{"id":2591,"date":"2023-07-03T08:13:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T08:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/?p=2591"},"modified":"2023-07-03T08:13:21","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T08:13:21","slug":"challenges-in-yoghurt-processing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/weblog-posts-en\/challenges-in-yoghurt-processing\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges in yoghurt processing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Challenges in yoghurt processing \u2013 and how the experts solve them<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s no overstatement to say that dairy products have\u00a0 been part of Kenneth Sj\u00f6str\u00f6m\u2019s life since birth. The Tetra Pak dairy processengineer grew up on a farm and as a child helped to milk cows and collect milk for the local dairy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could say I\u2019ve lived and worked with milk and yoghurt for half a century,\u201d says Kenneth, a Tetra Pak veteran of 25 years. He shares his specialty of yoghurt processing with colleague Katarina Lindgren.<\/p>\n

A Tetra Pak dairy technologist since 2011, Katarina focuses on yoghurt and other fermented dairy products like cultured sour milk, quark and kefir.\u00a0 She and Kenneth help customers to produce top-quality yoghurt and to overcome the distinctive processing challenges associated with yoghurt production.<\/p>\n

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Achieving yoghurt quality through knowledge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYoghurt is a very dynamic category and also a challenging one in terms of dairy engineering,\u201d Kenneth says. \u201cStrict food hygiene demands, and yoghurt\u2019s variable viscosity, require specialist processing knowledge to get a high-quality product through the plant and into the package.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the diverse nature of yoghurt itself. Yoghurt varies not only in taste and type but also in when people consume it, how they consume it, and what they perceive its nutritional benefits to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoghurt is also ever-changing. Once, consumers typically chose between plain or strawberry. Today, supermarket refrigerators are overflowing with possibilities as new formulations and tastes enter the market.<\/p>\n

Based at Tetra Pak\u2019s headquarters in Lund, Kenneth and Katarina work on yoghurt-related projects all over the world. They see three top challenges that producers must confront when planning their lines and configuring their production.<\/p>\n

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Consistency is king<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first challenge is production consistency. All producers want their product to have consistent quality. It is vital to treat all the yoghurt in a line in the same way to guarantee the same final-product characteristics within and between batches.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany types of yoghurt require gentle treatment. The process of pumping, cooling and agitating a fermented product can damage its structure,\u201d Kenneth says. \u201cYou need the same treatment for all yoghurt and a layout with the same piping arrangement for all product batches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inadequate process control is another potential source of product inconsistency. The solution is effective automation and accurate temperature and pressure control throughout the process.<\/p>\n

Katarina adds: \u201cIf raw materials and processing parameters are consistent and the physical layout of the line is consistent, then we will get a consistent end-product.\u201d<\/p>\n

She points out that inconsistent processing parameters can cause separation, variable viscosity, graininess and flavour variations in the final product.<\/p>\n

Make a friend of flexibility<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The second challenge is plant flexibility. Modern yoghurt production requires the capability to produce a multitude of different flavours and formulations \u2013 from standard yoghurt with different fat levels to organic and lactose-free varieties, and from plain products to ones with fruit and cereal particles and even spices.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to be able to change between different product recipes, and all switches result in some product being lost,\u201d Kenneth says. \u201cKnowledge of the product and the production process is crucial to minimise losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cWe need to analyse the different types of yoghurt a producer wants to produce and also to imagine what yoghurts they might want to produce in the future. Ideally, we want to design a line that can do everything the customer wants today and also possibly something more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some producers choose to divide their production into two lines \u2013 one high-volume and one with smaller volumes \u2013 but it all depends on what you produce.<\/p>\n

\u201cA single line is a cheaper investment, but it might not be cheaper overall because of losses when switching,\u201d Kenneth says.<\/p>\n

Efficiency and cost awareness<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another yoghurt processing challenge is cost-efficiency. In this context, the emphasis is on cost-effective production. Katarina and Kenneth explain that there are several ways to ensure that a yoghurt line is efficiently configured.<\/p>\n

One is to avoid over-specifying the line. The objective is to get exactly the right process and equipment design that can handle desired production scope with an element of future-proofing.<\/p>\n

Learning the individual characteristics of each formulation is critical to designing the right line, Katarina explains. \u201cWe design lines that are fit for the customer\u2019s purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

A customized line also allows the producer to make the most of its raw material. Optimizing the process design can enhance viscosity preservation, thereby allowing the producer to use fewer or other ingredients.<\/p>\n

One way to achieve this is for customers to visit the Tetra Pak Product Development Centre, where they can refine and verify their recipes with support from Tetra Pak food technologists.<\/p>\n

“Learning the individual characteristics of each formulation is critical to designing the right line,\u201d Katarina explains. \u201cWe design lines that are fit for the customer\u2019s purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Optimise energy consumption<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ultimately, this is about delivering a cost-effective solution and helping the customer to spend wisely. \u201cWhy install \u2018standard\u2019 yoghurt equipment that uses the biggest pumps, tanks and agitators when you can achieve the desired product quality with better-tailored equipment?\u201d Katarina asks.<\/p>\n

Then there are operating costs. Yoghurt production is energy-intensive because it involves a lot of heating and cooling.<\/p>\n

Kenneth advises choosing an equipment supplier that knows how to optimise energy consumption and how to build energy recovery systems to reuse the heat used, for example, in plant cleaning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no one magic piece of equipment for this. What you need is knowledge of process design and heat recovery systems and how energy can be transferred between different parts of the plant,\u201d Kenneth says. \u201cThis is an area where quite significant savings can be made if you have the know-how.\u201d\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Challenges in yoghurt processing \u2013 and how the experts solve them It\u2019s no overstatement to say that dairy products have\u00a0 been part of Kenneth Sj\u00f6str\u00f6m\u2019s life since birth. The Tetra Pak dairy processengineer grew up on a farm and as a child helped to milk cows and collect milk for the local dairy. \u201cYou could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":235,"featured_media":2589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[756,758,757],"class_list":["post-2591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weblog-posts-en","tag-challenges-in-yoghurt","tag-consistency-is-king","tag-yoghurt-processing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/235"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2592,"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions\/2592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psa-equipment.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}