Powder induction and dispersion system

Ideal for the preparation of cheese starter solutions, the Admix Fastfeed powder induction and dispersion system instantly delivers starter free of lumps and agglomerates. Whether inducting protein powders, stabilizers, gums or starches, all ingredients are rapidly wetted and dispersed, reducing mix times by 50% or more. An inline system, the Fastfeed reduces dusting and air entrainment compared to conventional in-tank mixers. The machine also eliminates burn-on in-plate heat exchangers.

800-466-2369; www.admix.com

Continuous filling of cheese curds into molds

The Formatic filler from Alpma is installed downstream of a coagulator or cheese vats and allows continuous filling of semi-hard and hard cheese curd under whey directly into the cheese mold. It offers the highest degree of product and format flexibility, space savings and consistent cheese weights. Cleaning of the unit is easy; the unit is ideal for any cheeses with ingredients. The simple replacement of the filling plates allows high flexibility — round, square or rectangular cheeses, as well as large cheese blocks, can be filled — and for all of these cheeses the company can also provide micro-perforated press molds.

414-559-5961; www.alpma.com

Plate heat exchanger frame

AGC Heat Transfer’s AR51-H is a twin-spindle unit with a hydraulic open/close mechanism. Along with the company’s Pro series plates, it is designed specifically for the dairy market. It features a compact design for trouble-free opening and closing of the unit. AGC offers both the equipment and experienced designers with industry-specific knowledge, and the company’s heat exchangers enable long run times while maintaining ease of use and affordability.

800-825-8820; www.agcheattransfer.com

Control head for decentralized automation of hygienic process valves

The control head Type 8681 from Burkert is optimized for decentralized automation of hygienic process valves. Its universal adapter can be combined with all normal commercial butterfly valves, ball valves, and single- and double-seated valves. The control head takes over all pneumatic actuation, feedback and diagnostic functions, including field bus communication. The housing is easy to clean and features proven IP protection and chemically resistant materials for use in hygienic processing. A colored status display signals a process valve switching position or indicates a diagnostic function.

704-504-4440; www.burkert-usa.com

Batch mixing processor

The Chester-Jensen 70N cooker-cooler is a batch mixing processor designed to cook, cool and super-blend all within the same vessel. Utilizing dual agitation with a fully insulated steam jacketed cone bottom, this unit is capable of producing completely uniform finished products. Sizes up to 1,000 gallons are available. A 100-gallon unit is available for a one-month free trial.

800-685-3750; www.chester-jensen.com

Repair kits and components

Flowtrend, an ISO 9001-certified company, is a manufacturer of repair kits and components for the sanitary industry. The company develops high-quality fluid-handling equipment and parts, providing guaranteed compatibility and exceptional value. It has a global network of full-service distributors that serve a variety of industries, including dairy, food and many more. The company prides itself on producing products in ISO 9001-certified plants, offering 3A- and FDA-compliant products and its large inventory ready for immediate shipment.

281-990-8582; www.flowtrend.com

Centrifugal shredder and cutting head

FAM and Deville Technologies announced the full USDA acceptance of the next-gen centrifugal shredder, the Centris 400C Hytec, and the accompanying SureShred 16C cutting head. Both are part of the Centris product line consisting of high-capacity shredders that increase efficiency and yield. Both the Centris 400C Hytec and the SureShred 16C are recognized for their ground-breaking sanitary design and superior cutting technology. 

866-404-4545; www.devilletechnologies.com

Pumps for cheese transfer

Fristam’s FDS Twin Screw pumps are ideal for the transfer of mozzarella cheese, processed cheese, cottage cheese and cream cheese, as well as cheese inclusions such as fruit and vegetable chunks or nuts into cream cheese. They also handle entrained-air applications such as whipped cream cheese without becoming air-bound. These pumps are designed to be the easiest to operate and maintain, most reliable, robust and long-lasting twin screw pumps available. Handling products from thin to thick and sensitive to chunky, the pumps are gentle and dependable, handle both production and clean-in-place procedures, are fully hygienic and can be sterilized in place.

800-841-5001; www.fristam.com/fds

Automatic exact-weight-portion cutter for cheese bars

HART Design & Manufacturing’s programmable bar cutter yields precise portions per input. Operators simply select how many portions the bar should be cut into or a desired cut weight using intuitive touchscreen controls. The HD-TXF01 automatically weighs, positions, stabilizes, precisely cuts, checks conformance of, sorts and discharges individual cheese portions. Hard or semi-hard cheese bars
(up to 5 inches by 5 inches by 20 inches) can be cut at rates up to 70 per minute.

