This year Moba celebrated 75 years of activity and the Utrecht fair was an opportunity to exhibit their latest innovations. Zootecnica International met with Fabio Gualtieri, General Manager of Moba Italia, and Luco Reitsema, Product Manager Moba Group, who illustrated the products launched at VIV Europe.
What are the latest Moba innovations displayed at the fair and what are their characteristics?
Fabio Gualtieri – “We displayed three innovations at the fair. First of all, the new Ultraclean egg breaking system, which delivers a final product that is increasingly similar to the fresh egg, without contamination during the process. Traditionally egg processing lines have primarily focused only on product quality, on separation and yield, but Moba takes a step further and has now improved the traditional method of egg processing emphasizing also on bacteriological quality in order to reduce, during the egg breaking process, the bacterial load. The equipment has been developed for and is targeted at high-capacity lines, from 70,000 up to 225,000 eggs.
Another novelty represents a solution for packing station second-quality eggs, which may constitute 5-8% of the total product and cannot be packaged and sold in the traditional way. In order to use these eggs, Moba has developed the Ovolution System, a compact and plug and play line that allows easy access to the processing of the egg product directly in the packing plant. It is a simple system, ideal for a medium packaging center willing to add a solution that requires little space and can turn the losses of rejected eggs into the profits of high-value egg products.
Finally, in Utrecht we displayed the EggXtreme project, which optimizes production by lowering the egg bacterial load, thus allowing a more gentle pasteurization. The technologies, which are used to protect the egg from contamination, are – a refrigerated filtering system, – an egg handling system that avoids exposing the egg to the air and finally, – the EggXtreme Heater which operates during pasteurization. The EggXtreme Heater applies a high frequency field on the egg that combines the effect of temperature and electricity to act on the pathogens with a double action resulting in a reduction of the bacterial load of at least ten times higher than the traditional method, resulting in a final product with a much longer shelf life and very similar, in terms of organoleptic and functional qualities, to the fresh egg.”
Luco Reitsema – “Moba’s strategy has always been focused on efficiency, food safety and customer service. The latest innovations we introduced at the fair are an example of our specific market approach. Regarding food safety, we have developed the Egg inspector, 4th generation, a system for inspecting egg quality based on a revolutionary concept, which creates added value as it provides a complete control over the product quality, thereby contributing to a food safe supply chain of eggs, and increasing profitability for our customers.
The company continuously improves its technological level to ensure maximum food safety and efficiency. Another novelty introduced for the first time to the European market is the Forta grading series, a new egg grading machine which represents the latest generation equipment for small capacity egg grading and packing plants. The Forta offers excellent performance; the infeed and packing lanes can be fully washed down and has a highly hygienic stainless steel design.”
In the current context of things what are your forecasts and expectations for your company in the global market?
Luco Reitsema – “Organic egg production companies are becoming more and more numerous, while on the other hand, the transition from cage to free-range systems which began a long time ago continues. With regard to the increase in organic production we have introduced a new small capacity farmpacking solution – with a unique small footprint and a design that allows for easy cleaning.
Finally, the most distinctive feature of our company is our after-sales service and support network – those clients who purchase a Moba machine, do not just buy equipment but a real lasting relationship and a guaranteed service for many years.”
