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Food Equipment News Thursday, February 7, 2019 1 4 Emerson: Solutions for Food Safety An interview with Paul Carlson, Vice President and General Manager for Foodservice Solutions, Emerson. FEN: What demands are changing the landscape of solutions you provide? PC: Food safety – with one in six Americans contracting foodborne illness- es each year, one 250-person outbreak has the potential to cost a QSR up to $1.9 million. Food quality – with global sales of healthy food products estimated to reach $1 trillion, the demand on quality is even higher on the people who produce, transport or sell food. Regulations – The Department of Energy (DOE) is mandat- ing energy reductions from 5 to 50 per- cent on various classes of commercial refrigeration equipment, which raises the demand for more efficient systems. Infrastructure and maintenance impacts – new strategies are in higher demand to minimize service disruptions. FEN: What solutions does your company offer to help tackle the issue of food safety? PC: Emerson offers a broad range of solu- tions, from harvesting, processing, trans- porting, distributing and end user opera- tions. Our compressors and refrigeration systems, industrial refrigeration, controls, loggers, trackers, temperature con- trols, and management and connec- tivity offerings collectively help ensure food safety all the way through the cold chain. Emerson solutions also include IoT-based technologies that can validate and manage temperature, humidity and other conditions; track transportation time and location; automate record-keeping, and improve other handling processes. This sophisticated cold chain management helps maintain fresh food to the point of consumption, reduces food waste, improves food safety and drives compli- ance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and other regulations. FEN: How is IoT impacting your busi- ness strategy? PC: As equipment and devices become increasingly connected, the amount of information available through IoT is rap- idly growing. Providing more data points means more complete information, a bet- ter understanding of how equipment is operating and whether or not it's trending toward failure. The impact for us and the industry over the next five to 10 years will come from adding intelligence and extrapolat- ing more meaningful data. It will become more important to filter all the data that can be realized from IoT and push intelligence to the edge. It also will be important to be able to contextualize that data, provide smart interpretation and enable predictive maintenance and analy- sis. This will help reduce risk and maintenance costs and decrease equipment downtime even further. FEN: How important is the concept of connectivity as part of your offerings? PC: At the core of any foodservice opera- tion is its ability to consistently prepare and deliver safe, fresh and high-quality prod- ucts to its customers. From refrigeration to cook time temperatures, energy consump- tion to consumer foot traffic, product hold times to refrigerator door openings, the range of information available grows every day. This data comes from communicating equipment, sensors, controls and local gate- ways, and is then transferred to the cloud (or another data repository) for remote access. Our IoT solutions continue to broaden and evolve to support the increase in revenue and operational efficiencies and enable proactive and preventative mainte- nance from connectivity. For more information, visit booth #4100, go to www.emerson.com or call 937.890.5311. SpeedHeat Flameless Catering Product from Sterno An interview with David Amirault, Vice President of Marketing, Sterno Products. FEN: Tell our readers about SpeedHeat™. DA: Sterno Products recently launched SpeedHeat, a flameless, water-activated system that produces high-heat steam with zero ramp-up time. It is considered by many in the catering industry to be the most innovative portable heat system since the introduction of Sterno chafing fuel more than a century ago. FEN: What was catalyst for the develop- ment of this product? DA: A product like this has been top-of- mind in the catering industry for years. Until now, the challenge for caterers has always been how to keep hot food at an ideal serving temperature in an environ- ment or location that isn't necessarily designed for serving food, or in places that have open-flame restrictions. We spent time in the field with high volume caterers of all stripes, including social, corporate, chain restaurants and food management companies, testing prototypes and refining the design to get to the best possible flameless food warm- ing and serving product. Our number one takeaway was that our customers wanted a buffet-style flameless food serving option that was quick and easy to set up and made the whole process safer, sim- pler and faster. FEN: Who should be using this product? DA: Any foodservice operation engaged in off-premise catering. SpeedHeat allows the operator to provide and serve hot food in the safest, simplest and fastest way possible. FEN: Is Sterno getting out of the 'canned heat' business? DA: Absolutely not. Our legacy line of portable warming products is Sterno's foundation. We will continue to develop and innovate in this arena. With the introduction of SpeedHeat, however, we are able to offer our cus- tomers a product that allows them to serve high-margin hot menu items in venues and/or at occasions where previ- ously that was just not possible or practi- cal. For example, at a historic landmark with an open-flame restriction, or for a quick-serve corporate catering lunch with a 20-minute service window. FEN: Is SpeedHeat the perfect product for any catered event? DA: SpeedHeat is ideal for events where food will be served within 45 minutes. All of our research shows that this is the case with many events – corporate drop-off breakfast and lunches are good examples of this. However, there are occasions and venues that require something more – formal weddings, high-end receptions, extended-service grazing buffets. Of course, Sterno has a full line of traditional warming products to service these types of events, as well. FEN: How does the SpeedHeat system work? DA: With a simple process that involves two water-activated heat packets and an included base and tray that replaces the traditional water chafing pan, SpeedHeat has zero ramp-up time and starts produc- ing high-heat steam right away to keep food at the ideal temperature for the ideal length of time. Visit Sterno Products at booth #418. For more information, go to www.sternopro.com or call 951.682.9600. Tucs Introduces New 50, 100 and 200 Gallon Self-Contained 75 psi Gas Kettles Tucs Equipment is known as a leader in cooking vessel technology, and today that tradition continues with the addition of 50, 100 and 200 gallon self-contained, gas-fired kettles. These new kettles can be ordered in either stationary or tilting configurations. High-pressure 75 psi steam gives operators the option to caramelize and cook recipes that typical 50 psi kettles can't touch. The integrated, space saving control panel gives operators control of agitator speeds and direction as well as for con- trol of kettle temperature. The control panel can be mounted on the left or right side of the kettle. When configured, the control panel can provide remote factory diagnostics. The trough shape allows for an ergonomically efficient low profile for loading and cleaning, thereby minimiz- ing the need for operator platforms and pits. Interior access can be further enhanced via an optional slide out plat- form step. The narrow width of its kettles allows installation under stan- dard depth ventilation hoods. The horizontal "paddle wheel" style agitator provides superior mixing as well as uniform suspension of partic- ulate without damage to even the most delicate item. Agitator and scraper blades are easily removable without tools. These new self-contained Tucs kettles can easily be con- nected to a volumetric pump for use in a cook-chill workflow. Marty Tucs and his Food Process Equipment Team have earned a reputa- tion over 30-plus years for developing very innovative solutions to dif- ficult food processing prob- lems. With an 80,000 square foot production plant located in Princeton, Minnesota, TUCS Equipment Inc. can meet the equipment needs of foodservice operators worldwide. Stop by booth #1275 and learn more about all the innova- tive products from Tucs, includ- ing its new electric self-con- tained sous-vide cook tanks and its EconoChill system for operators need- ing to adopt a cook-chill workflow using existing equipment. Visit Tucs at booth #1275.