World population growth has increased the need for new, sustainable protein sources. One source has long been overlooked, the potato. KMC, a Danish ingredient company owned by potato farmers, recognised this potential early on.

Since 1933, KMC has specialised in producing functional ingredients from potato starch for a wide range of food products. For many years, the protein-containing co-product from starch production was mainly sold as feed.

Potato protein maximises the value of the entire potato harvest

After several years of focused product development, KMC has now launched commercial potato protein for food – maximising the utilisation and value of the potato harvest while helping food manufacturers meet rising protein demands. Over time, all potato protein will be directed towards food applications.

The next step is to extract and utilise the plant fibres also present in potatoes. At the end of the process, only the mineral-rich potato juice remains, which KMC returns to the fields to nourish the next crop. This completes a fully circular supply chain, where every part of the potato is used

Ensuring a healthy diet for piglets straight from birth can have a great positive impact on productivity in pig farms. The Danish agricultural production company, Vilofoss, is providing customised feed blends based on highly digestible raw materials.

The global demand for animal products is expected to be scaled up with a growing population. Therefore, action must be taken to increase production while reducing CO2-emission and adhering to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. A part of the solution is ensuring healthy diets for the animals – increasing both welfare and productivity.

A healthy diet leads to a healthy business

Vilofoss is a specialist in vitamins and minerals for piglet feed and an expert in formulating customised premixes for pig production. It is also a company that understands the importance of early feed intake for getting piglets off to the very best start. If piglets increase their feed intake by 100g during the first week after weaning, they will then weigh a full kilo more at the age of 42 days. That is a sign of good health – both for the piglets and for the farmer’s business. The key to success is to keep the digestive tract in balance without using high levels of zinc, which has been subject to an EU ban from mid-2022. Therefore, Vilofoss weaner blends are based on highly digestible raw materials with plenty of flavour and aroma to encourage a healthy appetite.

Weaner blends on highly digestible raw materials encourages a healthy appetite with plenty of flavour and aroma

Customised products ensure better performance

Multiple trials in a Danish commercial piglet unit and independent scientific testing confirm that by using tailored Vilofoss products, it is possible to achieve optimal piglet performance without zinc oxide or increased antibiotic use.

Carefully formulated feed mix is vital to healthy piglet growth from just a few days after birth. Even though vitamins and minerals are only a small part of the mix, they contribute to as much as 80% of a pig farm’s productivity – by stimulating biological processes and helping to build muscle tissue.

In a major collaboration project between University of Copenhagen and the Danish ingredient company Novonesis, the Danish collaborative culture has come up with innovative solutions to fight against pathogens in meat products.

Millions of tonnes of meat, dairy and ready-to-eat food products are thrown away every year due to their high vulnerability to food pathogens and spoilage bacteria. Sometimes the best way to outsmart such contaminants is to recruit beneficial bacteria – through fermentation with a protective effect.

Inspiration from collaborative research

Novonesis has developed a range of protective biosolutions that help keep meat, dairy and other food products safe and fresh for longer while maintaining taste and texture.

More than two decades have passed since research at the University of Copenhagen provided inspiration for the range. A collaborative study by the Danish Technological Institute and the meat industry found that the lactic acid bacteria naturally present in meat products can provide protection against the effect of unwanted flora. Drawing on these findings, Novonesis went on to find those strains of lactic acid bacteria that can effectively protect meat products from contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. This marked the beginning of what is now an extensive portfolio of lactic acid bacteria and other food cultures that both inhibit food spoilage and protect against harmful contaminants.

the cultures provide a series of added benefits – naturally improving colour, flavour and texture development without need of chemical additives

When used in bacon or salami, the cultures provide a series of added benefits – naturally improving colour, flavour and texture development without need of chemical additives.

Biosolutions with multiple benefits

Novonesis has also helped save over one million tonnes of yoghurt by using specific beneficial bacteria that produce lactic acid compounds. This both creates an environment where harmful microorganisms are unable to grow and contributes to the yoghurt’s distinctive taste and texture.

