Wall Street Journal says avocados and olives are pricier because “Fat Is In Fashion”. The story says fish farmers, butter producers and others are struggling to increase output as consumers eat more good fat.Farmers around the globe are struggling to keep up with an increasing global appetite for fats that are perceived as healthy, leading to long-term disruptions in food prices. Over 75% of the fat in avocados is unsaturated (good fats).
California Energy Commission is funding technology to replace thermal evaporators that typically are used to process juice concentrates and freeze dried products in the food industry with a Porifera Forward Osmosis (PFO) Concentrator system at a watermelon food and beverage processing plant in California. Porifera will receive a $2.8 million grant.
Replacement of the thermal evaporators with the PFO Concentrator can provide 40-80 percent energy savings for each facility that utilizes this technology.
The company claims with consumers are turning away from traditional food & beverage concentrates in favor of fresh, naturally processed products, processing with the heat results in fresher, better tasting juice.
Porifera’s PFO Concentrator system can concentrate food & beverage products by a factor of 5-6 times (on the order of 55-60 Brix) without the application of heat. This means food & beverage products stay fresh. The water removal process removes water weight from the product but preserves taste, nutrients and color.
Without compromising quality, Porifera can cold concentrate many liquified food & beverage products, including fruit and vegetable purees and dairy.
Trucking costs continue higher in 2019
Freight costs including the shipment of farm goods continue higher in2019 according to the latest Cass Truckload Linehaul Index for January. The year 2018 was the strongest year since deregulation in1980 says the index authors. January’s increase was a 6.4% year over year.
