A 3D printer for foods and a dry cleaning system for ham and pork shoulder among Bta award winners

The awards promote innovative projects and entrepreneurial initiatives and among the winners this year were a 3D printer for foods, a dry cleaning system for ham and pork shoulder and a self-monitoring and self-managing equipment for olive oil production.

Hamclean

20 applicants entered the awards, which were split into four categories; Processing and Preparation; Food Safety; Environment, Waste, Ecodesign and Energy Efficiency and Automation, Sensors, Control, Logistics Information and Communications Technology.

FAC/OC Solutions and Grupo Linde picked up the Processing and Preparation category for its Hamclean project, a dry cleaning system for ham and pork shoulder. Based on cryogenic cleaning technology, the judges said the technology revolutionises traditional ham processing and prevents the need to trim the lean pork from the deboned ham.

Aneolia received the prize for Food Safety for Oxylos, an automated quality control device which combines several tests to analyse packaging (leak test, explosion, gas analysis).

In the Environment category, Xuclà was recognised for its Esfera box cleaning and drying tunnels. The rounded shape of the tunnels means it can optimise 100% of the pump flow. The design allows water to run along the walls, preventing turbulence. The eco-sustainable system was designed to reduce water and detergent consumption and guarantee maximum box sterilisation.

Foss Iberia and Gea Westaflia won the Automation prize for their joint project Sapea (Oil extraction process self-management system). For the first time, it introduces self-monitoring and self-management into the olive oil making process, with ou the need for prior selection or human involvement.

Foodini, was recognised for its entrepreneurship with its 3Dprionter from Natural Machines. Foodini controls what people eat and promotes healthy cooking. It is a printerwhich has a series of reusable stainless steel capsulers where the user places different ingredients int eh recipe. A nozzle functions as a head to begin printing. The recipe is selected from the internet using a touch screen or tavblet.

Natural Machines

Natural Machines won the Bta Emprende Award and a €80k place at the Food&Tech Bootcamp, an acceleration programme, promoted by Reimagien Food.

Lynette Kucsma, CMO and Co-founder, Natural Machines, said today, people eat too much convenience foods, processed foods, packaged foods, or pre-made meals - many with ingredients that are unidentifiable to the common consumer, versus homemade, healthy foods and snacks. But there is the problem of people not having enough time to make homemade foods from scratch.

“Foodini is a kitchen appliance that takes on the difficult parts of making food that is hard or time-consuming to make fully by hand. By 3D printing food, you automate some of the assembly or finishing steps of home cooking, making it easier to create freshly made meals and snacks​,” she said.

“Take an example of ravioli. How often have you made homemade ravioli? Rolling out the dough to a thin layer, adding the filling, adding the top layer of dough, and then cutting it to size takes time. With Foodini you load the dough and filling into the machine and it will print individual raviolis​.

“The 3D printing of food – in this case, creating a layer of pasta, a layer of filling, and covering it with a layer of pasta again – is assembling the ravioli. The same as you would do by hand, except Foodini automates it​.”

Alimentaria FoodTech

This year’s judges included Jorge Jordana, chairman, Food for Life; Navil Khayyat, promotion and coordination division head, CDTI (Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology) and Pere Gou, director, engineering sub-programme, IRTA (Agri-Food Research and Technology Institute).

Bta has announced it is changing its name to Alimentaria FoodTech, part of Alimentaria Exhibitions.

The rebranding will enable Alimentaria FoodTech to optimise the Alimentaria brand's potential for international expansion, whether in those countries where it has already successfully established itself, such as Portugal and Mexico, or in other countries where the company has identified expansion opportunities.