Seafood exposition

Taking place in Hall 4 of the Brussels Convention Centre between May 9th and 11th, it will feature more than 200 companies from 22 countries, including five national and regional pavilions, presenting new technologies and products that will enhance a company's seafood processing business.

SPE is being held concurrently at the Brussels Convention Centre with the European Seafood Exposition. Established in 1993, this event will be a showcase for seafood buyers and sellers from all over Europe and the world with over 1,000 exhibitors from some 65 countries, in Halls 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and the Patio.

Skaginn hf. (Stand 5323) will demonstrate its CBC Processing method in combination with the Water Jet Cutting technology. You can also see us demonstrate our wide range of processing equipment for the Food Processing Industry.

Jackstone Froster (Stand 5357) will present its extensive freezing equipment product range. This year at SPE, in a direct response to market changes, the company will focus on the increasing demand for automatic systems with a new range of Automatic Vertical Plate Freezers and an ever increasing portfolio of Horizontal Automatic Freezers.

Scanvaegt (Stand 5323) will be debuting its new ScanPortioner B22, an advanced dual-lane portion cutter designed for processing companies that want to achieve high portioning capacity for fixed-weight and/or length-specific products.

The ScanPortioner B22 design uses a servomotor-driven knife in each lane and a high-speed laser vision system to maintain very high accuracy – and still provide a top performance with up to 1500 cuts/minute per knife per lane. The ScanPortioner B22 is also extremely flexible in use - it only takes seconds to switch the knife set back and forth between different cutting angles, making it easier to achieve the natural look on a variety of products. In addition, it has been carefully designed to take up the minimum of space.

Also on the stand will be the company's ScanFeeder 7700 automatic vacuum infeed system, specially designed for the fish processing industry. This unit is fully automatic in operation, reliable and with low running costs. Other equipment on show includes a processing line for the trimming and cutting of fish products, a processing line for case-ready packing, the Checkweigher ScanCheck RF5, and the ScanBather 4700.

Representatives of Laitram Machinery, the company that pioneered automatic shrimp processing, will be in attendance (Stand 5127) and will be spotlighting the company's FC200 Bulk/Tray Cooker.

The FC200's forced convection technology increases yield while also maintaining product quality. Shrimp are cooked by a homogenized mixture of air and steam that is forced over them in the sealed cook chamber. Temperature can be adjusted in single degree increments, from 85 to 90 degrees Celsius, in order to achieve a continuous and direct application of steam. One shrimp processor found that the machine's cooking temperature, uniform to better than half a degree, produced a 2% yield improvement on its first day of use in his plant. In addition to the FC200, Laitram Machinery, a manufacturer of high-performance shrimp processing systems for over 50 years, produces peeling and grading equipment for shrimp processing. Since pioneering automated shrimp peeling technology, Laitram has refined its machines and honed its expertise in peeling, grading, and cooking shrimp. In conjunction with the Laitram Service Advantage and the company's philosophy of continuous improvement, this makes the company a valuable partner to shrimp processors.

Trio-FTC Sweden AB will be exhibiting (Stand 5201) in co-operation with Trio Fish Processing Machinery AS. The company's latest develop- ment is a new Belly Flap Edge Trimmer, produced in stainless steel and using an air motor with a small supply of water. The unit allows trimming without the need for a manual knife and delivers a constant high yield, with an improvement of about 5%. The design can be customized size wise to suit any specific application but the standard size is 1,000 mm by 300 mm.

Baader, the leading global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality processing equipment and systems for the food industry, will be exhibiting (Stand 5257). It will be presenting the 988 S trimming machine.

The 988 S is an advanced trimming machine for salmon and sea-trout which drastically reduces the need for manual trimming and combines a consistently high level of quality of the final product with an advanced yield saving process. It evaluates each fillet according to size, weight, colour grade and trim category, and calculates the most economic cut configuration based on the evaluated parameters. The Baader 988 S is capable of performing the most difficult cuts demanded by the processor. By changing the relevant parameters on the touch panel, the processor has full flexibility regarding specific cuts. Settings can be changed even during the trimming process without the machine having to stop.

The grade signal evaluated for each fillet is used for grading the fillets into different processes later on. Each fillet is cut according to demand. The 988 allows the “design” of all kinds of trims along the belly side, the back side and the surface of the fillets. The variety of trim-cuts is almost endless. Product-specific trim parameters can be stored in a recipe archive so that, once set, the cuts can always be repeated without the need for new settings.

Colour detection can be used to define the colour category of the fillets according to a standard industrial scale for product quality monitoring or for selection of varying trim cuts.

The Baader 988 maximises production value, yield, throughput and quality and, for salmon, can operate in-line with the company's 434 Heading Machine and 200 Filleting Machine or similar.

Icelandic specialist Marel hf (Stands 5443 and 5541) will be presenting a range of equipment including the following: Compact Grader; ITM (intelligent trimming); IPM x400 (portioning); Speed Batcher; Precision Grader; Sensor X; and MPS Packing Station.

Iceland's Sæplast (Stand 5427) will be introducing several new products and previewing a breakthrough prototype tub. Most exciting is a preview of the next generation of insulated containers. The prototype tub, designed in co-operation with Fisk Seafood of Iceland, breaks with tradition in several significant ways, namely it's lighter, more hygienic, more stable, and is able to accommodate more fish.

The final stage in the tub's innovative design involves enlisting companies to become co-developers by participating in product testing under normal working conditions, and the company looks forward to discussing the benefits of being a Sæplast co-developer with those interested. The new tub will be formally unveiled at a ceremony starting at 12 o'clock sharp at Sæplast's booth on May 9.

Sæplast's other new products it is introducing include the second generation of its very popular 700-liter mollusk container from Sæplast Iberia (formerly Icebox Plastico, Spain), which integrates several notable improvements. An innovative 700-liter PUR insulated container with a self-submerging brine grid will also be presented, as will a 1,000-liter Nordic Light container that is lightweight, cost effective and ideal for less demanding processing.