Food: The High Art of Feeding

This is where feeders show their true skills. Dry, moist, liquid, sticky, fragile and cohesive – not to mention perishable in many cases... Ingredients for foods have high and diverse demands. Also, the feeding of ingredients in food production must comply with strict hygiene regulations – standards are uncompromisingly high, and for good reason. Last but not least, the industry is constantly changing. In order to react quickly and flexibly, manufacturers require both know-how and the right equipment. Thanks to extensive experience in the food sector, Kubota Brabender Technologie offers both. For 15 years, the feeding expert has been focusing on the food industry, and has tailored their product range specifically to meet the high and diverse requirements of the sector.

Top performance for complex processes

Chocolate or trail mixes, sweets or baby food, spice blends or cheese puffs: Before food products reach supermarkets, they undergo production processes that can be extremely complex. They are processed according to recipes that must be strictly complied with, bringing together ingredients that can be very dissimilar. All while observing the highest hygiene standards and taking into account the properties of each individual ingredient as well as those of the mixture, which can have completely different requirements than the ingredients themselves. Here, reliable and controllable quality, hygienic equipment, the precise feeding of sometimes extremely difficult raw materials, and absolute compliance with the recipe are paramount.

Ensuring safety through controllability

The food sector has unique requirements, and one fundamental necessity is documentation. Unlike other industries, the food industry requires not only accuracy when feeding, but also precise and accurate records of all fed values. There can be no uncertainties when it comes to the production of food; it must be clear at all times exactly what was fed – for example – at 3 p.m. the previous day. This is essential for quality control – and is also a fundamental part of process reliability. The continuous and precise control of feeding ensures that if any deviation from the set specifications occurs that falls outside the tolerance range, an error message is sent immediately.

Special treatment for sensitive ingredients

Many raw materials and products in the food sector require very particular treatment. Dried fruits like raisins, cranberries or apple rings, for example, are a special challenge. They stick together easily and are anything but free-flowing. In addition, they are often extremely fragile, sensitive to pressure, and can – like raisins – lose liquid if damaged. Kubota Brabender Technologie has developed special solutions to discharge these highly demanding fruits effectively and continuously, to separate them gently, and to feed them with accuracy down to the gram.

Foods like trail mix and muesli, but also chocolate require special feed solutions due to the varying requirements of their ingredients. For muesli, it's sticky raisins and dried fruits, delicate corn flakes, dusty oatmeal, and nuts prone to breakage, for example. For chocolate, depending on the recipe, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, and milk or cream powder are seasoned with spices like vanilla, chili or cinnamon, and often combined with corn flakes, nuts, almonds, raisins or other ingredients. If the chocolate is filled, it becomes even more complicated.

Constantly evolving: Food trends and the food industry

The food market is in constant change. At the moment, for example, the trends sustainability and healthy living are bringing more and more alternatives to supermarket shelves. Seasonal goods, new flavors, and limited products also tempt consumers to make a purchase. There are always new trends emerging, and development never stands still. The food industry is just as dynamic. Manufacturers react to trends with changed recipes, and are constantly developing new products to meet the tastes of consumers.

As a result, recipe changes and even changeovers of entire production lines are the rule rather than the exception, and high-quality production lines must make changes to quantities, recipes and raw materials simple. This requires a modular and flexible design structure – and the possibility of cleaning all components in contact with the product extremely quickly and easily. Production must never stand still for longer than absolutely necessary.

Hygienic Design

Safety is a basic requirement of food production. As a rule, raw materials and products are perishable and must be protected from microorganisms, as well as from chemicals and foreign substances like plasticizers, coolants and lubricants, plastic fragments, insects, and dust. The Hygienic Design of the devices used in production plays a central role in ensuring the safety and quality of the produced foods. Accordingly, the devices from Kubota Brabender Technologie are designed to provide optimal hygiene.

