Congratulations to Dianne March for 25 Years at DC Norris today! Dianne started in 1998 working on our reception desk, then moved into technical sales where she prepares all the quotes for our customers.

DCN’s Director, Ian Jones commented, ‘Dianne is one of our longest serving employees and is a mainstay of the Sales Team at DCN.  Her attention to detail and in-depth knowledge of DCN equipment and systems means we can turn urgent and detailed proposals around in hours instead of days when required.

Dianne is a conscientious, diligent, and loyal employee who we all love to work with, she also keeps the Sales Team in-line and ensures we offer a professional approach to proposals.’

Dianne is currently enjoying a well-earned holiday in Zante!

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Sustainability is a hot topic globally as we continually look for ways to protect our environment, ensuring there are enough resources for future generations. It is essential that food and beverage manufacturers embrace sustainable food processing, address these concerns, and strike the balance between productivity and sustainability.

The Need for Sustainable Food Processing

Historically, industrial food processing has placed significant pressure on our global resources. However, as an industry, we are now more aware of these challenges and are transitioning to sustainable food processing. This shift involves producing foods on an ongoing basis without undue harm to the environment. Factors such as reducing the amount of water used and optimising energy consumption play an essential role in mitigating global warming. Similarly, limiting needless food waste is extremely important.

It is critical that Food Manufacturers make these important changes, as mass production has put a big strain on our environment. Currently, about one-third of food produced globally never gets consumed, and food waste accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Consumers’ demands are now more sophisticated; they want to know the provenance of their food and that it has been produced sustainably. There has also been a significant shift over to plant-based foods as consumers aim to reduce their environmental footprints.

Innovations in Sustainable Food Processing

DC Norris is committed to developing and installing the most up-to-date environmentally friendly food processing systems. We have launched a new range of equipment and redesigned existing machinery with the specific objective to reduce carbon footprint.

Jet Cook: Energy Efficient Cooking

Scientific trials have shown that 52.5% less energy is used when cooking with DCN’s Jet Cook technology compared to conventional kettles. Manufacturers can benefit from rapid heating and huge energy savings as 99.5% of the energy is collapsed directly into the product. Less water is required for cleaning as there is zero burn-on on the vessels.

Recipe Manager Software: Minimising Waste

DCN’s Recipe Manager can be used to efficiently control DCN equipment, including Cooking Kettles, Cooling Systems, Cook Quench Chill and CIP systems, reducing the need for operator input. Getting it right the first time is now even more important to avoid wasting valuable ingredients, energy, and time. The many features and benefits ensure optimum efficiency and consistency between batches, meaning downtime and process errors are kept to a minimum.

Process and Product Development: Maximising Efficiency

We offer product and process training either on customers’ sites or in our Product Development Kitchen. This training ensures that operators are using our systems to their best potential in the most energy-saving and time-efficient way. Recipe processes will also be evaluated to ensure they are being carried out correctly with fewer wasted ingredients.

DCN has considerable experience working with plant-based food manufacturers and can help with recipe development and process training. By investing in high-quality food processing systems, customers can be confident that their equipment will last longer and achieve maximum efficiency.

A Real-World Example: Fresh Cut Foods

In 2021, we installed our new Cook Quench Chill ‘Adapt’ into Fresh Cut Foods in Nottingham, UK. This new model was developed during lockdown with the specific objective to reduce the carbon footprint for our customers.

“This was part of a project to upgrade the manufacturing capability of the facility, to accommodate the increase in product demand… The ‘Adapt’ is using a fraction of the amount of water and energy compared to our existing linear system. In addition, we have seen significant improvements in overall plant and labour productivity, through increased batch sizes, reduced cycle times (in some cases cycle times have halved), and reduced line manning.”

Chris Copestake, Chief Executive at Fresh Cut Foods

Embracing sustainable food processing

In conclusion, embracing sustainability in food processing is not just about addressing global environmental concerns, but it’s also a strategic move that ensures business longevity and customer satisfaction. By creating more efficient, sustainable systems, DC Norris is demonstrating that it’s possible to improve productivity while reducing environmental impact. To learn more about our sustainable food processing solutions, contact us today.