Plus Pack’s vision is to transform the single-use food packaging industry to a more sustainable one by offering food packaging at net zero CO2. The company offers a range of recyclable aluminium containers for the food industry which serve as a stepping-stone towards the development of a more sustainable economy.

Due to the growing demand for fast easy meals and take-away solutions, food service, retail and the restaurant industry have for many years been characterised by a use-and-throw-away culture when it comes to food packaging. This has resulted in a great waste of material and valuable resources. With a rapidly growing population and climate crisis urgency, food producers need to develop and use sustainable packaging solutions that helps reduce climate impact while meeting rising consumer demands for convenience.

Danish company Plus Pack focuses on delivering customised and recyclable packaging solutions to the food industry with zero CO2 emissions. Recyclable products contribute to a sustainable economy in which waste is treated as valuable material.

Aluminium packaging supports a sustainable economy

Plus Packs´ Ready2Cook® containers are made of aluminium – a material that fits perfectly into a circular economy. Aluminium can be recycled again and again without loss of functionality.

The aluminium containers can be used as cooking trays and are for ready-to-cook and ready-to-heat meals, which offers consumers the convenience of ready meals. Ready2Cook® containers are ideal for fresh or frozen food, either fish, meat or vegetables and it goes directly in the oven, microwave oven or on the grill.

Recycling ALUMINIUM saves 96% CO2 and contributes to a sustainable economy

Efficient energy reduction for food businesses

In Spain, a food producer renowned for its advanced production techniques and quality control standards, produces a wide range of fresh fish products. The company has shifted to use Plus Packs’ Ready2Cook® aluminium containers for a new range of whole, fresh fish products for supermarkets among other things to increase the sustainability of their production.

The use of aluminium in food packaging offers several advantages – by recycling rather than extracting new aluminium, you save 96% CO2 and with 75% of all aluminium ever produced still in use it contributes to a circular economy.

Around the world authorities are setting high demands for commercial kitchens in terms of hygiene and the overall cleanliness. At the same time an increased focus on sustainability and adherence to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals within the food industry, is making the development of chemical-free cleaning solutions within commercial kitchens key.

Commercial kitchens such as restaurants and cafes located in urban areas are often demanded to reduce the cooking odour from their ventilation system, while industry regulations set standards to reduce the amounts of harmful chemical residues to better air pollution.

The Danish company JIMCO A/S specialises in natural odour and grease control in commercial kitchens by using patented UV-C & Ozone technology instead of chemicals, thus providing an environmentally friendly cleaning solution.

Eliminating bacteria growth with UV-light

The UV-C & Ozone technology from JIMCO A/S results in a cold incineration of organic matter such as bacteria, fungi and vira from a process called photolytic oxidation – combining photolysis and ozonolysis. Photolysis is a process where the organic molecules (e.g. fat, grease and oil) are broken down by photons, when exposed to UV-C light. Ozonolysis is the process of oxidation of the molecules which is incinerated by means of cold incineration.

Reduces grease and fat in kitchens with up to 85% and odour reduction to the surroundings up to 91%

The result is grease and odour reduction from kitchen extraction and ventilation systems that do not leave any harmful chemical residues. JIMCO A/S´s vision is to increase the implementation of this environmentally friendly solutions and to accelerate the chemical-free cleaning without compromising the result.

Documented results creating new business opportunities

Tested and documented by the European Environmental Technology Verification (ETV), the appliance of solutions by JIMCO A/S can result in grease and fat reduction in kitchens up to 85% and odour reduction to the surroundings up to 91%. This verification has led authorities to allow commercial kitchens to be placed in areas that are sensitive to odour, creating new business opportunities for restaurateurs while also improving hygiene and reducing environmental impact when cleaning.

For fish factories around the world, customer complaints about bones are one of the most common causes of recalls and returned shipments – with massive food waste as a result. 

Still to this day, a significant number of consumers are reluctant to consume fish due to potential fish bones. Novel x-ray technology from the Danish company Innospexion is proving to be a highly effective solution. 

