steam Vacuum Handle increases product safety, removing all visible feces contamination, dirt, and hair on relatively smooth surfaces of the carcasses, such as the belly

By introducing the steam suction through the whole working process as a supplement to other operations in the kill line, an optimum process, with immediate removable of possible contamination when it occurs, is obtainable.

Steam Vacuum Handle for pork carcasses has a proven efficiency of reduction of aerobe bacterial count, reduction of positive E. coli tests and ergonomic handling with no added time consumption.

The result is a more sustainable handling of contaminants, improving the overall line hygiene and product safety as well as the ergonomic working condition.

Enhancing the welfare in the farrowing pen is a growing concern throughout the world. A comfortable sow yields optimal lactation and increases the survival rate of piglets in the farrowing pen. Danish suppliers are ready to address this with farrowing pens for the future.

In the last two decades, in many countries and production systems, steps have been taken to enhance sow welfare. Securing the welfare during lactation in the farrowing pen may be a challenge in traditional pens and in various countries legislation has already been accepted in the direction of more regulations.

Many farmers experience up to 1,5kg higher weight at nursing piglets

The WELSAFE farrowing pen system from Danish supplier ACO FUNKI addresses this issue, offering better conditions for nursing sows compared to a traditional farrowing pen. Besides Danish farms, the WELSAFE pen is installed on farms abroad at farms looking for enhanced welfare, including China and Korea.

The farrowing pen is for loose nursing sows, where the sow is only confined for a few days. When the piglets are born, they are safe right after birth, while the sow is still confined. After this, they have plenty of space to move around.

The special aisle between the farrowing crate and the piglet nest makes for inspection access between the farrowing crate and the piglet nest with no necessary disturbance to the sow. Likewise, if you need to inspect the sow, it is possible to gather all the piglets in the piglet nest.

The pen offers reduced piglets’ mortality, good space for the milking system for piglets, and better working conditions for personnel.

In general, the WELSAFE farrowing pen is all about making the sow comfortable and increasing the survival rate of the piglets.

Besides the genetic development, there is a growing demand for ways to utilize data. Danish breeding solutions are currently spending a lot of resources on digitalization since many customers are looking at ways to utilize data and other opportunities that digitalization brings with it. New user-friendly tools and solutions are emerging.

In today’s pig production decisions are increasingly based on data insights. It is important to continuously optimize production on a variety of parameters in order to reduce the environmental and climate impact of pig production while increasing profitability. Fundamentally, breeding work is the essential point of departure.

a monitoring tool determines the impact on the environment in pig production

Monitoring and utilising data

In farm herds doing home breeding, the latest breeding progress is achieved by combining the semen received from a supplier combined with the individual selection in the herd. The pig producer is responsible for producing the next generation of young females for replacement in their herds through home breeding.

The home breeding customers’ demand for tools to optimise selection by utilising data has encouraged the genetics supplier Danish Genetics to launch the program Nucleus Management.

With the monitoring tool producers can closely follow their breeding work and act accordingly if necessary. Each breeding animal is indexed weekly for the producer to achieve the most efficient production results for both sow and finisher herds.

Financial and climate benefits

In home breeding too, it makes both financial and environmental sense to have a focus on utilising genetics to its maximum. The Nucleus Management program offers a strong digital and user-friendly solution to increase efficiency, that determines how much impact production has on the environment.

The Nucleus Management is for the ambitious farmers conducting home breeding. The tool is not difficult but requires the individual pig farmer’s full attention and insight to reach the full economic and environmental benefits. The benefits, on the other hand, is an optimised production ensuring less climate footprint per pig.

By keeping your dairy herd healthy and preventing disease, it will reduce CO2 emissions and increase revenue. According to professor Søren Østergaard, research project manager, many farmers underestimate the consequences of disease in their herd, thereby losing the value of preventing ailments such as mastitis and hoof disorders. 