The feeding expert uses only 1935/2004- and FDA-compliant materials for the food industry and complies with all relevant standards, guidelines and recommendations. As a member of the European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group (EHEDG), which defines the guidelines for Hygienic Design in cooperation with the European Committee for Standardization, the company always stays up to date. Its design engineers work closely with the consortium's experts, who also come to the factory, inspect equipment, and give specific tips and recommendations on how to further optimize Hygienic Design.

Hygienic Design at Kubota Brabender Technologie

All parts in contact with product made of FDA- and 1935/2004-compliant materials
Food-safe polyurethane components are blue – for better recognition
Optimum accessibility of all components ensures easy cleaning
Quick-release fasteners for lids and hoppers
No exposed threads in the product area
Elimination of cavities for easy emptying and cleaning
Continuous and fully ground-down welding seams
Smooth, rounded stainless steel surfaces for minimal particle deposition
Radial, rounded edges
Fanless smooth motors without cooling fins

Easy disassembly and cleaning

Because the cleaning intervals in the food sector can be very short, easy disassembly of devices for cleaning is crucial. This reduces downtimes to a minimum. Even with the standard versions of Kubota Brabender food feeders, all parts in contact with the product – including seals and screws – are easily accessible, quick to remove and fast to clean. Quick-release fasteners on lids and hoppers ensure quick disassembly. There are no exposed threads in the product area, and all seams are continuously welded and fully ground-down to prevent products from adhering. Cavities in the device design are avoided, preventing a buildup of product and allowing hoppers to be emptied quickly and completely. Smooth stainless steel surfaces with a surface roughness below 0.8 micrometers and rounded edges prevent dust and particles from gathering. Fanless smooth motors without cooling fins avoid unnecessary turbulence and also offer minimal deposit areas.

Built-in flexibility

Given the variety of raw materials in the food industry and the fact that some of them place highly diverse demands on feeders, flexibility and a variety of solutions are crucial. Kubota Brabender Technologie offers a large selection of different screws and screw tubes for all screw feeders, which vary not only in diameter, but also in pitch – the distance of the threads to each other. This means that the same feeder can cover a very broad spectrum of applications. Motors with an exceptionally high adjustment range of 1 to 100 and the same torque throughout the entire speed range allow the device to be easily adapted to changing production requirements.

Diversity of requirements – diversity of solutions

From a wide range of discharge solutions to gravimetric and volumetric feeders to intelligent control systems for up to 16 devices: Kubota Brabender Technologie has a broad portfolio of standard solutions for food applications. In addition, the company offers special solutions tailored to specific customer requirements. Individual wishes are gladly taken into account – from tested welding seams and special certifications to customized internal wiring.

Which feeder is the best choice depends largely on the raw materials that are being processed. On the other hand, whether continuous feeding or batching and whether gravimetric or volumetric feeding are the optimal solution depends on the specific production process that the feeder will be integrated into. Kubota Brabender Technologie offers suitable devices for all processes, in all sizes – whether 20 grams or several tons will be fed per hour.

The right feeder for every ingredient

For poor-flowing ingredients – cohesive powdery products like flours, for example – screw feeders of the DSR (feeding screw with agitator) or DDSR type (twin feeding screws with agitator) are a good option. The agitator keeps the raw materials in motion, prevents bridging and ensures an even product flow into the feeding screw. Depending on product characteristics, spiral, blade or twin concave screws are used. Special screws with progressive pitches ensure gentle feeding.

Particularly sensitive ingredients like extrudates, nuts or freeze-dried products can be damaged by agitators. For these, vibrating feeders of the DVT type (feeder with vibrating tray) that move the product by vibration are a good solution. A unique additional solution for sensitive ingredients is the patented FlexWall® feeder with flexible hopper and massage paddles. The paddles move the flexible polyurethane hopper from the outside, ensuring a constant flow of ingredients into the feeding screw. This feeder also offers an important advantage for plant planning, as its design allows the space-saving circular arrangement of several FlexWall® devices.

The weight-belt feeder DBW feeds normal to good-flowing, fragile raw materials – such as chips, corn flakes or cereal flakes – gently and with outstanding precision. The speed-controlled weigh-belt feeder is characterized by robust design, compact dimensions and high accuracy even at high feeding rates.