Wow, what an Expo

Regular readers of this blog will know that last week, we had the third annual Dairy Industries Expo at NAEC Stoneleigh. By the time we were done with it, we were all inspecting our cables, thinking about our sustainable packaging and contemplating how recycling is changing, both in the UK and globally. Dr Judith Bryans discussed how the UK dairy industry and its fellow global players are working on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, of which five of them will be mostly unattainable without the help of the dairy and livestock industries. As the world’s population ages, we will need nutritious, affordable and safe food.

Meanwhile, looking at the sanitation issues for plants (Michael Evers of Niemax and EHEDG) made me go home and inspect my kitchen cabinets thoroughly. As it stands, I had had an insect infestation and so they are pretty clean, but with food production, there has to be 100 per cent protection. Prevention is worth so much more than a cure in food, as we all know.

Sarah Flynn of CEM reminded us that the food technologists are working all the time to ensure that the checks for the market are there, and are getting easier to use. CEM can now claim the ISO 16756 / IDF 259 standard based on its Oracle fat analyser for dairy, and she talked us through what it involves.

Paddy Duggan for his part came over from Northern Ireland, and discussed what Wrap and the UK recycling programme has achieved. Have you seen any plastic straws lately, and what are your toothpaste tubes made of? These are many little things that add up to a cleaner, more recyclable waste stream.

Decarbonisation was a theme and it is always great to hear what companies such as Tetra Pak are doing for this. Ajay Shukla was on hand to detail its new ERP and E2E line solutions.

It went on, with Suhas Patel, CEO of Tvarit in Germany being the final speaker. But last was not least, as he reminded us that AI can help with optimising plant operations. Better solutions using technology can help us all to get to that greener future we are all looking at.

A full report will be in the January issue of Dairy Industries International, and I will be writing up the reports this week and next. I would also like to thank the many exhibitors who made the show complete, ranging from CEM and Collo to Engie Supply, Kellys Soft Ice Cream and Fristam Pumps and Fristam Mixing & Blending. Good to see Industrial Tomography Systems, Mettler Toledo, Inoxpa, Bruker Optics, DMN Westinghouse… we had nearly 40 exhibitors in the end and it was great to have you support our efforts to make a show about the industry, for the industry.

• Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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