The Stevens’ Groups’ Recipe & Traceablity System is once again aiding in the role of ensuring batch consistency and 100% traceability, this time at soup manufacturer Primal Foods.

Portsmouth-based Primal Foods Limited, who operate from their new EEC approved, BRC accredited, Food Development and Production facility, specialise in the production of high quality fresh chilled soups and sauces throughout the UK foodservice market.

Their extensive range of soups include classics such as Green Pea & Ham and Tomato & Basil right through to innovative and lavish soups such as Smoked Trout, Watercress & Horseradish and Thai Chicken & Coconut.

The team of chefs, led by Production Manager Amanda Humble and Operations Manager Susan Tuzzio (pictured above), promote the company’s ethos of innovation in soup development, along with ensuring only the freshest and highest quality ingredients are used.

Celebrity Chefs like Anthony Worrall Thompson have awarded Primal Foods’ Cream of Watercress commenting on ‘an outstanding take on an old favourite ingredient!’

Primal Foods Limited was established in 2003 and has grown each year, now employing 30 staff with an approximate turnover of £2.0m

The fact that all the soups are prepared by hand and require a number of different ingredients, can pose difficulties in keeping track of individual amounts used and that correct quantities are added to ensure a consistent product.

The Stevens Group have extensive knowledge and experience in this area and their recipe formulation system has been developed to provide a complete recipe management, stock control and front door to back door traceability system, virtually eliminating time-consuming paper based systems.

Stevens’ Commercial Manager Toby Hawkins explains the advantages of the system: “Primal Foods gave us an exciting opportunity to take our well established Recipe Management System and extend its traceability all the way through from Goods Inwards to Dispatch, enabling pin point accuracy of traceability & stock usage. But above all Primal Foods are an excellent company to work with and the project has been a lot of fun!’

The formula for particular products are entered into the PC Server via the recipe formulation management software. The system allows management to enter and determine the exact recipe characteristics, including individual ingredient tolerances and how the products are added. For instance, recipes may be a mixture of weighed and non-weighed ingredients where some products are added as pre-weighed blocks or bags. Also, different parts of the recipe are weighed in segregated areas such as spices and meats and are then brought together at the point of cooking.

The system calculates the amounts of individual ingredients needed and downloads the order to the relevant station in the relevant area, providing an effortless formulation process, with the large screen prompting the operator throughout as each correct amount of ingredient is added. The system will not allow the operator to continue if the incorrect ingredient is selected or the wrong amount added. Detailed instructions relating to product characteristics are also flagged up to ensure adequate H&S requirements are met.

The Vantage Recipe Formulation System can produce an impressive range of reports, giving a detailed and instant view of the operation at any given time. Typical reporting data relates to individual ingredient usage, recipe consistency, stock control and production yield.

Managing Director, Neil Rossiter explains the benefits his company has seen since the implementation of the system: “In addition to providing recipe consistency, traceability and stock data, Stevens have enabled us to turn our goals and ambitions into reality. Like us, they are a company who pride themselves on being flexible. They took a standard product and moulded it to fit our process exactly. For this reason and many others, I would recommend them to anybody (and have!)”.