The technology bridges a gap in bone detecting capabilities. Fishbones below 0.3 mm in thickness are not a problem because they are too small to notice. But, as fish processing lines were previously unable to detect bones below 0.7 mm, that left a significant margin for consumer dissatisfaction. 

Innospexion’s specialised x-ray imaging tool has now broken through this barrier – making it possible to detect fish bones right down to 0.1 mm at a speed of up to 300 frames a second. 

Accurate and reliable bone detection for guaranteeing boneless fish products   

The system is designed for automatic bone detection in trimmed fillets from cod, haddock, red fish and other species. In addition, it can locate pin bones in salmon and small bone fragments in cut-offs used for fish blocks. 

Each time a bone is detected, a computer control system sends a signal to a machine which then removes the bones from fish meat.  

In this way, fish processors can ensure their products always deliver a high-quality eating experience and eliminate a wasteful problem. 

Fewer farmers and changing diets has resulted in an increasing demand for technology that can improve agricultural productivity in Japan. Where a lot of time can be saved is by switching from manual feeding of cattle to automatic feeding systems.

Denmark has one of the most productive agricultural sectors in the world and therefore there are good opportunities for Danish technological solutions on the Japanese market. The demand for mechanized, safe and efficient solutions in food production has already provided many opportunities in Japan for the Danish company One2Feed, that produces automatic feeding systems.

Feeding livestock is one of the most time-consuming tasks on cattle farms, and the cost of feeding is high. Normally feeding is done manually or with a tractor, but by optimising the feeding processes, the farm management can become more efficient and less time-consuming.

Simple and efficient feeding system

The Danish company One2Feed has made a simply and efficient automatic feeding mixer and feeding system, which gives the farmer reliability and flexibility. One2Feed is a very robust system, that includes the ability of fully automatic filling and mixing off various feed elements, pushing the feed on the feed table and feeding.

The systems are made in stainless steel, fibre glass and other corrosion resistance materials. The software is managed via a wireless internet connection from a regular computer and the feeding systems gives the farmer great flexibility to ensure the specific feed for milking cows, heifers and calves. The software ensures resilience in the way that it is possible to make different feeding recipes and generate feeding exactly as ordered, 24/7 365 days a year.

In average 130 litres of fuel are saved each day and the farmer now only uses 1 hour a day on the feeding compared to 5 hours before

Time and resources are saved

In Hokkaido, Japan, the fully automated feeding mixer and feeding system from One2Feed has been operating at a large dairy farm with 700 cows since day one. The feed mixer has a weighing system providing high precision and minimal waste of feeding material. This ensures that the cows receive the feed necessary to produce a high level of milk quality and quantity.

By implementing One2Feeds automatic feeding system, significantly less resources can be obtained per day per produced litres of milk. In average 130 litres of fuel are saved each day and the farmer now only uses 1 hour a day on the feeding compared to 5 hours before.

 

Food safety is an ever-growing focus area for both consumers and food producers all over the world. With specialised cleaning systems from KEN HYGIENE SYSTEMS, food producers can save both time, water and energy while ensuring top levels of hygiene.

A Norwegian food group faced a challenge in cleaning their smoked sausage production facilities in Norway. The production site consists of smoking racks with a lot of tricky edges. It was therefore both challenging and time consuming for the company to manually wash and clean the racks to ensure the highest possible hygienic safety.

It can take up to one hour to wash one rack manually. It takes up to 100+ litres of water and also involves an employee standing in a humid, warm environment with safety clothing due to protection from chemicals and aerosols. Furthermore, it is difficult to ensure that the manual cleaning is done uniformly.

Customised automated cleaning

The Danish company KEN HYGIENE SYSTEMS specialises in automated cleaning solutions and with their KEN Equipment Washers (EW) they have helped to heighten the hygiene level at the production facilities at many food production facilities throughout the world.

With a background in the health sector, pharmaceuticals and life science industries, KEN HYGIENE SYSTEMS offer a wide range of other high-level cleaning solutions to food industries, which have the most rigid hygiene requirements.

