1998:

Bedford Fleischwaren GmbH & Co (Osnabrück) and Linde AG, Werksgruppe Technische Gase (Hollriegelskreuth/Bavaria):

The process developed by the meat product producer Bedford in cooperation with Linde is based on the principle of a conventional controlled climate ripening facility. The special instrumentation and controls and hermetic sealing make it possible to select any desired atmosphere (inert gas) in the climate chamber during ripening (drying) of the meat products. The advantage of this ripening process is that thanks to the exclusion of atmospheric oxygen, the growth of mould fungi in the ripening facility and on the surfaces of the treated or stored products is safely avoided even when high relative atmospheric humidity is applied. A further benefit is that during storage the drying loss and consistency development can be controlled selectively without any undesired changes in aroma or deviations in colour resulting. By comparison with traditional ripening processes, distinct rationalisation in the production process and savings in costs are possible, depending on the product and treatment time.

 
The process is characterised by a very high innovative content and practicability. It can also be transferred to other products in food production, for example cheese ripening.

LIDL-Fleischwerk Handelshof GmbH & Co. KG (Neckarsulm):

So far the positioning of sausages in natural casings in self-service packages has always been carried out manually due to the high inhomogeneity of the products (e.g. length, colour, curvature etc.). The only restricted packing hygiene achievable in this way together with the high costs was also disadvantageous.

 
In cooperation with Systemhaus für Automatisierungstechnik imt Peter Nagler (Fellbach), Messrs. Lidl have developed a process for sorting and positioning sausages based on the use of industrial robots. This has not been achieved in the field of meat processing before. The system in operation at Lidl continuously identifies the position and form of the sausages lying on a conveyor belt via an optimal image recognition system, picks up the products recognised and accepted and places them in order on a conveyor belt / in the packaging. Sausages or fragments that are not accepted on the grounds of a comparison with given parameters are not covered and are sorted out at the end.

This new automation technology for sorting and positioning irregularly shaped products is very innovative, flexible and genuinely new. It can be converted to other items in a relatively short space of time depending on the product and the grading features required. Packaging hygiene can be improved substantially by reducing manual intervention during the packaging operation.