Bakery Plant Research Articles

Motivation Program to Reduce Occupational Accidents in a Manufacturing Company

the purpose of this research study was to determine whether implementing a motivation program could lead to a reduction in the rate of occupational accidents in the bakery plant of a manufacturing company based in Lima. The study followed a quasi-experimental approach and used a pretest/posttest design with a single group and a sample of 117 workers. The data collection methods included statistical data on work-related accidents, direct observations in the workplace, recording and monitoring of interactions, and a motivation questionnaire. The research results revealed that implementing the IPLEFOR motivation program—which spanned 21 months—led to a 100% reduction in the accident rate. Consequently, it led to a significant improvement in the occupational health and safety system.

Evaluation of pheromone co-attractants for capturing Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (Coleoptera: Anobiidae)

The cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne (F.), poses a significant threat to food storage, tobacco industries, and herbaria. The development of effective trapping methods with efficient lures is crucial for promptly monitoring this species and exploring potential mass trapping programs. The study aims to examine the potential synergistic effect of combining the synthetic sex pheromone (serricornin) with a blend of α-ionone and β-ionone as an attractant for the cigarette beetle, with the purpose of determining the capture potential of female individuals and exploring an increase in male response. Both laboratory dual-choice arena bioassays and field trap tests were conducted to assess the effectiveness of this attractant combination. The bioassays were performed in Plexiglas cages with traps baited with serricornin, α-ionone, and β-ionone. Field trap tests were conducted in a bakery plant, comparing pheromone traps with a mixture of α-ionone and β-ionone to pheromone traps lured with β-ionone alone. On the one hand, the results of the laboratory bioassays showed that traps with serricornin supplemented with a combination of α-ionone and β-ionone captured a significantly higher number of beetles compared to traps with serricornin alone. The same trend was observed for both males and females. On the other hand, field trap tests, while capturing more individuals with the combined attractant, did not show statistical significance compared to traps with only β-ionone. The study concludes that the combination of serricornin with α-ionone and β-ionone shows promise as an attractant for L. serricorne, as evidenced by significant captures in laboratory bioassays. However, the transition to field conditions reveals a need for further exploration and optimization to fill the observed gap between controlled and real-world settings.

КОМПОЗИЦИОННЫЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ И ФОРМОТВОРЧЕСКАЯ БАЗА АРХИТЕКТУРЫ ЛЕНИНГРАДСКОГО КОНСТРУКТИВИЗМА

The article examines the compositional features and methods of shaping the architecture of the 1920s – 1930s using the example of the Leningrad architectural heritage of constructivism. We are talking about the following objects: Levashovsky Bakery Plant and the Moscow District Council, the Kirov District Council and the Palace of Culture named after Gaza I.I., the Palace of Culture named after S.M. Kirov and the Ligovsky Bath and Laundry Plant. In the study, the objects of Leningrad constructivism were analyzed comprehensively: historical information was given, a situational plan was drawn up, archival photographs were presented, and a compositional analysis was carried out, including the author's graphics, illustrating the process of shaping each object. The materials collected by the authors as a result of the study are classified and grouped into a summary table of techniques for shaping the architecture of Leningrad constructivism, demonstrating the similarities and differences of characteristic architectural solutions. The data obtained as a result of the analysis illustrate the compositional features of the objects of the Leningrad avant-garde and reveal the main techniques of shaping characteristic of the architecture of that period. As a result of the study, three main types of volumetric-spatial compositions were identified, characteristic of the architectural solutions of Leningrad avant-garde objects: type 1 - a combination of a cylinder and a parallelepiped, type 2 - buildings with semi-cylindrical projections, type 3 - buildings with a symmetrical entrance solution.

