Dairy Special MILK IN THE MAKING A unique milk taste competition expected to increase demand from Chinese consumers for New Zealand produced fresh UHT milk has been held in Canterbury to show variability in taste, smell and the colour of milk. WATER ACTIVITY SEMINAR FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPLETE MOISTURE ANALYSIS METER PALMERSTON NORTH 1ST MARCH 24 FEBRUARY 2017 They may not sound like huge problems… until a hopper full of milk powder seizes up and shuts down your production line…and it’s then that caking and clumping become issues. So what causes problems like this to happen? The story of caking and clumping goes like this: when powders are exposed to moisture from higher water activity ingredients or humid air, they take on water vapour. At first, the water just sits on the surface of the powder particles, and everything’s fine. Powder still flows smoothly, and for a while, taking on moisture isn’t a problem. Soon enough, however, the water begins to penetrate the centre of the particles, and they get ‘sticky’. At this point, the powder isn’t free-flowing and manufacturing becomes a mess. Want to eradicate this for good? FF Instrumentation have the answer…a vapour sorption analyser will tell you what water activities will cause clumping problems, and how long it takes for your product to take on moisture under various conditions. Join them for a water activity seminar in Christchurch on February 28, Palmerston North on March 1 and Auckland on March 2. For more information, go to the FF Instrumentation website at www.ffi.nz. CHRISTCHURCH 8TH FEBRUARY AUCKLAND 2ND MARCH PHONE: (03) 595 2368 WWW.FFI.NZ FT235 Caking and Clumping Issues? Milk New Zealand – one of the largest dairy farm groups in New Zealand with 29 farms owned by Theland Tahi Farm Group and Purata Farming, and milking 30,000 cows on 12,000ha – initiated the competition at Purata Farming’s Delaborin Dairies in Hororata. Milk New Zealand’s Justine Kidd says six Purata staff members blind-tasted and graded full cream milk according to taste, colour and smell, with the result captured on film. An upcoming programme on the taste test will screen online on shopping channels and instore television screens in China, and will put a very positive spotlight on the quality and integrity behind the production of Theland UHT milk and New Zealand dairying in general. “Involving our farm team in the event also provided them with a wider perspective of the business they are part of,” Kidd says. “They now have a clearer sense of the connection between what they do on farm, and the end consumer. We have a highly motivated, stable team of very skilled people on our farms and milk production is on or ahead of budget.” Not surprisingly, the milk with the highest protein and fat content came out on top. Milk production from four of the company’s farms is processed by Miraka, producing Theland UHT products which are exported to China. Photo caption: (tasters, from left) Ruwan Wijayasena, Michael Woodward, Brett Walter, Justine Kidd, Aidan O Leary and Kirsti Lovie.
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