The rising world population inevitably leads to an increasing demand for protein in the food system. Milk and milk products play an important part in the diet for people across countries. Therefore, when dairy farmers are not realizing the full potential of their production, we have a problem. On one hand, the associated carbon dioxide emissions per litre of milk produced increases. On the other hand, the farmer could make bigger profits with the same herd. 

Mastitis, hoof, and metabolism disorders are the three most significant disease complexes—and they are preventable. But in as much as 50% of the cases, the farmer misjudges the advantages of investing in measures to ensure the health of cows before they get sick. This leads to poorer animal welfare, less feed efficiency and milk yield, and ultimately, shorter lifespans of the animals. All factors that can be directly connected to economic losses and higher climate impact. 

Healthy animals live longer, absorb more nutrients from their feed, and give higher milk yields

Tools that quantify disease prevention

In the KlimaKS project, the aim is to develop a surveillance tool—Surveil—to find causes of and preventive measures to diseases. By using herd data combined with veterinarian’s observations and milk samples, the tool will alert of health problems which then can be confirmed with blood samples. 

The farmer can watch the output from Surveil in the KlimaKS Dashboard. The dashboard will make it easy to prioritise and optimise disease prevention. With the dashboard overview of climate impact, economy, and disease occurrence, the days of complex calculations of cost vs. benefit should be over. Farmers can rely on the tools to do the calculating work for them and choose which of the concrete solution plans to implement. 

Healthier cows mean less climate impact

An added benefit to the tools is the effect it will have on carbon dioxide emissions from the whole production chain. Healthy animals live longer, absorb more nutrients from their feed, and give higher milk yields. In combination, it will reduce the emissions per litre of milk produced, and make animal welfare higher, too. 

With increasing consumer demand for sustainable, plant-based and protein-rich food, the Danish food-tech company Aliga Microalgae has succeeded in developing a nutritious white chlorophyll-free and flavour-neutral Chlorella algae as an alternative ingredient with large potential in the future plant-based food markets.

Algae is one of the most nutritional plants that can be consumed and in recent years more and more food and beverage manufacturers have started to explore the usage of algae as a vegan, sustainable, plant-based and protein-rich alternative. Yet, its high content of chlorophyll and strong flavour has so far prevented a wider use of it.

the company developed an algae ingredient with neutral flavour and colour to utilise the full nutritional properties of algae without affecting the sensory of the finished food.

From green outsider to sought-after ingredient

There are only six types of algae that are EFSA approved for human consumption today, Chlorella being one of them. Although Chlorella algae has been consumed in Europe as a dietary supplement since the 1950’s due to its rich nutritional profile, it has not gained attraction within the food ingredient markets because of its green colour and algae off-taste.

Aliga Microalgae is about to change this with its proprietary white Chlorella ingredient. From the beginning of their establishment, the goal was to bring algae from a niche supplement product to a core food ingredient in vegan, plant-based and hybrid food formulations. To do so, the company developed an algae ingredient with neutral flavour and colour whose improved organoleptic properties enables food manufacturers to utilise the full nutritional properties of algae without affecting the sensory of the finished food.

Clean label versatile superfood

Aliga Microalgae’s innovative ingredient is a clean-label superfood that only consists of fermented and dried Chlorella algae which naturally contains vitamins, minerals, fibres and protein amino acids. It can be applied in most plant-based and hybrid recipes, from analogue meat-, fish and seafood formulations to bakery-, savoury- and vegan cheese products as well as protein bars and granola.

The European plant-based market has increased rapidly over recent years and is expected to continue growing even faster pointing forward. Aliga Microalgae is today producing its Chlorella ingredients at its production facilities in Denmark and the Netherlands to meet the growing market demands for its algae-based ingredients.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that every year, about 25 percent of food produced globally is destroyed due to Mycotoxin contamination. This has raised the demand for decontamination of crops to which iGrain offers a solution called TOXI-SCRUB^® Processing Line that increases both food safety and trade revenue amongst its users.

