Baking is a delicate art,where every detail counts. Making quality baked goods, while respecting economic and environmental sustainability, is a key aspect for white art players.
The focus should certainly be on the ingredients, but also and especially on the processes, which can continuously improve in the name of innovation and technology.
Food gas applications throughout the supply chain, from raw material management to production and transportation, represent an opportunity for efficiency, waste reduction, and improvement in the quality of products that reach consumers’ tables.
Here’s how SIAD can support companies in the flour, bakery and fresh pasta production market.
Nitrogen and flour production: between safety and quality
Following the various stages of the supply chain, we start with raw materials and semi-finished products: specifically, how nitrogen can simplify flour production processes, looking at safety and quality.
Food matrix grinding
Reducing the particle size of a food matrix can generate safety issues in the first place.
Like all low-grain substances that are used in food, flour has explosive potential.
Explosion/burning can occur in the presence of these three elements:
- Oxidizer: for example, oxygen that is always present in the atmosphere
- Fuel: food powder (e.g., flour)
- Trigger source: is the element that initiates the combustion process, a variable that can also be represented by simple friction during loading/unloading of treated materials.
The solution is inerting with nitrogen gas in order to remove the oxidizer (oxygen) to avoid working within explosion limits.
But not only protection, also quality. In fact, thanks to the cooling action of nitrogen, it is possible to aid machinery in processing the food matrix, making it more fragile and much easier to process. This can be an extremely useful upgrade.
Storage and handling
Such applications may also be valid in flour storage and handling.
Also during these stages the risk to product protection and plant safety is combustion, which with inerting with nitrogen gas can be prevented by using it as a carrier fluid instead of air.
Mixing
In addition, the application of nitrogen gas is extremely useful for blending by improving the homogenization of flour volumes.
By insufflating nitrogen at high pressure, a homogeneous mixture of different granular parts can be obtained.
We are available to offer further information on these issues. Contact SIAD.
Food gases in the bakery supply chain
Let’s turn more specifically to bakery and gas applications, from production to transportation.
Dough and Thermoregulation
Starting with the control of dough temperatures. Mixing is among the most important steps in bakery production and must be performed with extreme precision to achieve a quality product.
The use of necessary machinery, even more so in the warmer months, can bring with it critical issues related to rising temperatures. The risk is premature leavening of the dough or flaking of the gluten mesh and, therefore, a flaky and less tenacious product.
SIAD’s experience has been brought to bear in order to realize thermoregulation systems during mixing processes. For quick and inexpensive “on-site” cooling, automatic carbonic snow (or dry ice) dispensing systems are the best solution.
The benefits of this solution are several:
- It is adaptable to any type of process
- Optimizes flour processing by preventing the growth of bacteria and making the dough more malleable
- It offers standardized quality all year round and allows for a finished product with greater honeycombing.
Read one of our case studies devoted to thermoregulation in the bakery.
Packaging in a protective atmosphere
Once production is completed, it is necessary to ensure that each product arrives perfect to the consumer while respecting all sensory aspects and keeping quality and safety intact.
In particular, our Group has developed two lines dedicated to this purpose.
Foodline®
This is an innovative line of food packaging products that ensures:
- Increased capacity for production planning
- More efficient processes and reduced production costs
- Waste reduction
- Aumento della capacità di distribuzione
- Higher levels of food safety
Learn about technical features, delivery methods and safety of Foodline®
Aroma+
In addition, the collaboration between SIAD and Almi resulted in what is considered the most important innovation in the field of protective atmosphere food packaging in recent years, Aroma+.
It is an innovative food packaging system, in modified atmosphere and flavored, capable of enhancing the characteristics of packaged products, while keeping the original fragrance unchanged thanks to the combination of food gases and natural flavors.
Freezing
Another key step for a wide range of bakery products is cryosurgication, which is the ability to reach a temperature of -18°C, at the core of the product, very quickly, using liquid nitrogen or CO2 as cooling agents. The advantage is to greatly reduce the temperature chilling time, limiting the formation of ice macro-crystals and keeping the nutritional properties of the treated product intact.
In this regard, SIAD offers a wide range of freezing plants, which can meet the most diverse requirements for the use and obtaining of frozen foods:
- Cryogenic freezing tunnels and cabinets
- Cryogenic spiral freezers
- Drum Freezer
- Immersion Freezer – IQF Freezing
Learn about all of SIAD’s solutions in freezing.
Temperature-controlled transport
As with packaging and freezing, transportation also plays a key role in the preservation of bakery products, particularly in the case of fresh and frozen products, maintenance of the cold chain must be ensured by efficient refrigerated transportation.
In brief, the solutions studied by SIAD exclusively:
- COOOL® FreeToGo
the innovative refrigerated road transport system that harnesses the refrigeration power of CO2 R-744 for last-mile transport and provides a compressor-less refrigeration circuit that is independent of traction and therefore guaranteed even when the engine is off - COOOL®RollBox
roll container refrigerated transport technology created to simplify logistics management, increase cold autonomy and use versatile multi-temperature systems - ICEandGO
the direct delivery service of dry ice, even in small quantities, capable of maintaining the correct storage temperature in the transportation of fresh and frozen products
Check out our food industry app and continue to learn more about our solutions for the bakery, pasta and deli industry.
