The Dannon Co. Dannon scores gold in Utah: West Jordan plant uses high-speed fillers for Danimals, gears up for la Creme

Dairy Foods, April, 2002 by Linda Robinson

"Just after the first third of that batch has been sent to the fermentation tank, the product diverts and runs through this sterile canister and takes up the culture at that temperature, and then sends it into the fermentation tank during agitation."

The process, Wagner says, provides a more evenly distributed product than inoculating in the top of a tank all at once.

"We have four 12,000-gallon fermentation tanks," he adds pointing to the large vault-like metal closures. "These are thick walled tanks. We don't have cooling jackets on them. It's just an insulated tank."

Sterile air is forced over the top of the product inside the tanks as a barrier to bacteria. Depending on the type of culture used and which product is being made, the yogurt will stay in the fermentation tanks for 6-12 hours.

After going through an APV/AGC cooling press, the end product is what Wagner calls the "white mass." The plant currently has three operational fillers, but will soon have a fourth filling line to accommodate the la Creme product.

"We don't add any fruit in the processing area," he said. "The fruit is added at the filler. We just have to make white mass product. It's much more convenient and cost effective."

At this point, it's considered plain yogurt and will be stored in one of the plants 15,000-gallon DCI tanks, depending upon the volume and how long the fillers are taking. All calculations for fruit or flavors are made by the computer program and determined precisely for the proportion of white mass and will be added once the plain yogurt enters the filler room.

Filling and packaging

In a cost-efficient move, bottles are supplied by an onsite manufacturer, Graham Packaging, Co. High overhead a stainless bulk conveyor transports bottles through the wall and into the Dannon filler room.

Two fillers are used for the Danimals lines: a high speed rotary from Serac Inc., Carol Stream, Ill., and a high-speed linear machine from Stork Food and Dairy Systems, the Netherlands. Each has unique applications for Danimals. The Stork unit, for instance, can run different flavors simultaneously for multi packs.

Both fillers have a hepafiltrated filling environment. The Serac uses an acidified water rinse. The bottles are inverted and sprayed with acidified water then dried with sterile air before being filled. The Stork uses a blow vacuum combined with hydrogen peroxide. After being blown with sterile air and vacuumed, bottles are sprayed with hydrogen peroxide, which is then evaporated with hot sterile air.

On the Serac line the bottle are sleeved prior to reaching the filler. On the Stork line sleeves are applied and shrunk on a Scheidegger sleever at a rate of 900 bottles per minute.

The Danimals products are sold in multiple unit packs of 4 and 6. As the bottles come off the filler and sleeving units, they are grouped and the secondary pre-printed cardboard overwraps are applied.

After sealing, the small carton packs move down the line where they are again grouped at the casepacker line. The pre-formed corrugate box is wrapped around and sealed prior to being moved down to the Priority One, dualaction palletizer. Dannon utilizes two casepackers, one being a wrap around unit (Douglas) and one an end-loader, Tecmapac