920-468-5927; www.hartdesign.com

Custom process cheese line

Koss Industrial’s custom stainless-steel cheesemaking equipment is built to the highest quality standards. This process cheese line features a buggy, dumper, grinder, conveyor, cooker, steam assembly, platform and hopper, each fully designed and fabricated in the company’s state-of-the-art facility. Customer requirements such as product safety, maximum productivity, waste reduction, energy cost reduction and equipment footprint reduction were all taken into account when designing this system.

800-844-6261; www.kossindustrial.com

Spread production all in one machine

Karl Schnell’s Process Automats combine all the necessary technological processes of spread production in one machine, from pre-cutting to filling. Advantages include a high variety of products with different degrees of fineness, including the enclosure of coarse recipe components with the same machine equipment, significant reduction in workload by all-in-one production and optimized loading and unloading, and consistent product quality. The units also enable error-free operation due to the high level of automation, a reduction in energy consumption by the self-contained manufacturing process and optimal cleanability.

920-982-9974; www.karlschnell.com

Metal detector that reduces false rejects

The Mettler Toledo Profile Advantage metal detector delivers the highest levels of detection sensitivity to maximize detection. Through multi-simultaneous frequency technology, it analyzes product signal data captured across a wide spectrum of frequencies simultaneously. This is then processed by the company’s 3S software algorithm in real time, which results in a 30% to 50% higher sensitivity than competing technologies. The company’s Product Signal Suppression technology virtually eliminates the incidence of false triggering by suppressing the active and unwanted product signals, making it a valuable inspection tool for cheese that contains a high degree of moisture, a condition that triggers false rejects in conventional metal detectors.

813-889-9500; www.mt.com/pi

Production and management software system

A new version of the CheeseCrafter Total Production & Management Software is available from Page & Pedersen. The software facilitates the transfer of make sheets to a tablet. Cheesemakers may download make sheets for one or more vats and take the tablet out to the production floor, where they can enter data and notes in real-time, ensuring accurate information is captured for future consideration. When production is complete, data from the tablet can be uploaded to the main CheeseCrafter program on the lab computer for recording and further analysis.

508-435-5966; www.pagepedersen.com

Cheese block formers

The Vemag cheese block former from Reiser produces a wide variety of cheese block shapes and sizes, eliminating waste and increasing yields and profits by repurposing cheese trim, ends, scraps and other off-cuts to produce exact-weight cheese blocks. The USDA dairy-accepted machine features a powerful positive-displacement double-screw pump that provides the highest levels of portioning accuracy. The double-screw pump transports product extremely gently without crushing or smearing, and it extrudes products with a consistent thickness and width.

781-821-1290; www.reiser.com

Cheese milk standardizing analyzer

The ProSpect Model TS-30H In-Line NIR cheese milk standardizing analyzer accurately predicts the levels of protein and fat in a flowing stream of cheese milk. Data are transmitted from the analyzer to the factory PLC, enabling automatic adjustments during production to maintain the desired fat-to-protein ratio and achieve the best possible yield in the cheesemaking process. Engineered to withstand the harsh conditions of production environments, all of the company’s in-line NIR analyzers comply with 3A sanitary standards, can be fully cleaned in place and seamlessly integrate with any existing system.

888-980-1216; prospectanalytical.com

Fines Saver for a wide range of cheeses

With its simple and efficient design, the Fines Saver from Qualtech is easy to operate and enables recovery of cheese fines for a wide range of chesses, including hard, semi-hard and soft. Recovered fines are sent back to the process via a fines pump, increasing yields by as much as 2%. Flow rates are up to 200,000 liters per hour, and the machine features a sanitary design, with 3A approval pending. It can be cleaned in place, with no moving parts, no wear components and no consumables.

888-339-3801; www.qualtech.ca

Heavy-duty block former

The Tru-Block Blockformer from Relco is a high-quality, heavy-duty block former designed to USDA guidelines. With the help of Relco engineers, companies can assemble the right combination of products to maximize any operation. Tru-Block complements other cheese equipment from the range, including Relco’s Horizon II vats, Tru-Finish tables, DMC belts, curd pickup hoppers and curd transport solutions.

