SOUTH AFRICA – OAL Group, a UK based food engineering company has partnered Filmatic, an international supplier of liquid and food packaging equipment based in South Africa, to supply its steam infusion Vaction Pump technology to food industry in Africa.

Jake Norman, head of Innovation, OAL, said that the partnership aims at providing a wider variety of technology to food and beverage manufacturers as the company seeks spreading its wings in the African market. 

“It was always difficult for us to provide on-the-ground support as we’re based in the UK.

With Filmatic, food and beverage manufacturers throughout the continent can now purchase our award-winning technology through an experienced team and benefit from their local expertise and proximity, confident that they’re getting the best value system,” he said.

Filmatic has been supplying turnkey bottling equipment to a range of liquid consumer markets for 40 years. 

Pieter du Toit, Sales Key Account Manager at Filmatic, said that the partnership places Filmatic is in the right space in providing sustainable solutions to food and beverage manufacturers in Africa.

“Many of our customers can benefit greatly from implementing Steam Infusion as it delivers all the characteristics needed to produce the popular dairy drinks in our region.

I’m delighted that we’re working with OAL to bring this technology to the region and help manufacturers stand out from the crowd,” he said

Steam Infusion is a disruptive cooking process, which can help manufacturers reduce their cleaning and cooking times, by using steam to simultaneously heat, mix and pump liquids with and without particulates.  

Steam Infusion Vaction Pump unit uses steam as the motive force to simultaneously heat, mix and pump liquids with and without particulates.

The Unit can sit within a cooking vessel or integrated line, depending on the needs of the manufacturer and heats 1,000kg of product from 15°C to 90°C in five minutes with no burn or particulate damage. 

Pieter du Toit, added Steam Infusion delivers all the characteristics needed to produce popular dairy drinks across the Sub-Saharan Africa region.

OAL developed the Steam Infusion through a US$1.14 million UK Government-funded project in partnership with UK the University of Lincoln and a UK food manufacturer.