Process Expo 2017, billed as the largest trade fair in North America dedicated exclusively to the international food and beverage industry, kicks off at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois, on September 19 for a four-day run. Held every two years, the latest edition is expected to attract over 20,000 visitors who will make the most of an opportunity to check out a wide variety of food and drink production equipment and services offered by more than 800 exhibiting companies.
Sponsored by the McLean, Virginia, USA-headquartered Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA), a global trade association that represents suppliers to the food and drink sector, the show also features numerous educational events and conferences. Among those of particular interest to the frozen food sector are sessions entitled “What is the Most Energy Efficient Way to Freeze Your Product,” scheduled for 11:45 AM to 12:25 PM on September 20 at booth 3816, and “Best Practices in Freezing,” slated for 11:50 AM to 12:20 PM on September 21 at booth 381.
A significant number of frozen food companies are sending buyers and other delegates to the exhibition, including Amy’s Kitchen, Bellisio Foods, Conagra Brands, High Liner Foods, Kellogg Company, McCain Foods, Nestlé USA, Pictsweet Company, Pinnacle Foods, Rich Products Corp., Ruiz Food Products, Schwan Company and Windsor Foods.
They will have plenty to see on the show floor, which will be loaded with equipment displays and systems ranging from blanchers and ovens to freezers, check weighers, conveyors, dicers, spray systems, tumblers, vibrators and much more.
Grote will showcase the latest in its pizza and sandwich assembly technology at booth 1517. The spotlight will be on complete pizza topping and sandwich lines, including pepperoni slicers and border-free topping and sauce depositors, bread cutters, slicer/applicators, and sandwich conveyor CIP/belt washing systems.
The Columbus, Ohio-headquartered company’s pizza topping applicators evenly apply cheese, dry ingredients and individually quick frozen (IQF) meat and vegetable toppings onto pizza lines accurately and efficiently.
Also at the stand, Grote’s versatile 613-VS2 Multi-Slicer, designed for food processors and foodservice providers, will be demonstrated with real product. It is able to slice, stack and shingle portions at up to 90 strokes per minute, per lane.
The new Affinity Integra Dicer from Urschel Laboratories will be among highlighted equipment for show-goers to see at stand 1017.
The smaller version of the original Affinity Dicer excels at processing cold temperature products as well as cheese, soft meats, meats with high-fat content, sticky bakery ingredients and brined pickles. In addition to mastering challenging throughputs, the equipment’s clean-cutting action achieves high yields of precise, targeted cut sizes well within customers’ parameters.
This new dicer incorporates design elements from the longstanding Model RA series, the Affinity and the Sprint, with the ability to replace existing in-line Model RA series machines. Compared to the standard Model RA-HD, this machine accepts larger infeed product sizes combined with a larger impeller case that is capable of increasing yield by up to 20%. When compared the standard RA-A, it could deliver as much as a 50% greater yield.
As increases vary per product, free-of-charge test cuttings are encouraged to quantify achieved capacities. Visitors to the Urschel stand will be able to avail themselves to more information, and to view a video showing several different products being cut on this new machine.
Unitherm Food Systems will spotlight its Real Charcoal Belt Grill at booth 2243. With capacities of 1,500 to 10,000 pounds per hour, it is especially designed for meat, poultry and seafood processors who are already grilling in some form, or who are looking to broaden their product range to acquire new customers.
Unitherm’s Flame Grill is promoted as the “best option for bar marking or searing on the market.” There are various versions available to fit a wide variety of applications from flame roasting red peppers, tomatillos, jalapenos, or tomatoes; searing chicken breast, steak, meatballs, or chicken wings; bar marking zucchini, eggplant, peppers, bread, or proteins; or flame peeling onions.
Engineers from Advanced Food Equipment will hold forth at stand 2862 to talk about custom designed and built IQF Tunnel Freezers that can be welded and raised off the floor on stainless steel legs to eliminate the need for a heated or insulated flooring system. The company’s “Hybrid” design reportedly has field-proven production rates with 25-30% less energy usage.
Visitors who want to go with the flow can visit SPX Flow at stand 812 to learn about a wide range of APV plate heat exchanger frame compression technologies, connection types and sanitary accessories for increased heat transfer efficiency and cleanability. Having made installations at food and beverage plants all over the world, SPX Flow is adapt at meeting the most challenging heat transfer needs in today’s marketplace.
Interstate Cold Storage, Inc. will introduce advances in quick-freezing and tempering at booth 2839. Using a proprietary process developed by its refrigerated warehousing operation, freezing and tempering times can be reduced by as much as 350%.
Tippmann Innovation will be on the scene at stand 1683 to promote cold storage construction services. The company has decades of experience in designing and building state-of-the-art refrigerated warehouses across the USA. It offers innovative designs and systems that help cut freezing costs.
Noodle making will be the main attraction at the Nanjing Yangzi Machinery Co. stand 3058. Its highly automated system features frequency and photoelectric digital control, manual/automatic program conversion and touch screen interface.
Slicers and dicers will be front and center at Sanhe Chuanda Machinery Manufacturing Co. stand 3410. The Chinese company’s Model CD440 Frozen Meat Dicer claims capacity of up to 2,000 kilograms per hour, and consistent cutting sizes of three to 20mm.
Among other equipment on display will be: the 2501 Hydrauflaker from General Machinery Corp., booth 828; conveyor belting from Ashworth Bros., stand 2267; the Baader IGrader, booth 2255, is said to “get the product mix right at a lower cost and a higher speed”; at stand 1041 Marlen International will show the latest Carruthers Servo-driven Dicer, the 2D, which is said to deliver more in accurate diced product, better product appearance and higher yields; Challenge-RMF Non Shear Mixers and Freezers, booth 2237; Chinese KN551 Bun Makers and Empanada Formers from Rheon USA, stand 2473; the Coldstream T Defroster, DeltaPak thermoformers, MultiDrum Breader, Dual Slicer, Multijector and SmarkPacker CX from GEA North America at stand 2634; DSI Vertical and Horizontal Plate Freezers with automatic product loading and unloading from Scan America Corp., booth 1077.
Also: complete IQF processing lines and blanching, cooking and steaming equipment from the OctoFrost Group, stand 832; Sairem TMW 150 tempering equipment, stand 1470; chicken wooden breast detection systems from TOMRA Sorting Solutions, booth 2249; Vemag meatball formers and sausage makers from Reiser, stand 1649; the 2501 Hydrauflaker from General Machinery Corp., booth 828; Praxair’s ColdFront Cryo-Saver Tunnel Freezer, stand 2067; freezing, chilling, proofing, frying, coating and cooking equipment will be among a wide assortment of equipment and machinery exhibited by JBT Corp., booth 1824; freezing systems from Tecnopool s.p.a., booth 2077; horizontal form, fill and seal packaging solutions from CP Packaging, stand 1437; IQF Quick Freezer from Zhejiang Sanshon Machinery Manufacturing Co. and Tianjin Fly Changbo Machinery Co., stand 3507; nuggets, burger and shrimp processing lines from Zhucheng Xinxudong Machinery Co., booth 3506; CO2 Cascade Refrigeration technology from M&M Refrigeration, booth 169.
