1,721,095 research outputs found
A testing procedure of a digital application for safety improvement in a beverage plant
No full textSafety at the workplace is one of the most relevant issues for companies, due to the high number of accidents happening every year, some of which even deadly. Despite that, this number is decreasing thanks to continuous research and to an increasing application of safety procedures and devices. In line with that, the project presented in this work intends to develop and evaluate a new solution to improve operators' safety, at a reasonable cost (including adoption and use). The usage of wearable systems (smart-glasses and smartwatches) will improve the efficacy of the solutions previously tested on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. Although no new devices were developed, the project required the creation of a new software tool, in which a great amount of information was inserted to allow its correct functioning. The main aim of this work is to create a testing procedure to evaluate the impact of this solutions on the employee's safety. This is extremely important to demonstrate the efficacy of new industry 4.0 applications
Organic and eco-sustainable packaged food products: A possible solution to close the gap between consumer perception and real data
No full textFood companies nowadays are investing in the production of organic food, starting from crops and farms based on the use of natural substances and not excessively exploiting natural resources such as soil, water and air. Moreover, they allocate resources looking for environmentally sustainable packaging solutions, often using bio-based or recycled materials. Are consumers aware of these efforts? Taking as a reference the case study of an Italian manufacturer of grated organic cheese, which is looking for new packaging solutions, a questionnaire was created and submitted to a widespread sample of Italian people: 333 questionnaires have been collected from consumers of different age, education and origin, in order to investigate their opinions about organic products and ecosustainability. Results show that consumers make choices based on food product’s quality and price and are unable to distinguish an organic cheese from a traditional one. As far as the packaging solution is concerned, food paper is considered the best material to contain cheese, followed by glass, while plastics are associated with a high environmental impact. Outcomes thus highlight a clear difference between the consumers’ perception of packaging and the scientific data of materials’ functionality and environmental impact calculated by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. It is therefore necessary to close this gap improving the exchange of information between consumers and the scientific sector. To achieve this goal, social networks are not the best option since consumers declare not to show interest in following the company profile. They seem, instead, to appreciate nontraditional labelling, such as RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and QR Code, because they give more information about products features and history, ensuring traceability and anti-counterfeiting. Consequently, the digitization of information supporting the food products appears the main way to differentiate the single brand and provide consumers with information necessary to make the right choices
Food engineering systems in the next future: a compromise between sustainability and Industry 4.0
No full textIn the next years, Industrial Food Systems Engineering will face important changes. The 2030 Agenda established 17 Sustainable Development Goals to be reached until 2030, such as the fight against climate change, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction and oceans’ protection. Therefore, food and packaging companies will not only have to consider the consumers’ demand for healthy, organic, fresh and nutritious foods, but also they will be called to move from a linear economy to a circular economy, implementing solutions that can make their products and processes more sustainable from and economic, social and environmental point of view. In the meanwhile, the fourth industrial revolution is almost upon us: industries are becoming more and more automated, interconnected and intelligent, thanks to the use of new technologies, such as 3D printers, collaborative robots, virtual and augmented reality, big data analytics and cyber security. Consequently, food companies who want to be competitive on the market must reinvent themselves, implementing new methods and tools to make their plants efficient and productive. Based on these premises, this work aims to analyze how the food industrial sector will face changes related to the 2030 Agenda and Industry 4.0 issues. To achieve this goal, a literature analysis is carried out on a scientific database: recent studies are considered to describe innovative sustainable or 4.0 technological solutions, as well as the main benefits achievable with these improvements. Moreover, the article will focus on the combination of these issues in order to investigate a relationship between these changes. The final purpose is demonstrating if new 4.0 technologies can also reduce the environmental impacts of food products and machines, contributing to create a smarter, but sustainable, food industry
Transition toward circular economy in the agrifood seedling phase: A Life Cycle Assessment on tomato trays
No full textNational and international guidelines call for greater environmental sustainability in agriculture through the introduction of the circular economy. Recent studies investigate the introduction of new technologies and methodologies in the field, however, few focus on initial stages at the plant nursery or the management of the involved materials, and none scientifically calculate their environmental impact. To fill this gap, this paper focuses on an Italian case study that quantifies the environmental impact of the traditional seed trays used worldwide for growing, transporting and transplanting tomato seedlings, proposing and evaluating two alternatives from a circular economy perspective. To do this, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to the traditional and to two new reusable, recyclable, washable seed trays, comparing their entire life cycles. Primary data, provided by three manufacturers, two nurseries and four agricultural farms, were modelled using SimaPro software. Their environmental impact was calculated considering the potentials of global warming, eutrophication, acidification, abiotic depletion of elements and fossil fuels, ozone layer depletion, water scarcity and photochemical oxidation. Results show that, irrespective of the type of material used for the seed pots, the extraction and production phase of the materials is the most impactful in the life cycles. The proposed trays resulted more environmentally sustainable than the traditional non-reusable expanded polystyrene tray. The work also quantified the environmental benefit achieved with the weight reduction of the seed pots and their better handling by operators, which avoided breakages and losses. Furthermore, it is shown how the proposed reusable solutions can be greener, reducing the impacts up to a third in the case of global warming potential. In conclusion, the research offers viable alternatives that can be used in the market all over the world, diminishing the overall impact of the seedling and transplanting phases
The Environmental, Economic and Social Impact of Industry 4.0 in the Food Sector: a Descriptive Literature Review