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions via flexible operation of cross‐sector integrated energy systems under uncertainties in demand, fuel prices, and solar irradiation

AbstractThis work investigates how the flexible operation of the light industrial plants integrated in a cross‐sector energy cluster with community energy systems can achieve further greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions under uncertainties associated with natural gas prices, solar irradiation, as well as heating, cooling, and electricity demand. The optimal flexible operation and design of a cross‐sector integrated cluster comprising a bakery plant, a brewery, a confectionery plant, a residential building, and a supermarket under uncertainties are compared to the operation and design of systems without uncertainties. When uncertainties are considered, the overall GHG emissions of the integrated system with steady industrial production rates for all uncertainty scenarios are over 4% higher than the integrated system in the deterministic scenario (a single scenario). Flexible operation of the industrial plants, whereby production rates are varied throughout the day, contributes an additional 3% reduction in GHG emissions under uncertainties, where the GHG emissions are only 1% higher than the deterministic scenario. Additionally, the system with flexible production rates purchases over 14.3% less electricity from the grid and uses over 72.2% less natural gas for operating the backup boiler, which relies less on supplementary energy resources. This shows that optimally designed integrated systems with flexible industry production schedules are resilient to uncertainties in energy demands, daily weather fluctuations, and fuel prices.

Greenhouse gas emissions reduction by cross-sector integration of energy systems: Optimal sizing of integrated entities

Integration of distributed energy systems in residential buildings, commercial buildings, and light industries can decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions further than the lowest emissions achieved by the most efficient standalone system. Until now, an unexplored topic is the optimal relative sizes of the entities in the integrated system. This work introduces a novel optimization model which determines optimal sizes of the entities (buildings and plant capacities) in the integrated system, optimal sizes of the equipment comprising the energy systems, and optimal production schedules. Temperature levels of the heating demands are included in the model to ensure that the heat transfers are feasible. A case study that includes a residential building, a supermarket, a confectionery plant, a bakery plant, a brewery, and electric vehicles is presented. It is shown that the maximum achievable GHG reduction is relatively constant as the sizes of the residential buildings increase, but it requires significant changes in the type and relative sizes of the industrial plants.

SOLANUM EMULANS RAF. AND SOLANUM SCABRUM MILL. (SOLANACEAE) IN THE UDMURT REPUBLIC

Information about the finds in the Udmurt Republic of two adventive Solanum species is reported. Of these, Solanum emulans is a new species for the flora of Russia. It is brought to the city of Izhevsk with North American grain. In 1993, three of its locations were discovered: at the Izhevsk railway station and in the wastelands in the courtyards of the Izhevsk bakery plant and the Izhevsk bread-receiving enterprise no. 2. Solanum scabrum is occasionally cultivated by amateur gardeners as an exotic plant. In a wild state, it has been known since 2000. To date, eleven of its locations are known in the cities of Izhevsk, Votkinsk, Mozhga, Sarapul, as well as in Zavyalovsky, Uvinsky, Yakshur-Bodinsky and Yarsky districts. Most of its finds are associated with dumps and municipal waste dumping sites. In the conditions of the Udmurt Republic, Solanum emulans and Solanum scabrum are ephemerophytes. The features that distinguish Solanum emulans and Solanum scabrum from morphologically similar species such as Solanum americanum, Solanum nigrum., Solanum retroflexum are given.

Persistence and Effect of a Multistrain Starter Culture on Antioxidant and Rheological Properties of Novel Wheat Sourdoughs and Bread.

Food consumers make decisions primarily on the basis of a product’s nutritional, functional, and sensorial aspects. In this context, this study evaluated the persistence in sourdough of a multistrain starter culture from laboratory to bakery plant production and the effect of the starter on antioxidant and rheological properties of sourdoughs and derived bread. Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis B450, Leuconostoc citreum B435, and Candida milleri L999 were used as a multispecies starter culture to produce a sourdough subsequently used to modify two traditional sourdoughs to make novel bread with improved health and rheological properties. Both these novel bakery sourdoughs showed the persistence of L. sanfranciscensis B450 and C. milleri L999, and showed a significantly different lactic acid bacteria (LAB) concentration from the traditional sourdoughs. The novel sourdough PF7 M had a higher phenolic content (170% increase) and DPPH (8% increase) than the traditional bakery sourdough PF7 F. The novel sourdough PF9 M exhibited an improvement in textural parameters. Further research would be useful on the bioavailability of bio-active compounds to obtain bread with improved characteristics.