320-231-2210; www.relco.net/product-categories/cheese-making

Separator for high spore and bacteria removal

The Bactofuge from Tetra Pak delivers high spore and bacteria removal from milk, and is available in both one-phase and two-phase configurations for the dairy industry. Primary applications include cheese milk pre-treatment, promotion of longer shelf life of pasteurized milk, high-quality cream production, and production of high-quality milk powder. Similar to other AirTight separators from the company, it features highly efficient separation, less energy usage compared to a semi-open design, low water consumption, low product losses due to accurate discharges controlled by operating water module, and a low noise level.

847-955-6000; www.tetrapakusa.com

Twin screw pumps for challenging food processes

SPX Flow introduced the Waukesha Cherry-Burrell brand Universal Twin Screw (UTS) pump for cheese and dairy manufacturing. Using the durable “Waukesha 88” non-galling alloy, the hygienic pump has remarkably tight internal clearances, enabling it to perform reliably with low slip, higher efficiency and reduced discharge pulsation even when inlet pressure is low. It produces minimal noise, reduces pressure fluctuations in the process and has bi-directional flow capability. Combined with its ability to operate over a wide range of speeds for a variety of viscous processes, it is able to handle both process and clean-in-place fluids.

262-728-1900; www.spxflow.com/wcb

Dicing, slicing and portion-cutting machine

The Casan cheese dicer from Treif is the ideal machine for cutting precisely shaped cubes, as well as shredding and shaving cheese. It loads automatically and can process an entire block of cheese without the need for pre-cutting. It features a large high-capacity cutting chamber and is efficiently designed to create less waste.

203-929-9930; www.treifusa.com

High-performing slicer with a small footprint

The Weber Inc. S6 slicer features central loading for gentle and precise product feeding, which allows for shorter reload times and smaller end pieces due to no product pullback for loading purposes. It also enables operators to reduce changeover times due to quick change systems, as well as reduce cleaning downtimes with changeable belt cassettes. Its stack-lowering device provides perfect portions. 

800-505-9591; www.weberslicer.com

Cheese shredder with large cutting zone

The Model CCX-D cheese shredder from Urschel features a 32-inch-diameter cutting zone chamber. This large cutting zone, combined with a powerful 10-horsepower motor, promotes increased capacities and decreases potential product buildup. A new two-piece enclosure allows easy access for complete cleaning and maintenance. This versatile shredder offers an interchangeable quick-locking double ring and single adjustment heads for speedy changeovers of cuts in just minutes.

844-877-2435; www.urschel.com

Metal detector for greater productivity

The Eriez Enhanced Platform (EP) for the Xtreme metal detector drastically improves metal sensitivity by up to 300% while reducing false trips, even in traditionally challenging dairy products such as 40-pound blocks of cheese and large containers of cultured products and specialty milks. The EP processing method examines the full product signal and identifies irregularities. The technique uncovers key features about the product that are not visible using standard boundary techniques. This nontraditional approach uses EP and boundary inspection concurrently to optimize sensitivities.

814-835-6000; www.eriez.com

Primary and secondary packaging systems

Harpak-ULMA offers primary and secondary packaging systems for cheesemaking applications that include cheese sticks, blocks, sliced, stacked, shingled, grated and wedge. The company offers packaging systems that can handle primary packaging needs, from semi-automatic through completely automated systems, including robotics. Its secondary equipment can prepare product for retail-ready displays, create multipacks for bundling of products, and erect and load cartons to get product out the door.

800-813-6644; www.harpak-ulma.com

Glazed curd cheeses production line

The GSL line basic version from Pakma consists of dosing, glazing, cooling, transporting and packing technological equipment. The line enables operators to make classic curd cheeses with a filling, or for unique cheeses, additional GSL equipment is offered. The set comes in different basic modifications of the line, allowing for the production of a wide range of glazed curd cheeses. The line is designed and manufactured for two production range levels, from 8,000 up to 16,000 cheese per hour, and unique GSL line modifications are available for the products.

370-686-63118; www.pakma.lt

Sanitary pressure relief for transferring curd

Pentair Südmo’s EAF+ pressure relief valve provides safety and full cleaning of the pump and process line when transferring curd. The adjustable spring tension allows the valve to be installed so in the event of a process disturbance, the valve will relieve excess pressure, allowing the pump to recirculate. The Intellitop 2.0 can be incorporated to give accurate position detection, confirming when an over-pressure has occurred and also ensuring the bypass path is open during clean-in-place operations, with no manual input required.

800-218-3915; www.foodandbeverage.pentair.com