Beverage producers have to take into consideration brand image protection as well as consumer safety. Many concrete examples confirm that drink contaminations by foreign particles have serious negative repercussions at different levels. They represent a risk for final consumers and damage brand integrity, generating potential downturns.

Today, a real operational solution is available to bottlers to eliminate contaminated products and ensure, at the same time, consumer safety and brand protection.

MSC Company
Based in France, MSC has more than 40 years of experience in designing and building vision inspection equipments for glassware. The company holds today the position of world leader in the field of quality control for the hollow glass industry. ...

An understanding of the chemistry involved in the formation of chill-haze has led to the development of a unique enzymatic route to increase the colloidal stability of beer. In this approach, proline-rich, haze-active proteins are selectively degraded by a proline-specific protease.

Computer modelling studies suggested that the resulting low molecular weight peptides formed during this hydrolysis are unable to form precipitating networks with the polyphenols present. Using a food grade version of the proline-specific enzyme, the reliability of the new method was confirmed in a number of 20 hl experiments. As predicted, the beers developed using these enzymes (now commercialised as Brewers Clarex) showed an excellent colloidal stability. ...

During filling of beverages parameters regarding equipment and microbiology have to be taken into consideration. By heightened product safety requirements the classical microbiological quality assurance can be improved and complemented by appropriate usage of alternative detection methods (quick detection methods).

The increasing variety of beer and flavored alcoholic beverages on beer basis demands a great deal of the filling technique and of quality assurance in respect of a microbiological point of view. The self-protection of those beverages is often diminished, which makes it necessary in the end to completely monitor the entire production process up to the finished product based on a quality assurance concept. ...

Thiobarbituric Acid Index - The TBI was formulated in Licher Private Brewery and published in 1982. Meantime, this index has achieved considerable importance in determination of thermal stressing of malt and wort and the associated taste stability of beer. This contribution is a review of the development.

For formulation of the TBI, the starting point was the determination of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in malt, wort and beer (1, 2). HMF is an aldehyde belonging to the furan derivatives (heterocyclic five-membered ring with an oxygen atom). HMF is one of the substances which arises in the Maillard reaction (non-enzymatic browning).
This reaction occurs always when amines, amino-acids and reducing sugars are present, as is the case in many foodstuffs. procedure (1, 2).

The domestic market is in a typical crowding out situation. If new products are introduced to the market they usually have to be aimed for special target groups. The intervals for the introduction of product innovations become increasingly shorter.

The risk of producing a flop bears for some companies the impact of loosing their existence due to high costs for launching a product on the market. Thus, crucial for having success is the art to produce what consumers want. As a result food primarily is evaluated and judged with all senses. Therefore, the importance of sensory product research and sensory specifications comes to the fore. By means of sensory analysis a specific product has to be created and launched consumer oriented. ...

Today’s beverage market is much more dynamic than ever before. Various market surveys show that the average market life of a beverage brand has decreased from the 8 - 10 years observed in the eighties, to 4 - 5 years. This trend is compounded with a dramatic increase in portfolio diversification. The result is an extraordinary increase in the level of operational risk.

ACE Drinks, Iced Tea’s, Functional Drinks and a plethora of new carbonated soft drinks or mixes have erupted on to the market. The current production capacities are exploited to the full and 100% line efficiency is expected - and then comes the Marketing department with another new product.
The investment in new filling equipment is too risky and the existing line is running at maximum capacity. ...

"Table"

All the indications are there that the beer market, both national and international, will in the medium term enter a phase in which the sales of beer in plastic bottles (including the smaller-volume sizes) will assume ever-greater significance. According to independent sources, 3.5% of worldwide beer sales may already be being filled in PET containers by 2005. The state-of-the-art of the according technology is described in this article.

Plastic bottles for beer have both advantages and disadvantages. Chief among the former are their low weight, their robustness, their flexible design options, their transparency and their dimensional accuracy.
Plastic bottles cannot, moreover, be heated up too far, i.e. they cannot in general be pasteurised either...

True to its words to form alliances on a country-by-country basis, Heineken and Lion Nathan have formed a joint-venture - Heineken Lion Australia - which brings the companies together in a sales and distribution deal with the aim to possibly brew Heineken and other Heineken company brands in Lion Nathan’s Australian breweries. The joint-venture will be fully operational by 1 July 2004.
According to a company report, the joint-venture creates an extensive distribution platform, whereby a precinct sales force has been established to sell the combined portfolio of brands in the major metropolitan areas (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth). In addition the existing Lion Nathan sales force will sell the Heineken brand in other non-metropolitan areas.

Considering that the market for beverage packaging and filling machinery valued at EUR20 billion in 2000 has declined 3,4 percent this year according to estimates, it is no small feat that Krones has been able to beat this trend. Despite a sluggish macro-economic environment, stagnating markets and increasing pressure on prices, the Krones Group has been able to stay on growth track. The world’s market leader for beverage bottling lines and packaging machinery, headquartered in Neutraubling, Bavaria, has managed for the fourth time in a row to outperform the previous year’s figures in terms of turnover, order bookings and profits. In 2003 the demand for Krones’ machines, systems and services has been higher than ever.1 percent to EUR1.1 billion. In the same period, turnover rose 8..