DNA barcoding for the identification of mold species in bakery plants and products

Mold identification at the species level in environmental samples is a major challenge. Molecular techniques have been widely used for fungal classification, but as most primers are genus-specific, it is laborious to identify unknown samples. In this study, a PCR-based method for the identification of mold at the species level was developed. Therefore, common sequencing primers and combinations of them, targeting specific DNA regions, were tested. Here we present a combination of eight primer pairs to identify mold within a single PCR run. The approach correctly identified mold of unknown species from samples taken at a local bakery, including Penicillium chrysogenum, Penicillium citrinum, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Paecilomyces formosus, Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus niger. Results obtained from the PCR method were successfully validated by chromatographic mycotoxin and microscopy analysis. Findings highlight DNA barcoding as an appropriate tool for mold identification; however, its efficacy is essentially dependent on DNA quality and primer selection.

Determination of the Optimal State of Dough Fermentation in Bread Production by Using Optical Sensors and Deep Learning

Dough fermentation plays an essential role in the bread production process, and its success is critical to producing high-quality products. In Germany, the number of stores per bakery chain has increased within the last years as well as the trend to finish the bakery products local at the stores. There is an unsatisfied demand for skilled workers, which leads to an increasing number of untrained and inexperienced employees at the stores. This paper proposes a method for the automatic monitoring of the fermentation process based on optical techniques. By using a combination of machine learning and superellipsoid model fitting, we have developed an instance segmentation and parameter estimation method for dough objects that are positioned inside a fermentation chamber. In our method we measure the given topography at discrete points in time using a movable laser sensor system that is located at the back of the fermentation chamber. By applying the superellipsoid model fitting method, we estimated the volume of each object and achieved results with a deviation of approximately 10% on average. Thereby, the volume gradient is monitored continuously and represents the progress of the fermentation state. Exploratory tests show the reliability and the potential of our method, which is particularly suitable for local stores but also for high volume production in bakery plants.

Analysis of energy saving potentials in intelligent manufacturing: A case study of bakery plants

To address the global challenge of the climate change, more strict legislations worldwide on carbon emission reductions have put energy intensive industries under immense pressure to improve the energy efficiency. Due to the lack of technical support and financial incentives, a range of technical and economic barriers still exist for small-medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper first introduces a point energy technology, which is developed for SMEs to improve the insight of the energy usage in the manufacturing processes and installed in a local bakery. Statistical analysis of electricity consumption data over a seven-day period is conducted, including the identification of operational modes for individual processing units using an enhanced clustering method and the voltage unbalance conditions associated with these identified modes. Two technical strategies, namely electrical load allotment and voltage unbalance minimisation, are then proposed, which could attain more than 800 kwh energy saving during this period and the current unbalance could be reduced to less than 10%. In addition, the genetic algorithm is deployed to solve the job shop scheduling problem based upon the commercial electrical tariffs, and this reduces the electricity bill by £80 per day in the case study. Implementation of the recommendations based on the above analysis therefore may potentially yield significant financial and environmental benefits.

The Usefulness of Job Relocation and Serum Eosinophil Cationic Protein in Baker's Asthma

Background: Although the most widely recommended treatment for occupational asthma is to completely avoid the causative agents, job relocation within the same company is often substituted for a complete career change. However, there is not much data on the efficacy of job relocation within the workplace and appropriate follow-up parameters. We investigated baker's asthma patients to validate the efficacy of job relocation and follow-up markers. Methods: Twelve bakery plant workers diagnosed with baker's asthma were enrolled in the study. Asthma-related symptoms and methacholine provocation test were followed up 6 months after a job relocation. Skin prick test and ELISA to detect wheat flour-specific IgE and eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) in sputum and serum were also followed up to evaluate the status of allergic inflammation. Results: After a 6-month job relocation, all 12 workers showed an improvement in symptoms, and airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine was negatively converted in 9 of them. There were no significant differences in skin reactivity and serum flour-specific IgE levels before and after the relocation. While sputum ECP levels did not show a significant difference (338.3 ± 93.0 μg/l vs. 175.0 ± 78.9 μg/l, p = 0.118), there was a remarkable difference in serum ECP levels before and after the relocation (12.2 ± 3.0 μg/l vs. 2.8 ± 3.1 μg/l, p = 0.004). Conclusions: Job relocation was effective in managing baker's asthma. Serum ECP level was a useful follow-up marker of baker's asthma.