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DC Norris are delighted to be exhibiting next month at ProPak Asia after a few years hiatus due to COVID restrictions on travel. The premier Processing and Packaging Exhibition of Asia runs from the 14th – 17th June 2023, and is held in Bangkok’s International Trade and Exhibition Centre, Thailand.

We will be showcasing DC Norris’ award-winning Jet Process – The high-speed all-in-one in-line system which can entrain, mix, cook, sterilise and cool in a single pass. Jet Process give food manufacturers a wide range of benefits including the ability to quickly process large volumes in a small footprint.  It can also reduce energy usage, has zero burn-on and it can be operated for many hours without cleaning.

The Jet Process system can be used to replace traditional heat exchangers and combines as many as four of our JET COOK™ Units in sequence.  Each unit is individually controlled to add the required amount of heat and shear to give the desired finished product.

Jet Process is presently being used for the production of liquid food, beverage and pet food products such as condensed milk, sauces

and maheu in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.  We have recently installed a large wet pet food system in the UK.

DC Norris offer a large range of innovative processing equipment, with a recent focus on helping our customers to reduce their carbon footprint.  Our team will be on hand at Propak Asia to assist you with your enquiry and advise on how to reduce water and energy usage, as well as minimise the amount of food waste.

Register now: https://www.propakasia.com/

More about Propak Asia:

Propak Asia is the region’s number one international trade event for Food, Drink and Pharmaceutical Processing and Packaging Technology, and is a part of the ProPak series running across the globe in Myanmar, India, Philippines, Middle East & North Africa, Vietnam, and China.

This will be ProPak Asia’s 30th Anniversary – and it is truly the “Must-Attend” industry event in Asia, as quality and variety of products increase and expand, and productivity of operations and manufacturing standards are driven higher by consumer demands and new automation and technological advances.

Join us this year at Propak Asia, we look forward to welcoming you.

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Wednesday 26 April 2023 is Stop Food Waste’s 7th year – a global day of action created by Compass Group to drive awareness, and to provide solutions that address food waste.

Compass Group are asking you all to think responsibly when purchasing food.  Many restaurants, cafés and stores are offering surplus foods to customers using apps like ‘too good to go’ which helps prevent perfectly good food from being thrown in the bin.

DC Norris have made a conscious effort to support our customers in reducing food waste. We encourage our customers to take trial samples with them, or donate leftover produce to local food banks or food service business’.

What you can do to help:

Prevent food waste at the source by storing food optimally, making use of every edible part of the ingredient and planning meals ahead of time.
Inspire others to waste less and repurpose more.
Repurpose food by redistributing any surplus to your local community, or giving a second life to ingredients that most commonly go to waste.

Find out more about Stop Food Waste Day via their website – STOP FOOD WASTE DAY

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Traditionally known for their world-leading food and beverage process equipment, DC Norris are also experts in dog and cat wet pet food processing solutions.

The Company has worked hand in hand with customers to develop a variety of innovative cooking and cooling methods to give pet food manufacturers a choice depending on their desired product.

Jet Process

DCN recently launched the award-winning Jet Process System which is ideal for those manufacturers who require reduced processing times, large throughputs and high temperature sterilisation.

We look at some of the benefits of Jet Process:

High Speed & Large Throughputs

Jet Process allows the dog or cat food to reach temperatures of up to 148°C in seconds.

Powders such as gums, gels, vitamins and hydrocolloids are entrained, heated, mixed and hydrated in single figure minutes.

A recent installation required a footprint of only 120 sqm. and can produce 18,000Kgs of wet pet food per hour.

Small Footprint

With Jet Process pet food manufacturers can reduce the amount of processing vessels used. The system can cook, entrain (mix and hydrate hydrocolloids) and sterilise in a single pass removing the need for large retorts.

A traditional wet pet food system may have a large footprint and incorporate multiple jacketed or pressure vessels, emulsifiers, heat exchangers and retorts.

Low Water, Energy & Labour Costs

Jet Process removes the need for multiple vessels which have more processing stages using excess energy and increasing cost.   Large volumes of water and caustic are also needed for the vessels to clean and remove burn-on.

Jet Process can be operated by just one person, reducing the amount of labour needed.

Sous Vide for Pet Food Processing

A recent trend in the pet food industry is for bespoke fresh prepared human-grade dog and cat food, and this is where our Sous Vide Systems may be more suitable.

