Air Liquide's Phargalis Gas Identification Unit uses a validated method to automatically identify gases such as O₂, CO₂, and N₂. This means that costly lab analyses are no longer necessary.

In Kruisem, Belgium, of all places, there’s a unique fish farm. The inconspicuous Aqua4C building – not by chance located right next to a tomato farm – is home to a series of tanks with a combined capacity of around 1 million litres of fresh water. As well as almost 40 tonnes of omega perch...

Some people talk about protein diversification, and others prefer protein transition. But in each case, the challenge is the same: the search for new nutrients and products to take their rightful place alongside meat products. Preferably also for their taste, texture, nutritional qualities and price...

Surrounded by woodland in Houthalen-Helchteren, Belgian Limburg, stands a castle dating back to the 16th century where today top-quality abbey beers are brewed.

As well as the big well-known players, there are also quite a few smaller breweries in the Benelux. Some are run commercially, while others are strictly hobby projects. Remarkably, many of these smaller (micro) breweries succeed in producing high-quality beers.

One major reason why food has limited shelf life is the oxygen in the air outside. This encourages a wide range of bacteria and microbes to develop which attack the food.

Blasteq - strategically located between Amsterdam and The Hague - markets dry ice blasting machines, while sister company 247DIC uses dry ice for industrial cleaning.

Imagine a 70,000 m2 site, comprising a huge shop offering no fewer than 35,000 different food items serving both professionals and consumers, and 150 refrigerated trucks driving back and forth six days out of every seven, delivering a daily average of 20,000 packages. That’s 250 tonnes of food products going to customers over a wide area. La Provençale, with its 1,300 employees, is by far the biggest food wholesaler in the region.

Selecting and designing suitable packaging for a food product is not an easy task, even more so because the quality and look and feel of the packaging have a significant impact on the success of the product. One of the most important parameters regarding quality is of course the shelf life. After all, a longer shelf life is not only advantageous for the manufacturer, but also for the customer…

Dutch Berries is part of the Gijbert Kreling group, which has five cultivation sites with a total of about 50 hectares of greenhouses. Until recently the group grew only Elsanta strawberries but, from 2020, the Malling Centenary variety is being introduced too. The group also cultivates kalanchoes and chrysanthemums.

Glastuinbouw Nederland wants to reduce the use of fossil fuels by greenhouse horticulture companies, so that the sector can achieve its CO2 objectives. But before that, there’s still a major problem to be solved, because moving away from fossil fuels risks creating a shortage of CO2 in the sector. It couldn’t be more ironic...

As many as 1.2 billion tonnes of food go to waste annually worldwide. This is a painful thought from an ethical point of view, and economically too, as the cost of this wastage approaches EUR 825 billion a year. In this context, any development which helps combat food waste is very welcome.

Recent developments can now achieve perfect temperature control during the production and transport of food products such as meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, cheese and pasta. This brings some significant benefits.

Andy Augustus, Market Manager Food & Pharma North-West Europe, explains how food producers can rapidly test new products and production methods using - among other installations - a cryogenic freezer tunnel.

The energy transition - replacing fossil fuels with sustainable energy sources - is proving a challenge in all sectors, but the situation in the horticulture sector is especially complex. This is because protected crops actually need carbon dioxide to survive.

Konings partners with drinks businesses to take care of their bottling and packaging needs. With its head office in Zonhoven, Belgium, the company has developed into a major player in the international drinks sector.

In a not too distant past, it was self-evident for most people to eat a meat based meal every day. In the past, vegetarians were considered to be outside the mainstream. Today however, our society is rapidly evolving into a semi-vegetarian ‘flexitarian’ lifestyle into which we cut down meat consumption in favour of more sustainable plants and vegetables diets.

Dry ice is best known for its use as a cooling agent in the transport and food sectors, but it is also extremely effective when used to clean machinery in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Companies that infringe the cold chain regulations run considerable financial risks. Not least because it could lead to serious health problems for the consumer...

Dry ice is becoming increasingly popular in the food sector. The refrigerant has already proven its usefulness in hospitality, catering and e-commerce, and is now also being used in the preparation of food products...

Dry ice has long remained relatively unknown, but for some years now the product has been growing increasingly popular with companies from the transport and e-commerce sectors. In addition, dry ice is also widely used in the food and pharmaceutical sectors and for cleaning machines.

Governments and consumers continue to make increasing demands – as indeed they should – with regard to the application of hygiene in the food industry. Air Liquide’s latest Cryo Cabinet generation – a series of high-tech cryogenic cabinet freezers – introduces various innovative techniques to meet these demands.

The International Society of Beverage Technologies – ISBT for short – distances itself from commercial activities and only deals with the technical side of the beverage industry. Gary Robson, Vice President of the ISBT, explains the importance of the Beverage Gases Technical Committee – one of the nine technical committees within the ISBT – and what the opportunities and challenges are regarding the use of CO2 in the drinks industry.

The importance of a professional approach to hygiene in the food industry cannot be overemphasised. Even relatively minor shortcomings can have far-reaching consequences including serious illness and even death.

It is well understood that the presence of oxygen in liquids such as drinks, sauces, olive oil or pharmaceutical preparations leads to oxidation. And since oxidation has a detrimental effect on shelf life, it is advisable to limit the amount of oxygen as much as possible. ‘Oxygen management’ describes the set of measures designed to ensure that the oxygen residue in the end product is kept to a minimum.

If we are going to prevent famine from becoming an even bigger problem in the future than it already is today, we must take urgent action. This can be done by investing in intelligent solutions that help reduce food shortages.

BrightBox is a centre of expertise for the multilayer cultivation of plants without the use of natural daylight. It strives to exponentially increase the efficiency of the horticultural sector. One of the ways to achieve this is to add extra CO2 to the process.

On 18 May 2017, Air Liquide organised the first edition of Food Day, a seminar specifically aimed at food companies. The seminar brought together experts from industry, government and academia to exchange innovative ideas. Key themes were operational excellence, innovation, sustainability and quality.