Inventions on Baker's Yeast Storage and Activation at the Bakery Plant

Inventions on Baker's Yeast Storage and Activation at the Bakery Plant

Optimization of energy and manpower requirements in Nigerian bakeries

A study on energy and manpower requirements for the bakery industry in Nigeria was carried out, covering 90 bakeries representing 75% of total registered bakeries in Onitsha city. Analysis of the energy and manpower related time series data, using engineering and statistical tools, resulted in the development of empirical model for the estimation of capacity, manpower and energy requirements in the bakery industry. This empirical model can be used for the design of a new bakery or expansion of existing one. The conditions for optimum inventory and design were determined through this optimization and the results were compared with existing system. The study revealed a huge capital investment which amounts to 5.6 billion Naira annually, a correlation between capacity of the bakery plants and resource usage (manpower, raw materials and energy use), and jobs creation potentials for 960 persons for Onitsha city alone. Diesel contributes 66.75% of total heating energy need, followed by firewood, 22.57% and petrol, 10.68%. Application of optimization techniques could result in 61% savings in inventory costs and cut in energy by about 7.4% with overall cost reduction of 8%.

Inventions on Bakers Yeast Storage and Activation at the Bakery Plant

Baker's yeast is the gas-forming ingredient in bakery products. Methods have been invented to properly handle baker's yeast and optimize its activity at the bakery plant. Over the years, incentives for inventions on yeast storage and activation have greatly changed depending on trends in the baking industry. For example, retailer's devices for cutting bulk pressed yeast and techniques for activating dry yeast have now lost their importance. Review of patents for invention indicates that activation of baker's yeast activity has been a very important issue for bakers, for example, with baking ingredients called yeast foods. In the recent years and especially for highly automated bakeries, interest has moved to equipments and processes for optimized storage of liquid cream yeast to thoroughly control dough fermentation and bread quality.

Isolating lactic starter cultures with antimicrobial activity for sourdough processes

The main purpose of this study was to obtain antimicrobial starter cultures for sourdough processes. For this purpose, 60 sourdough samples were collected from different bakery plants in Uşak. The chemical and microbiological properties of these samples were analyzed. Lactic acid bacteria strains having antimicrobial activity were isolated and identified. The metabolic properties (total amount of acids, organic acids and diacetyl produced and the properties of proteolytic and amylolytic enzymes activity) of the selected strains were determined. The strains with best potential as sourdough starters were L. brevis ssp. lindneri 2103, L. viridenscens 241, 242, Pediococcus sp. E5 and L. delbrueckii F5.

A community outbreak of food-borne small round-structured virus gastroenteritis caused by a contaminated water supply.

In August 1994, 30 of 135 (23%) bakery plant employees and over 100 people from South Wales and Bristol in the United Kingdom, were affected by an outbreak of gastroenteritis. Epidemiological studies of employees and three community clusters found illness in employees to be associated with drinking cold water at the bakery (relative risk 3.3, 95%, CI 1.6-7.0), and in community cases with eating custard slices (relative risk 19.8, 95%, CI 2.9-135.1) from a variety of stores supplied by one particular bakery. Small round-structured viruses (SRSV) were identified in stool specimens from 4 employees and 7 community cases. Analysis of the polymerase and capsid regions of the SRSV genome by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) demonstrated viruses of both genogroups (1 and 2) each with several different nucleotide sequences. The heterogeneity of the viruses identified in the outbreak suggests that dried custard mix may have been inadvertently reconstituted with contaminated water. The incident shows how secondary food contamination can cause wide-scale community gastroenteritis outbreaks, and demonstrates the ability of molecular techniques to support classical epidemiological methods in outbreak investigations.

Energy analysis applied to food processing

We use first-law and second-law efficiencies on 2 multi-process food processing plants. These efficiencies are 59.6 and 19.4% for a condensed milk plant and 43.0 and 15.5% for the bakery plant. Improvements in both first-law and second-law efficiencies for the bakery can be achieved by reducing the mass of dough moulds and recovery of energy in the bake-oven exhaust to heat the air in the proofing oven. Replacement of the flash-cooling process in the condensed-milk plant by a combination of boiling at 100 °C and cooling via a vapour-compression refrigerator would lead to significant improvements in plant efficiencies.