Feature Story:

WHAT EVER YOU WANT – WHEN EVER YOU WANT IT

VAST QUANTITIES OF FOOD ARE TRANSPORTED AROUND THE WORLD, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE MORE CHOICE FOR THOSE CONSUMERS WHO CAN AFFORD IT.
BUT HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? AND IS THE GLOBAL FOOD DISTRIBUTION INDUSTRY SUSTAINABLE OVER THE LONG TERM? SIMON CREASEY INVESTIGATES...

Twenty years ago the idea of sitting down to a bowl of fresh strawberries and cream on Christmas Day would have been scoffed at. However, over the past decade seasonal foods, such as strawberries – which are traditionally at their peak between April and July – have undergone a radical makeover thanks to the globalization of the food industry.

Historically, fresh foods were consumed close to where they were grown because they perished quickly and preservation was either too difficult to achieve or the cost was prohibitive. In addition, the transport infrastructure was insufficiently developed to move the foodstuff from the field to the store before it deteriorated.

But today, thanks to highly efficient transport links that have opened up the globe and major advances in food science technology, volumes of food imports into industrialized nations are increasing. As a consequence consumers can get their hands on almost any food at any time of the year.

While this scenario appeals to some, question marks have been raised about whether or not
this practice is sustainable, particularly in the light of the recent push towards local sourcing
by some of the world’s largest retailers, the backlash against genetically modified crops and
cloned livestock, and the increasing importance to consumers of issues such as carbon neutrality.

As the debate about consumer demands versus consumer concerns comes to a head, there has never been a better time to examine how the future will shape up for global food distribution.

A quick trip to a European supermarket underlines the current state of affairs. A typical shopping basket might contain New Zealand lamb, herbs from Israel, clementines from Morocco, strawberries from America and avocados from Chile. Indeed, in the UK, the average supermarket vegetable is estimated to have traveled about 600 miles. So commonplace has this phenomenon become that the phrase “food miles” was specially created to describe it (see food miles box). But it’s not just aviation miles that a product accumulates on its trip from a foreign field to the dinner plate – it’s also clocked up significant mileage at the start and end of its journey ... Download the Magazine (below) to read the complete article

ENGINEERING EXPERTISE

Engineering is playing a key role in the globalization of the food industry. Cutting-edge engineering equipment and processes are helping manufacturers improve the quality of their goods and refrigeration systems are enabling them to be transported further. GEA Group companies supply innovative products and expertise to the engineering processes of the dairy, food and beverages industries. As a result many of the things we eat and drink every day have passed through systems or entire process lines that are made by GEA.

GEA Dairy Farm Systems is one of the world’s top companies in milking technology manufacturing, supplying equipment for all stages of the milking process. Grasso, a company of GEA’s Refrigeration Division, is one of the world leaders in industrial refrigeration, designing, installing and maintaining refrigeration systems and components for the storage and transportation of food.

Mechanical separation is another area where GEA, with its leading company GEA Westfalia Separator, is a key supplier, leading the way in the separator and decanter market and mechanical separation lines for the dairy and beverage industries.

GEA’s Process Equipment Division covers the whole heat engineering spectrum to the dairy and beverage industries; including heat exchangers, pasteurizers and homogenizers (high-pressure blenders used to turn milk into premium dairy products). Food manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to prolong the shelf life of their products. GEA works closely with its food and beverage customers to design innovative engineering technologies to enable them to keep their products fresher for longer and transport them across the globe.

Finally GEA’s Process Engineering Division – with Niro – supplies complete process lines and a wide range of products to the dairy, food and beverage industries, These include evaporators, spray dryers, fluid bed dryers, extraction plants and freeze dryers.

Today, the food industry faces the challenges of supplying the world’s growing population with both traditional and new products – and doing it quickly, safely and cost-effectively.

GEA’s wide-ranging presence in the sector means it is well equipped to help the industry meet the challenges ahead.

 

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