Waalre/Overpelt, November 27, 2018 – Infrabaker International today announced that HJF, a leading Korean supplier of quality foods (meat and sauces), with offices located in Incheon (and soon to be opening their new production plant in Chungcheongnam-do), has recently invested in another 6m. of Infrabaker cooking equipment.

In 2014, H.J.F. purchased their first Infrabaker (3 m cooking length) for the first large industrial scale production in Korea of fully direct grilled products. It was H.J.F.’s objective to further expand the availability of healthier and more ecological processed foods to customers in Asia using Infrabaker’ patented technology, which fully coincides with HJF’s moto “Health and Values to customers”.

The grilled chicken breast (available at E-mart Traders, part of the Korean franchise market) has become a product in high demand. To meet up with this demand, the new Infrabaker cooking equipment will be installed at HJF’s new state of the art production plant at the Megapolis Industrial complex, Chungju-si, Chungcheongnam-do, South-Korea. The new plant (total lot space of 11.550 m2) will offer room for approx. 80 new employees.

H.J.F. changed name to KG Fresh https://kgfresh.co.kr/

The sale was made through Thematec Food Industry Co., Ltd, Infrabaker's agent in Korea. Production on the Infrabaker is expected to start in early Q2 2019.

SugarCreek opened its sixth plant in Cambridge City, IN in 2015.  Here the company houses one of the largest sous vide lines of the world.  By choosing to offer sous vide on a commercial scale SugarCreek follows the worldwide trend that puts sous vide in the top of food preparation methods (e.g. National Restaurant Association 2016).

Sous vide, a French term that translates as under vacuum, is a method of cooking in which food items are vacuum sealed and then placed in a water bath at a constant temperature for a longer period of time. 

This method has several advantages (The sous vide solution, SugarCreek):

- fully cooked/convenience

- perfect texture tenderness

- perfect flavor/color

- less shrink/better yields

- less ingredients/clean label

- increased shelf life

- improved nutrition

SugarCreeks' sous vide line consists of different steps: the chosen protein is seasoned/marinated as required, followed by an optional searing step to add color and texture after which it is sealed and passes through the water bath. Finally, it is quick-chilled and then refrigerated or frozen until it is ready to be served, either in a restaurant or in a consumer’s home.

At the beginning of this year the searing capacity of the sous vide line was expanded by adding an extra unit to the modular Infrabaker they have on site since the start of the line.

Cooking is the art and technology of preparing food for consumption with or without the use of heat. Preparing food with heat is an activity unique to humans. Cooking techniques are very varied, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves.  New inventions and technologies expand the possibilities.

This multitude of cooking methods use different levels of heat and moisture and vary in cooking time. The method chosen can greatly affect the result, because depending on the food and the desired outcome some methods are more appropriate than others. The challenge is to find the right technique.

All methods have their own characteristics with advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes one technique does not tick all the boxes and a combination of techniques is needed to end up with the desired result. By combining cooking techniques In a well thought-out way it is possible to reduce the disadvantages of the chosen methods and maximize their advantages.

Infrabaker is using infrared technology as a method to cook, bake and color different kinds of food products.  It can be used by itself but lends itself perfectly as well to work in combination with other methods to form a hybrid cooking solution.

A possibility would be a combination of microwave and IR. Just consider some crispy bacon. A technology often used is microwave.  Its benefits are a very short production time and relatively good preservation of size.  The obvious downside is the lack of crispiness and a rather bleak color.  Combining this technique with a short exposure to short wave IR, transforms the microwave result into a very crispy piece of golden bacon in seconds.

When applying breading to frozen products, it is important to get a good stickiness on the product so the crumbs will not fall off during packaging or when frying in an oil fryer. To make the product sticky on the outside and keep the inside frozen you could use IR technology to achieve this. Just a short IR impulse is enough to make the product sticky and make it ready to be crumbed. After breading the product can be for example fried in a continuous line.

Also think about sous-vide cooking. This is a very healthy way of cooking food. By vacuum packing the product it's possible to almost keep all nutrients in the food and reduce weight loss. Disadvantage is, it is very difficult to get any color on the product. When combining with infrared, it is possible to sear and color the product first. Because of the nature of IR cooking, it makes the surface of the product heat up very quickly and starts coloring and searing almost immediately. Because of the limited exposure time to the heat source, the heat conduction inside the product is very limited which assures the nutrients stay inside the product and weight loss is down to a minimum. The seared product can be vacuum-packed and processed by sous-vide to get a more attractive looking product.

Another example are grilled products.  You are looking for an evenly cooked piece with the added appeal (and taste) of the grill.  Over or undercooking are a risk and uneven coloring needs to be avoided.  Combining an Infrabaker with a char marker for applying these grill marks will give you the result you are looking for.

These are of course just a few examples of where the combination of techniques reaches a better result than any of the techniques by itself. 

Looking to solve your processing puzzle? Check out our application examples and find your product.  No similar products found?  No problem, Infrabaker Int. offers you the possibility to test your product at our production facility in Overpelt.  Fill in the contact form and we’ll make sure we have a test unit available. 

The term "Waste" has a negative connotation which leads to great concerns in the global food Industry, where 1.6bn tons of food with an estimated value $1 trillion is reported wasted every year. No wonder more and more energy is being put in reducing or if possible eliminating this waste.

Efforts may vary from improving the date marking on products, guarding the cold chain to improve shelf life to repurposing surplus produce.[1] Waste in the food industry can obviously not be seen disconnected from the potential waste of resources in the production process.   Trying to produce food with use of the least possible resources is key in the process. The industry should be innovative to find different ways to process food in a less conservative, less resource consuming.

In general traditional ways of cooking, baking, cooling use a lot of fossil fuel.

Next to the depletion of our natural resources the use of fossil fuels leads to a high emission of environmental unfriendly carbon oxide.

Looking at fryers specifically a lot of oil or fat is used which only has a short period of usage. After which it needs to be evacuated and treated before it can be drained.

Luckily there are alternatives on the market for fossil fuel.  Using the energy which the sun delivers on a day to day basis, the power of the wind which makes our big windmills turn, or the strength of the movement of water. These free, inexhaustible, resources provide the energy which has almost no impact on our environment. For some time these sources could not be used efficiently enough, but the technology has evolved and replacing the traditional process by a new innovative process which uses only renewable resources is within our reach.

We, at Infrabaker, have found a way to use these free resources to produce the energy/ heat needed to process food.  Our innovative Infrabaker gives the food industry an opportunity to make a change in this tricky matter.

Come discover your possibilities and join the ones making a global change.

 Looking to join the battle against waste? Check out our application examples and find your product.  No similar products found?  No problem, Infrabaker Int. offers you the possibility to test your product at our production facility in Overpelt.  Fill in the contact form and we’ll make sure we have a test unit available. 

[1] http://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Industry-Voices/Too-good-to-throw-away