Processing

Flexibility in processing performance

GEA Food Solutions processing equipment for meat, poultry, fish and vegetables

Creating products in all shapes and sizes, give coated products a great appeal and taste, cook to perfection and preserve quality, freshness, structure and weight day in day out. GEA Food Solutions process equipment is designed to meet increased demands on performance in product quality, hygiene and efficiency. GEA Food Solutions is an industry leader in processing, and the current range of machines for forming, coating, frying, cooking, grilling and freezing have their roots in the great Koppens brand of the Netherlands (founded in1961) and continue to contribute to the unmatched level of experience in GEA Food Solutions' processing activity. 

The key to versatility

In a market where customer preferences, economic trends and global competition influence how to operate, it is necessary to turn challenges into opportunities. GEA Food Solutions performance-focused solutions - for small, medium up to industry bench mark production demands - offer versatility, increased yield and maximum product safety to cost-effectively produce appetizing, affordable and safe food products at a lower cost per portion or Kg. Simply by choosing the best combination of forming, coating, frying, cooking, grilling and freezing equipment in the application specific line set-up. 

GEA Food Solutions can offer processing solutions for the protein market segment - primarily for fish, red meat, pork, poultry and meat replacement products - from fresh products, to ready meals and meal components applications.

Forming, the shape of satisfaction 

The GEA Food Solutions processing range starts with forming equipment - including interchangeable forming plates to deliver consistent quality results - and include accessories to insert sticks, interleave paper and create meatballs. The GEA forming machines are designed around production needs and can handle emulsions to particles and even shape whole muscle pieces with a constant weight and size. The range consists of the GEA FreshFormer for fresh ground meat, and the GEA MultiFormer for the medium to high end production needs. Beginning of 2014 the range will be extended with a continuous high-speed drum former; the GEA MaxiFormer. 

Complete control over the coating process 

GEA coating equipment are worldwide successful for pre-dust, batter, flour, breading, bread crumb and tempura applications for natural and formed products creating an industrial or home style appearance. The GEA Food Solutions` coating line solutions, give you control over quantity of coating material used - optimizing the degree of pick-up - to balance quality, consistency, yield and costs. The GEA coating range consists of a dust-free flour applicator, the GEA OptiFlour and GEA OptiAir and a crumb applicator for both fine and coarse bread crumbs, the GEA CrumbMaster. For perfect homestyle coating with minimal manual interference, optimal product spreading and a dust-free environment, the GEA MultiDrum.

For batter applications two solutions are available depending on the intended use, the GEA WetCoater and GEA OptiCoater. For high speed batter lines and high quality tempura applications again two solutions are available, the GEA TempuDipper and  GEA OptiDipper. To create a wide variety of batters the GEA BatterMixer is a simple solution. The GEA TempuMixer is the industry standard in fully automatic high quality tempura mixing, creating tempura batters, with best crisp and great fluffiness. 

Enhance taste and appearance of fried products 

Deep fried products need to be crisp, crunchy and golden colored and GEA Food Solutions helps to achieve perfect frying results with a range of frying and oil management solutions. The GEA EasyFry is designed for safe, easy and low maintenance operation and low oil consumption.

The GEA EasyFry XL is designed for high production demands at high belt speed, with no metal-to-metal contact between belt and belt support to minimize maintenance. It has the industry benchmark. The integrated sediment removal system separates sediment from oil improving the overall frying performance. To ensure right color and flavor and reduce degradation of oil and product quality over time, a separate oil filter can be connected. 

The GEA Oberlin Oil Filter for high capacity continuously operating pressure filtering (especially suitable for tempura coated and breaded products as well as non-coated products like burgers and meat balls) and the GEA RotoFilter for medium to high capacities filtering of mainly crumb coated products. 

The Art of Cooking, Roasting and Smoking 

Achieving the right appearance, flavor, texture and mouth feel for the most satisfying eating experience depends heavily on the cooking or grilling parameters. The GEA heat treatment solutions provide the desired degree of juiciness, crispness and browning, as well as maximize yield at shortest cooking times. 

The portfolio starts with the in-line cooker the GEA FlowCook suitable for smaller capacities but for a large variety of product. The GEA CookStar is a versatile two-zone spiral oven with a unique combined horizontal and vertical airflow concept to steam, cook and roast products to perfection with increased yield and operational flexibility as well as food safety. 

The introduction of GEA SuperHeatSmoke enables authentic smoking at high capacity in the GEA CookStar. This cuts process time for natural smoked products from hours to minutes, without additional declaration.

Thanks to impingement technology, it is possible to roast natural products without color additives and skinless products on the GEA CookStar Turbo, a multi-zone spiral roaster. This patented technology combines horizontal airflow with vertical impingement at the right point in the process to gain on flexibility, speed up cooking and create a crispy product with even higher yield. 

The GEA Spiral ovens are the industry standard on high capacity cooking. For specific applications such as grilled products the GEA TwinGrill provides a grill appearance by using a dual Teflon belt and heating platens. For an appealing and specific char mark appearance, taste and texture the  GEA GrillMarker provides a perfect solution. 

Freezing to protect and preserve product quality 

Once a product is formed, coated and heat-treated its quality, freshness, appearance and weight needs to be protected and preserved. Short freezing time, compact footprints and a choice of configurations and handling the full range of production capacities comes along in the GEA Spiral Freezer range. In the GEA E-Tec P spiral freezer, products are surrounded by a horizontal air stream at a consistent temperature. This Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) technique ensures minimum weight loss, optimum food safety and preserves structure and flavor. This efficient freezing process reduces freezing time as well as saving energy, contributing to a lower price per kilo. 

Complete line solutions 

With this level of in-house experience and such a complete range of machines, GEA Food Solutions is also an ideal partner for supplying line solutions – for processing as well as for integrating into other meat preparation and marination lines. GEA Food Solutions also manufactures innovative slicing and packaging solutions, making it one of the most comprehensive equipment suppliers to the protein industry.

For more information about Processing, please contact Mirande Franken