The World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) and the Ghana National Egg Campaign (GNECS) have launched a national egg promotion ‘Eggstra-O’ with the theme Eggstra-O nutrition for al

Founded in Vigonza, near Padua, in 1981 as a small workshop for the production of packaging, Celplast has been known for its strong innovative spirit and is recognised as one of the pioneers in the plastic egg packaging market

Marel, a manufacturer of food processing equipment f for meat, poultry and fish processing industries, has unveiled its quality assurance equipment, called the IRIS FI

According to Marel, IRIS FI  is a quality assurance tool installed after the trimming station, that enables real-time checking of trimmed chicken fillets and whether individual fillets meet the quality requirements of the processor. 

IRIS FI can be combined with Innova PDS and a fillet distribution system, allowing to filter out the products that dont meet the criteria. 

The camera and the software cooperate in assigning a certain quality to the fillets and this quality information can be used for decision-making for downstream distribution. In practice, this could be Marels Fillet Distributor solution, including the intelligent servo-operated conveyor belts which redirect products of different qualities to different processing streams. An upper belt could lead to a RoboBatcher or another tray packing process, while a lower belt could lead to a marination, shwarma-strip or schnitzel processing line.

Processors can choose their own IRIS FI settings to select poultry fillets of the best possible quality. Marel says it is easy to make the ideal recipe for the allowed tolerance threshold of individual bruises, total bruise area, fat defects and total fat area. Deviant fillet shapes can also be taken into account. Among the fat defects, residual skin that is not removed by a skinner can also detected. 

Detection settings of IRIS FI can be adjusted precisely, from very strict to more tolerant and the area limits can be set for blood and fat independently. The Innova PDS software is able to register and sort out the fillets with defects that cover a larger surface than the delimited area, be it an individual defect or the total of defects.

Roxell, one of the leading manufacturers of automated animal feeding, drinking, nesting and heating systems, has announced to expand its range of convection heaters for poultry houses with the Siroc Sterling space heater

According to Roxell, the appliance with closed combustion aims to create good vertical air circulation in tall houses exceeding 4.5 m. Siroc Sterling recuperates the rising warm air, mixes it with outdoor air and releases the warm air at floor level. Using the space heater, Roxell said it records a temperature difference between the attic and the floor of just 0.5 C. 

This space heater running on gas is Roxell’s Energy-Efficient solution for uniform heat distribution in tall spaces. The convection heaters in the Siroc range is said to be suited to specific applications; a summary of the options is below: 

With chimney and gas-fired: horizontal or vertical air circulation

Roxell said space heaters with closed combustion carry away CO and CO₂ and condensate through a chimney,  which means less required ventilation to keep the indoor air clean, dry and low in ammonia. Less condensation does also imply an improved condition of the litter and the animals’ health. Roxell has two convection appliances that run on gas with closed combustion:

The Siroc Pure space heater generates a horizontal flow of warm air to heat narrow and longhouses of over 120 m. This appliance also offers a long-range heat projection of 70 m and can be installed on the side walls.

The Siroc Sterling space heater creates a vertical flow of warm air to heat tall houses in an energy-efficient way. The heater requires to be installed in the center of the house, with the heated air blown around the house. This appliance recuperates the rising warm air from the attic and aims to ensure that the heat in the house is distributed evenly across the space.

Zero emissions with alternative fuel: vertical air circulation

The Siroc Hydro hot water heater generates a vertical flow of warm air to heat tall houses. The air circulation has the same pattern as the Siroc Sterling but with a different combustion process that uses an external boiler that runs on alternative renewable fuels such as biomass or wood pellets. The main house does not require a chimney using this setup, since the boiler is located in a separate space externally.

Open combustion with gas or oil: basic models

The Siroc Turbo cannon heater running on gas or oil also creates a horizontal flow of warm air. This appliance is direct-fired, which means that the fumes are not carried away. The company says energy efficiency is key as open combustion allows all the heat generated to remain indoors. Siroc Turbo claims that the energy performance of the Siroc Turbo is therefore very high. The cannon heater is a basic solution for poultry as well as pig houses.

Frank Hartmann, marketing manager at Roxell said, “In early 2021, Roxell launched three new convection heaters. This expansion arose due to a partnership with Holland Heater. The positive collaborations and promising growth opportunities led to Roxell’s acquisition of Holland Heater in March 2021. Now we are continuing to gauge the needs of our end customers with regard to house heating and enhancing our range with the innovative offering from Holland Heater. The name ‘Holland Heater’ is staying due to the reputation that the company has built among its horticultural customers. However, the appliances included in Roxell’s range are sold under the brand name ‘Siroc’.