Foss upgrades milk scanner for more accuracy
already bagged the group some major deals with its claim to be a
fifth more accurate than its predecessor.
Foss said its MilkoScan FT2 milk scanner, on show at the recent Anuga FoodTec expo, could analyse the main parameters in milk 20 per cent more accurately than its the parent machine, the FT120.
The new system offers dairy firms the chance to cut down wastage and ease pressure on their profit margins.
Foss said the FT2's better analysis could cut out an extra 0.14g more fat and protein per litre of milk processed. That means a dairy factory processing around 300,000 litres of milk per day could save around 12,600kg of fat and protein per year.
The firm added the FT2 could also save processors 30 per cent on running costs compared to its predecessor because its components were designed to last longer.
The changes include replacing the laser lamp with a diode laser, a new flush system that sends hot cleaning fluid through the cuvette and a new pump design that gives extra life to the pump motor and variseals.
Some dairy companies have already been convinced.
One source at Foss told DairyReporter.com the firm had already sold FT2 scanners to Galbani in Italy (recently bought by Lactalis) and Nordmilch in Germany, while Friesland Foods in the Netherlands were testing the system. Another has been sold to a lab in Spain.
Competition in the analysis sector has, however, increased as dairy firms, and food companies generally, demand greater quality and added value potential from their products.
The newest competition to Foss emerged at the Anuga expo, where German firm Lune unveiled its Spectro-Quad-Sensor.
The scanner simultaneously uses eight different wavelengths across the spectrum, from infrared to ultraviolet, and four different measurement techniques to more accurately probe the contents of milk.
Lune has filed a patent application for the system and was in talks with a Westfalia subsidiary of the GEA Group during Anuga.
Thorvald Akselsen, Foss' international business manager, said Foss was interested but not unduly concerned by Lune's new scanner.
"We make specific products for specific purposes," he said, adding that this made Foss' analytical systems more accurate in their specialist areas.
Still, the FT2 measures the make-up of a range of products, including milk, yoghurt, whey and ice cream mixes.