Full text linkIndustries today are facing new technological changes. Thanks to the introduction of new tools and technologies of the so-called Industry 4.0, industrial processes are becoming more automated and interconnected. In the meantime, laws and international meetings, such as the 2030 Agenda, ask companies to be more sustainable. Considering these premises, this study aims to analyse the available studies that focus on a possible link between these two topics, investigating the sustainability of 4.0 innovations in the food sector. The work carried out a literature analysis on the Scopus scientific database, looking for papers published in English all over the world. Results highlight that among the three pillars of sustainability, the environmental is the most studied one. More efforts should be done, instead, from an economic and social point of view. However, even if the available studies are still few, they are increasing over the last few years, also spreading geographically, underling the importance of these topics in the near future
The effects of different packaging and pressures on a dairy product treated with the High Pressure Processing
No full textHigh Pressure Processing is a recent non-thermal stabilization process, able to prolong foods shelf life without changing their nutritional and sensorial qualities. This work applies HPP, testing different pressures during the treatment (400MPa, 500MPa, 600MPa), on nutrient ricottas packaged in three solutions (round tray, basket and wrapping in vacuum bag). The aim of the research is to understand the influence of these parameters on the treated product (microbial abatement, syneresis, color, softness, nutritional changes), in order to optimize its shelf life without reducing the quality. Results show that the stabilization increases with the pressure: in particular 600MPa destroys pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms up to 30 days of shelf life, homogenizing the structure of the product that results softer and lighter, without nutritive losses. Not all the tested packaging solutions are suitable for the treatment: only the basket in vacuum bag can resist to the pressure and are user-friendly for the consumer who will buy treated ricottas at the supermarkets. Overall, this work contributes to the scientific literature regarding the benefits of HPP, and can be a starting point for food companies who want to test a new innovative and promising food stabilization method
L’after sale service per l’imbottigliamento in asettico: l’importanza dell’approccio FMECA
No full textL’aumento della concorrenza commerciale nell’industria dell’imbottigliamento implica un miglioramento continuo degli standard di qualità ed una riduzione dei costi di produzione. In quest’ottica, la richiesta da parte delle aziende alimentari di un’assistenza tecnica sempre più ampia e puntuale ha spinto verso una crescente importanza l’after sale service, rendendolo parte essenziale e non più solo accessoria del rapporto fornitore cliente. Parte di questo nuovo tipo di approccio consiste nel programmare e descrivere in procedure le operazioni di manutenzione. Scopo di questo articolo diviene quindi illustrare l’applicazione del metodo FMECA/MAGEC ad una riempitrice volumetrica di un impianto di imbottigliamento in asettico, al fine di formulare il piano di manutenzione produttiva. Grazie a tale piano sarà possibile valutare, da parte dei fornitori di impianti, il costo imputabile al servizio di assistenza post vendita, al fine di poterlo adottare consapevolmente all’interno del settore dell’imbottigliamento
Resilience in the Food Industry: Interviews-based evidences
No full textResilience is a key issue for the food context as never before, given the several challenges that companies are subjected to such as the climate change, geo-political instability or price volatility.Literature returned a gap in terms of tools and metrics for determining and quantifying the resilience level of agri-food systems, and after a preliminary top-down perspective, the bottom-up approach is proposed in this document.Indeed, the aim is to present and discuss results from semi-structured interviews carried out with 7 practitioners of the food industry (based in Parma, in the heart of the Italian food valley) aimed at identifying the most important factors to be considered when evaluating resilience, according to their opinion.Results allowed to derive a set of 22 potential indicators, which will be implemented in a following model for quantifying the resilience level of an agri-food supply chain.Indicators are classified according to the supply chain area they belong to, namely: supply, production/transformation and distribution/sales.The cash flow availability and the diversification of both raw material suppliers and produced finished products turned out to be the most important factors to be considered, almost unanimously
Modelling the growth kinetic of spoilage microorganisms in a packaged cow's Ricotta processed with high pressure
No full textToday consumers demand fresh foods without additives, preservatives and health risks: that is why non-thermal food preservation methods are receiving more interest, among them High Pressure Processing is able to avoid thermal degradation of food components, extend their shelf life and preserve colour, flavour and nutritional value. HPP is often used on dairy products because of its impact on physicochemical and sensory characteristics, its ability to improve their structure and texture and inactivate some microorganisms. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of HPP on a packaged ricotta rich in Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) and Omega-3, resulting from cows fed with linseed in the Parmigiano Reggiano area, and processed with a hydrostatic pressure of 600 MPa for 5 minutes. The ultimate goal is to find a mathematical model able to show the treatment's effect on spoilage microorganisms that grow spontaneously in this product during a month of refrigerated storage
Life cycle assessment of packaged organic dairy product: A comparison of different methods for the environmental assessment of alternative scenarios
Full text linkNowadays Life Cycle Assessment is usually adopted to evaluate the carbon footprint and water footprint of packaged foods considering the whole supply chain, but not many studies compare the results coming from the adoption of different Life Cycle Impact Assessment methodologies. Adopting the IPCC 2013, IPCC 2013 incl. CO2 uptake, ILCD 2011 Midpoint +, ReCiPe 2016 and AWARE methods, this study aims to investigate the environmental impact of an organic Parmigiano Reggiano cheese produced in Italy. We demonstrated that the application of different LCIA methods gives different impact results for the same product: for example, global warming was lower with ILCD 2011 and IPCC 2013 CO2 uptake methods than IPCC 2013 and ReCiPe 2016. Moreover, the water footprint resulted different using ILCD 2011 midpoint + method, since it considers a European consumption of water, the AWARE, based on global average consumption, and the ReCiPe that considers the regionalized impacts. Overall, agricultural and breeding phases had a relevant contribution because of the use of water and greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and their daily feed. However, using renewable energy, such as biogas plants or photovoltaic panels, the paper demonstrated that the water and carbon footprint can be reduced
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