Food Product Development – When recipe’s go wrong.

We’ve all seen it, the recipe we have been using for the last 20 years suddenly doesn’t work like it used to. Or the R&D recipe we created suddenly doesn’t respond the same way.

I think this is one of the most frustrating things about the food industry compared to working in other industries that have to deal with less variables.

Quite often we are dealing with recipes of multiple ingredients generating a material that viscoelastic properties, thermo properties, thickening properties and setting properties. All of which change depending on Temp, pH,Time, shear, Aw, recipe and machinery variation.

So what is my advice when this happens.

CALL THE EXPERTS….

As per a previous post on the use of technology in the food industry. I remember the days when i had to walk from the shop floor to my office, pull out my file of business cards. Ask the receptionist to put a call out for the technical person. Who once he got my message would leave a message on my phone whilst i was back in the factory.

No longer, with mobile phones and emails, i should have at least 5 experts available at a moments notice to help resolve the issue. Again the ability to send pictures of what your seeing, or talk them through whats happening in realtime.

All of this should allow you to talk through your theories of the issues and generate an action to quickly solve the problem. Trying to solve the problem on your own is valiant, but a 5min call with your supplier or other expert in the company can often reinforce your decisions or help look at the problem in a different way.

I firmly believe that anyone who deals with issues in production i.e. mechanics, R&D, technical Should have at least the key supplier contacts for the materials/equipment they use. At best they should have at least 2 technical representatives from the company’s on their phone ready to call.

Please remember the old saying “two brains are better than one” if you suppliers have technical support you should be using them. Especially when a call on a mobile phone takes 2 secs to get an answer.