By: Neil Stringer, Industry Manager of Food and Beverage at KROHNE In the fast-paced world of food and beverage manufacturing where margins are tight and expectations for sustainability and quality continue to rise, manufacturers must continually strive for greater efficiency without compromising product integrity. Flow measurement, a necessity in any processing application, can play a critical role in meeting these demands. While almost every facility performs flow measurement in some form, the effectiveness and accuracy of the process are often inconsistent, leaving significant room for improvement.

The Challenges of Complex Flows

Every food and beverage facility relies on flow measurement to monitor product movement, whether it's milk, soda, tomato paste, peanut butter, or meat slurry. Precisely tracking how these products travel through the piping system is critical, as materials often behave unpredictably. Manufacturers handling high-viscosity fluids like molasses, peanut butter, or tomato paste face additional challenges; these products are difficult to pump and they can be easily damaged. Another example is yogurt. Its texture takes time and precision to get right so minimizing the waste of such high value products remains a significant priority.

Compounding the challenge, many modern food and beverage products contain entrained gases, either by design (for texture or mouthfeel) or unavoidably due to their composition. Cream cheese, for example, contains 20-30% air to create the soft mouthfeel of cream consumers expect even with less fat content. Meat slurries for pet food and yeast mixtures for brewing also contain bubbles or gases that can impact the performance levels of traditional flow measurement instruments.

Non-Newtonian fluids present further complications. Unlike water or oil, these products change viscosity in response to force. Chocolate, for example, shear thins as it moves. High-fructose corn syrup can thicken under certain conditions. These properties make accurate measurement challenging, and without reliable flow data, manufacturers risk poor quality, waste, and costly rework.

How Flow Measurement Technology Has Evolved

In response to these challenges, flow measurement technology has advanced dramatically over the past decade. The industry has undergone significant consolidation, driven in large part by advances in automation. As plants have become more automated, manufacturers can produce larger volumes with fewer facilities and less manual labor. This shift has increased the need for precise flow measurement and process control to ensure efficiency and consistency across these high-output operations.

Modern Coriolis meters stand at the forefront of this evolution. While legacy flowmeters provided a single variable (typically volumetric flow), today's Coriolis meters deliver multiple variables on top of that, simultaneously. These include mass flow, density and derived concentration measurements (°Brix, % Vol. ALC) temperature, and diagnostic indicators, in real time. This data is invaluable for maintaining product quality, optimizing energy use, and preventing waste. If a batch starts to drift from spec, operators can act immediately, avoiding the cost and environmental impact of reworking or discarding product. Advanced meters can also detect conditions that impact product quality, such as unexpected entrained air, excessive flow velocity or pressure spikes. What sets modern Coriolis meters apart from legacy tools is their ability to provide accurate, reliable measurements across a wide range of process conditions.

Mass is a key measurement for food processing operations that would otherwise have to be back calculated from several different sensor values, thereby incorporating significantly more error. Twin bent tube Coriolis meters, which split the product into two streams, have historically been the industry's primary choice. However, these designs introduced higher pressure drops and a proportionally higher shear rate that impacts delicate products. The introduction of straight-tube Coriolis meters has represented a major advance. These new designs allow product to flow through a single, unrestricted path, minimizing pressure loss and preserving product integrity along the way.

Together, these innovations have transformed flow measurement from a basic utility into a critical enabler of modern food and beverage manufacturing. By combining precise, multi-variable data with designs that protect product quality, modern Coriolis meters help manufacturers meet the dual demands of high efficiency and uncompromising consistency. As automation deepens and production scales continue to grow, these advanced flowmeters will play an increasingly central role in keeping operations competitive, sustainable, and responsive to market demands.

Innovations That Move the Needle

Digital technology, particularly live, multi-variable data and in-line monitoring, has transformed flowmeters into powerful diagnostic tools. Operators can monitor mass flow, and temperature as product moves through the line. The density measurement and its and derived concentration measurements (°Brix, % Vol. ALC) allows them to fine-tune processes on the fly without having to take and analyze lab samples This may also reveal opportunities to reduce process heating or cooling energy use thereby cutting costs and carbon emissions.