This unique cooking process helps to maintain nutrients and maximise flavour for happy, healthy pets.   Sous Vide dog food is vacuum sealed in air-tight plastic pouches that are cooked in water for a long period of time at a low temperature.

Sous Vide requires specialist packaging, vacuum sealing, a Cook Tank with temperature probes and controls, and appropriate chilling equipment.

Health Benefits

High temperature cooking methods often reduce the nutrients present in meats and vegetables. By lowering the cooking temperature, the sous vide cooking method ensures that foods retain as much of their nutritional value as possible.

High Yields

Sous Vide makes in virtually impossible to overcook or burn foods which dramatically increases yields. The cooking method also produces more flavourful foods without the use of added ingredients and fats as it locks in the natural juices.

Minimised Process & Labour Costs

Sous Vide cooking can be largely unsupervised, and foods cooked using this method can be cooked, chilled, stored and re-thermalized (in some applications) in the same packaging creating substantial cost savings.

DC Norris offer a variety of fully automated Sous Vide Cook Tanks for dog and cat food – contact us for further information.

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Product and Process Training is taking place in Canada this week with a customer who three years ago invested in a DCN Jet Cook system with 2 x 1000ltr Kettles, Braising Bar, In-Vessel Homogeniser and Recipe Manager Software Systems.

Our customer has multiple operations in Canada and Europe covering chilled and frozen foods in the foodservice, hospitality, hospital, and community services sectors.  With a turn-over in excess of £150m, they are a forward thinking and innovative company who are constantly redeveloping and improving their product portfolio and quality.

Recognising the need to be get the most of their equipment, they commissioned us to a week of advanced product and process training.  Their aim is to reduce their processing times and stages, whilst also improving the finished product with reduced starch and no burn-on.

Sweet & Sour Sauce

 The first product we made was a Sweet & Sour Sauce, complete with onions, peppers and pineapple.

Braising Bar used to heat up the oil, followed by the onions and garlic.
Water was added along with a percentage of the IQF vegetables.
Jet Cook was used to heat the mix from 15-80◦C in single figure minutes.
Remaining vegetables and ingredients added.

Result:

The finished product had a smooth high gloss sauce base with large vegetable particulate which still had a crunch and very good colour.

The Jet Cook method reduced the processing time and the amount of time the vegetables had to be agitated and heated.

Using a traditional Steam Jacketed Kettle, the heating process from 15-80◦C would have much longer at 15 minutes.

Starch was added at 75◦C with the Jet Cook on low shear, followed shortly after by the sugar.  This process change from the original allows the starch to maximise its hydration before the sugar takes up the excess liquid.

Beef & Barley Concentrated Soup

Result:

Using the same food processing equipment, we reduced the processing time by 30 minutes.  The final product had good viscosity, particulate integrity and colour due to the improved starch hydration.

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One of the questions we may get asked is – How does Jet Cook differ from traditional Steam Jacketed Kettle Cooking? We put this to the test this week during trials in our South African Test Kitchen with one of the food industries leading branded companies.

We demonstrated some of DCN Jet Cook’s benefits and versatility on two very different products – Chilli Sauce and a Dried Breakfast Cereal.  The customer had previously had issues with burn-on using their existing Steam Jacketed Kettles, which affected taste and cleaning times.  They also wanted to see how they could reduce energy costs by shortening processing times.

Using DCN’s Jet Cook, In-Vessel Homogeniser and Braising Bar, we were able to produce the following results:

Chilli Sauce

Jet Cook Process:

In-Tank Jet Cook rapidly hydrates the starches.
Addition of vegetables and sugar.
Product heated to 95°C.
Discharge.

Results:

Zero burn-on and 100% gelatinisation of the starches.
DCN’s process used approximately 55% less energy.
The Kettle only needing cleaning once, at the end of the day.
The finished product had good viscosity, particulate integrity, colour and flavour.

Dried Breakfast Cereal

 Jet Cook Process:

DCN’s In-Tank Jet Cook System and In-vessel Homogeniser produced a high brix and high viscosity paste, containing more than 27% powders.
The paste is pumped to a drying line for further processing.

 Results:

 Zero burn-on.
100% yields.

If you would like to book a trial with our experienced product and process team in either our UK or South African Product Development Kitchens – please contact on info@dcnorris.com

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