Mycotoxins appear in the food chain resulting from fungal infections of crops before and after harvest. Mycotoxins-producing fungi grow on a variety of crops and numerous food products including cereals, nuts, spices, coffee, cocoa, beans, and lentils. They thrive in warm and humid conditions and can penetrate deep into the seeds. When crops are not dried properly and stored safely, the chances of contamination with fungi and their Mycotoxin metabolites are very high. Exposure to Mycotoxins can occur directly by eating infected food or indirectly through animals that have been fed contaminated feed. Thereby, mycotoxins can pose serious challenges to human and animal health all while presenting significant economic challenges as well for both farmers and the industry.

Using ozonation to ensure high-quality food and feed

To overcome the problems posed by crops contaminated with Mycotoxins, iGrain has developed a processing line that overcomes this exact challenge as well as removing other biological organisms such as bacteria, mites, and insects from crops. The TOXI-SCRUB^® technology uses an ozonation process to reduce Mycotoxin levels safely below the accepted threshold for humans and animals. Ozonation is the process in which a commodity is exposed to Ozone, during which Mycotoxin molecules are oxidised. This method is efficient because it oxidises the double bonds in the “energy-rich” molecules and, in this way, breaks the molecular structure and creates new non-toxic molecules. This technique can be used pre-storage to ensure safe long-term storage or pre-processing to ensure high-quality feed or food. The TOXI-SCRUB^® solution is a green technology that is friendly to humans, animals, and the environment, and it does not leave any residuals in the detoxified crop. Ozonation is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the United States Food and Drug Administration and it can even be used in the supply chain of organic food.

The processing line can be manufactured to process from 2 to 40 tonnes of grain per hour, turning contaminated crops into detoxified crops

Efficient eradication of harmful Mycotoxins

iGrain has developed an application range for TOXI-SCRUB^® covering general grain storage, flour mills, maize flour mills, feed mills, and nut processing. The processing line can be manufactured to process from 2 to 40 tonnes of crops per hour, turning contaminated crops into detoxified crops. With a treatment cost of only USD 3.0-5.0 per tonne, the feasibility is excellent. Also, more than 100 scientific articles have confirmed the efficiency of Ozone in eradicating most of the harmful Mycotoxins significant to the food supply chain for food and feed processing.

In 2023, Scandinavia’s first commercial insect farm will open the doors for their new 24,000 square meter plant. Danish company Sealing-System has been pivotal in designing a one-of-a-kind logistics system for the plant, which is their first time working with live biomaterial.

The worldwide demand for protein is on the rise. Meanwhile the industry still has obstacles with gathering enough feed that meets the requirements of both origin and sustainability. Danish supplier of automated end-of-line solutions Sealing System and ENORM Biofactory has initiated a development cooperation in order to develop an optimal logistics solution in insect production. The insect production will match the requirements and the future need for protein in animal feed.

A complex environment requires complex deliveries

Due to the very complex environment, it is necessary that the processes are fully under control. Sealing System has contributed to develop the logistics system with data tracking of all the incoming data to control of logistics, ventilation and data collection and an ongoing optimization. All based on the development of the pilot plant, which has also upscaled around four times as much as before. The logistics system in such a large-scale project is essential for handling the amounts of biomass that grows explosively in a very short time.

When the 24,000-square-meter insect factory is ready, it will be able to produce 100 tons of Live larvae a day, equivalent to 11,000 tons of insect meal a year

New sustainable business area

The production consists of the species: Black Soldier Fly, that lays 700-1200 eggs at a time, which in a few weeks are turned into larvaes and then converted into protein powder. The larvaes feeds of residual or by-product from agriculture or food productions, which makes it a part of a circular value chain, where all elements from the insect production are used and nothing is wasted.

It is truly a zero-waste product that is both sustainable and energy saving. There are good future prospects for the collaboration between Sealing System and ENORM biofactory. When the 24,000-square-meter insect factory is ready, it will be able to produce 100 tons of larvae a day, equivalent to 11,000 tons of insect meal a year.