Traditional flowmeters struggle with gas-laden products, often requiring complex piping configurations, elevated pressures, or slower processing speeds to compensate. In contrast, modern Coriolis meters equipped with EGM™ technology can accurately measure challenging flows, such as cream cheese, bubbly yeast mixtures, seaweed or meat slurries, without such workarounds that can compromise product quality. These technologies simplify plant infrastructure while also protecting the produced product from unnecessary stress. However, be aware that not all professed EGM technologies are alike.
KROHNE, an internationally recognized manufacturer of process instrumentation, has been at the forefront of flow measurement innovation for over a century. Known for pioneering technologies that address some of the most complex challenges in industrial and hygienic applications, KROHNE has played a key role in advancing Coriolis mass flowmeter design, including the development of the first straight-tube Coriolis meter and patented entrained gas management solutions.

Real-World Applications

The real-world value of these technologies comes into focus in applications where traditional flowmeters often fall short. For example, a leading pet food manufacturer faced the challenge of accurately measuring meat slurries, a complex mix of high-viscosity material, entrained air, and solid particles. These difficult-to-handle flows risked inconsistent portioning and unnecessary waste. By implementing advanced Coriolis meters with multi-variable monitoring and entrained gas management, the company successfully scaled precise mass flow and density measurements from pilot tests to full-scale production, improving both yield and product consistency.

Similarly, large industrial breweries rely on Coriolis technology for yeast recovery, a process critical to preserving the signature flavors of their brands. Yeast is a live organism that by nature causes inconsistent entrainment of air pockets and is highly sensitive. Yeast mixtures are thick and bubbly and are highly sensitive to damage during processing. Modern Coriolis meters enable breweries to recover this live yeast efficiently and gently, maintaining its viability and sustainable reuse.

These examples demonstrate how advanced flow measurement safeguards both product quality and process efficiency in demanding applications.

Hygiene, Sustainability, and Audit Readiness

Ensuring optimal hygiene is essential in food and beverage processing, a fact recognized by all industry professionals. Coriolis meters designed for this sector must be fully drainable and cleanable, even when installed vertically or near-vertically. They are required to meet stringent standards, including USDA, FDA, and 3-A requirements, and are fully compatible with clean-in-place (CIP) and steam-in-place (SIP) protocols. This ensures manufacturers can meet audit requirements while minimizing downtime for cleaning.

Advanced Coriolis meters also support sustainability. The rich, multi-variable data they provide allows operators to identify inefficiencies that might otherwise go unnoticed, such as excessive heating, unnecessary recirculation, or flow conditions that lead to product loss. Beyond improving day-to-day operations, this enhanced visibility has transformed how plants approach maintenance. Coriolis meters' proven stability and reliability mean that operators can extend calibration intervals with confidence. Unlike older technologies that required frequent recalibration to maintain accuracy, today's advanced meters hold their calibration for longer, reducing maintenance costs, minimizing downtime, and supporting more continuous production. Their digital infrastructure also allows them to be easily verified and validated against portable and traceable standards in the field.

Future Trends in Flow Measurement

Looking ahead, several trends are set to shape the next wave of flow measurement innovation. The push for faster digital communication and more measurement points will continue, as will the drive for smarter, simpler devices that provide rich data without unnecessary complexity.
Bluetooth-enabled communication is becoming a key feature, enabling operators to set up and maintain meters using standard smartphones or tablets instead of investing in proprietary handheld devices. While security remains a top priority, modern solutions include encryption, two-factor authentication, and other safeguards to protect data integrity. This shift improves accessibility and streamlines maintenance, aligning with broader industry trends toward digitization and automation.

As food and beverage manufacturers seek to do more with fewer resources, meters with smart diagnostics and multi-variable monitoring, will be central to achieving efficiency, quality, and sustainability goals. The future promises even greater integration of these tools into the digital backbone of manufacturing, helping the industry meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.