After the implementation it takes 5-8 minutes and approx. 30 litres are used

The KEN Equipment Washers are standard machines, but can be made with customised equipment, which made it possible to meet the customer’s need of washing 15 racks per hour. During the final rinse with clean water it is possible to rinse with water temperatures above 85 degrees Celsius insuring high hygiene and if needed, the wash frame can be programmed to wash intensively in critical areas.

Saving energy and environmentally friendly

The washing process with the KEN Equipment Washers is designed to be energy efficient, environmentally friendly and gentle. Before the implementation of KEN HYGIENE SYSTEMS, 100+ litres of water were used, and it took up to one hour to was it manually. After the implementation it only takes 5-8 minutes and approx. 30 litres of water are used.

The system is completely sealed when washing, which ensures that the heat is constant and thus results in reducing energy consumption and ensuring a safe working environment without the spread of chemicals on the production site.

The Danish company, DLF, has launched a line of new forage grasses that will considerably increase yield per cow due to its digestibility and decrease the environmental footprint of livestock production.

One of the largest challenges in the food industry is the emission of greenhouse gasses and stakeholders in the industry are working eagerly to reduce the industry’s environmental footprint. Especially in the meat- and dairy production solutions are needed to increase the productivity while reducing methane emissions. One key to this is having the correct, climate friendly feed solutions in livestock production.

Higher yield and lower emissions with robust forage grasses

The Danish company, DLF, is a global leader in plant breeding, grasses and feed solutions. They have succeeded in developing high-performance, robust forage grasses with a significantly better digestibility of the plants’ fibres which can deliver a high feed yield in the form of biomass and protein in the grassland for several years.

Using forage grasses with high digestibility for the pasture, milk production has increased by 0.25 litres per day

Using forage grasses with high digestibility for the pasture, milk production has increased by 0.25 litres per day per cow for each percent higher fibre digestibility in the grass. DLF’s plant breeders have increased fibre digestibility in grass, so the new top varieties have up to 8% higher fibre digestibility than standard varieties. This gives the cow a higher energy intake in grass and results in a higher milk yield per day, which provides a more sustainable production in terms of earnings and climate. At the same time, methane emissions are reduced per capita produced unit of meat or milk.

Genetics and animal health as a decisive factor

At the animal level, the climate impact is affected by the digestibility, quality and composition of the feed. Improved genetics and animal health also contribute to a more efficient conversion of feed into animal products, reducing the emission intensity at animal level. As a result, the same amount of milk or meat can be produced with fewer cows.

One of the many causes to the staggering amounts of food lost and wasted globally is flawed packaging. When a fault catches the consumer’s eye, food products are often rejected – right at the end of their value chain. The top 5 packaging failures are migration/leaching, contamination, adhesion/sealing, material defects and labelling failures.

TriVision in Denmark is solving the problem with vision technology. Every year, the technology saves 10,000 tons of food waste across more than 25 countries by detecting packaging defects such as leaching, contamination, faulty seals, material defects and incorrect labelling.

A combination of cameras and advanced software identifies errors on the line at an early stage. The vision technology shows flaws in food products, packaging or labels are immediately detected and production can be adjusted. The result is significantly less food waste, not least because product recalls are avoided. Manufacturers can then resolve the problem before expensive damage occurs. At the same time, the technology collects data, allowing food companies to optimise production and make it much more sustainable.

Every year the vision technology saves 10.000 tons of food waste across more than 25 countries

Fewer stops with vision technology

One of the companies that uses TriVision’s vision technology is Arla Foods. The objective is to ensure flaws in butter packaging, for example, do not hamper the quality of the butter inside. After implementing the technology, Arla has experienced fewer and shorter quality-related production stops. Customer complaints have fallen at the same time.

Immediate detection of product, packaging and labelling faults results in reduced processing waste and fewer product recalls. At the same time, the technology collects key performance data, which food companies can use to optimise their production and the sustainability of their business.