Food & Drink Process & Packaging Issue 23 2019 | Page 38

Entry Level Ultrasonic Food Cutting & Portioning Telsonic’s ultrasonic technology has The company specialises in creating a established itself the process of choice for wide range of fresh store-ready products food cutting and portioning applications, within their Redditch manufacturing across many different product types. facility. Much of the equipment delivered by The product under consideration for this Telsonic is installed within high volume, application was frozen Seafood Mousse and often highly automated, production which is produced with various fillings cells designed and built by the UK’s food and manufactured in a slab form ready for sector system specialists and integrators. portioning. There are, however, instances where This seasonal product however proved production volumes are such that high difficult to cut and portion manually levels of automation are not required, but when using traditional mechanical where the introduction of a simpler semi- methods due to its delicacy and variable automated ultrasonic system would still consistency. Trials using Telsonic’s deliver tangible benefits. ultrasonic technology were undertaken Seeking to improve quality and consistency on their frozen Seafood Mousse products, Redditch based Blue to determine if the process could deliver the accurate and neat portion control required. Earth Foods turned to Telsonic UK to Following the successful outcome of the configure an entry-level ultrasonic cutting cutting and portioning trials, Telsonic UK system. were commissioned to produce a semi- Blue Earth Foods Limited is a major automatic stand-alone machine. supplier of chilled seafood products to The system has been built upon leading retailers throughout the United a stainless steel framework and Kingdom and Europe. incorporates lockable castors to allow portability. 38 FDPP - www.fdpp.co.uk At the heart of the machine is a Telsonic AC750 actuator 20kHz/1200W cutting system, encased within a stainless steel cover. Other ultrasonic components include a SE2012 IP67 Converter and a MAGW02012E generator which is mounted within a stainless steel control panel. A single 100mm wide 20kHz titanium slotted cutting blade sonotrode is used to portion the product.