Food safety and efficiency drive innovation in food processing

Food and beverage processors have been forced to lay their innovation cards on the table. In an era where brand power, customer loyalty, and, above all, product demand drive markets, businesses have adapted and continued to innovate to meet the changing times.

Bakery embraces innovation, uncertainty

For the Calgary Italian Bakery, a commercial operation since 1962, the need for change and innovation to stay afloat has been a necessary, if harrowing, road for co-owners and brothers Louis and David Bontorin.

Reflecting on the early part of 2020, when much of the world was self-isolating as COVID-19 made its way around the globe, Louis says the timing wasn’t great for implementing innovation at the bakery. Business acumen led to the urge to hold onto cash, but Louis and David had other ideas.

“Even though it was sort of a time of darkness, it’s also a time of rebirth,” David says.

More natural food

Part of the company’s rebirth strategy was a deliberate shift back to producing breads and other products that “mom and dad used to eat,” – foods with the fewest ingredients possible. That line is called Famiglia (Italian for family), a tribute to their parents, and contains no added sugar or fat.

However, the switch involved ripping out old extrusion technology. The equipment produced a consistent product, but it was hard on the dough and ultimately weakened its gluten strength. That meant additives had to be added to the bread to re-leaven it.

The addition of three new pieces of equipment in the summer of 2020 allowed for key changes. The bakery added a de-panner, a complete bread line - including a divider to separate the dough, a rounder to round the dough, an intermediate proofer to let the dough relax and rest, a moulder for shaping the dough, and a loader for their hearth oven.

The new equipment, which is still automated, allows the bakery to double its hourly output while being considerably gentler on the bread dough and removing additives - important for the finished product that customers will see in-store.

“Long-term, it’s a big push for quality,” Louis says, adding the growing consumer demand to get back to basics foods.

As Bontorin looks ahead to the future, he and David are reevaluating all relationships, processes, and their business model to adopt the agility needed to innovate and deliver what customers want while still earning a profit.

“Do you want to be a butterfly or a moth?” he says of the business climate. “I’m hoping to be a butterfly.”

Beef processor makes small but mighty innovations to gain rewards and productivity

Innovation comes in all shapes and forms. In Albany, P.E.I., not far from where the Confederation Bridge connecting the Island to the rest of Canada begins, Atlantic Beef Producers embrace a world of constant improvement. The nimble, ready-to-adapt nature of this majority-producer-owned packing plant is the rule, not the exception.

ABP is Canada’s sixth-largest packer and accounts for 1.5 per cent, or 35,000 head, of all beef produced in the country. It’s a small but important number that the ABP team hangs their hat on.

CEO Russ Mallard says the largest packers have diversified offerings in addition to beef, which enables them to subsidize one area of the business when another may be slower. This is not the reality at ABP.

“We don’t have that, so we’re always looking for ways to become more efficient so that we can close the gap that inevitably is going to exist,” he says.

For the 180 staff at ABP, even the smallest innovation makes a big difference.

Recently, the processor acquired a bone cannon, a boldly named product that created two brand-new revenue streams for ABP. With extreme precision, the cannon extracts more meat from a carcass that would otherwise end up as waste. Previously, meat was sent to Quebec for further processing, but this is no longer the case.

“It’s an expensive proposition,” Mallard says of sending meat out of province. “It’s hard on the environment because we have no choice, but we have to truck these things up daily. Anything we can keep out of that waste stream and get more value back on is good for us.”

The first new stream is meat that can be added to ground beef mixtures for the consumer market. The second, closer extraction is a calcium-enriched product that contains small particles of bone. This has opened a brand new market suitable for the pet food industry.

The cost of the machine is high, but it offers a two-year payback period thanks to the newly opened market opportunities.

“We identified it as being one of the top payback generators for us,” Mallard says. “It’ll generate a substantial amount of additional income for us and help improve our overall return off the carcass, which is important.”

Their second innovation, a box former, has alleviated personnel pressure. Before purchasing a box former, up to five employees would start their workday early, making boxes to keep up with the shift’s demand later in the day. Now, the box former does all the work automatically and creates boxes just-in-time on the production floor. That has freed those employees to do other tasks during the workday.

“For us, a small plant, it’s a major step forward, and we've been able to redeploy those people to more useful activities in the plant,” Mallard explains. “We’re able to put more products through because we can start production a bit sooner, because those boxes are ready earlier. We’re trying to generate more top-line growth.”

Mallard encourages any agrifood processor to be open and learn from others already in the business. He and his Vice President of Operations, Bruce Andrews, often travel to trade shows and other plants for inspiration.

They’ve even become innovative on the human resources side of the business. While many food processors struggle to maintain or attract workers, Mallard and ABP are doing well. The secret appears to be focused outreach, meeting potential workers in their own environment. ABP sends their meat to other countries and conducts test processing days with potential employees to assess their skills firsthand. They also do in-person interviews with potential staff in their home country. This shows ABP’s interest in investing in people and, in return, how potential workers manage the meat processing.

Going after what they want, piece by critical piece, has paid off for ABP. Sitting on their hands is not the answer.

“Don’t live in a bubble,” Mallard says. “Get out of your own environment as often as you can and see what others are doing and see what you can take home to adapt to your facility to make it better.”

Proactive innovation research

Food safety was also top of mind as Gay Lea Foods collaborated with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to develop a chemical-free method for preventing the risk of listeria in food processing environments.

The Canadian dairy co-operative partnered with AAFC’s Research and Development Centre in Guelph to identify and test the effectiveness of a natural antimicrobial that specifically targets Listeria bacteria without harming other beneficial species.

Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most significant food safety risks to humans, and outbreaks of Listeria-associated foodborne illnesses have been linked to fresh and ready-to-eat foods, including dairy, meat, eggs, vegetables, and seafood. Effective sanitation is crucial for controlling Listeria in processing environments, but it often involves the use of chemicals.

Anilda Guri at Gay Lea Foods notes a growing consumer demand for natural products. Developing a chemical-free way to prevent the risk of listeria is in anticipation of meeting that demand.

“We took this opportunity to be the first ones in dairy to support this type of research,” Guri says. “This is not a mitigation situation, but a way to be proactive for the future.”

Bottom line

Remaining agile, anticipating consumer demands, monitoring food safety, and increasing efficiency all play pivotal roles in seeking and implementing innovations in food processing, from bakeries to meat processors and dairy processors.

Article by: Trevor Bacque