Meat&Poultry - March 2011 - 102

PACKAGING

(Photo courtesy of NC Hyperbaric)

“Changes are typically made to the packaging materials to ensure all parameters are suitable for a specific product by using HPP.”
depending on the type of products, packaging is a consideration. “More and more packaging suppliers are adapting to the technology and understand the physical properties that are necessary for packaging materials that are high-pressure processed.” According to Avure Technologies Inc., some of the potential packaging roadblocks include an excessive amount of packaging “skirt” material, which can limit the efficient utilization of the high-pressure cylinder; the amount of gas flushing in a package; and the seal ability of the flexible packaging material. “When new products are introduced to HPP there are concerns that the product packaging will not withstand the process due to the fi lm properties or package flexibility,” Zaja says. “Changes are typically made to the packaging materials to ensure all parameters are suitable for a specific product by using HPP.” It’s not enough to simply provide the

HPP equipment to processors, many HPP technology companies find it necessary and valuable to work closely with packaging companies to make sure the technology and packaging work together in the most efficient way. “Packaging companies we work with are prepared to work directly with their customers to make whatever packaging changes are necessary in order to incorporate our technology,” Zaja says. Avure works with major flexible film producers to design solutions for its customers’ applications. “In addition, the Avure HPP lab in Kent, Wash., possesses significant knowledge of packaging and work directly with our customer base to address any issues that they might face during the HPP adoption process,” says Matt Rutherford, senior vice president of global sales for Avure. Kansas City, Mo.-based Multivac Inc. has gone a step further and created a partnership with Uhde High Pressure Technologies to offer its customers a one-stop-shop for HPP and packaging technology. The German company has more than 80 years of experience in high-pressure applications. One challenge of adding an HPP step to a processing operation is integrating it into an otherwise fully automated facility. The loading and unloading of the high-pressure vessels is typically done manually in order to maximize the amount of product that fits into the vessel. “We try to find a balance between automating the technology and achieving the most filling ratio in the vessel,” says Jaime Nicolas-Correa, commercial manager for NC Hyperbaric, a Madrid, Spain-based supplier of HPP equipment. “We can automate the loading and unloading process of the product into the HPP containers but the filling ratio will be lower than if it’s done by hand and the production per hour will also be lower. This isn’t always cost effective for the processor.” Not unlike APC, Safe Pac Pasteurization recently began offering HPP

technology from NC Hyperbaric to processors of food products on a contract basis from its East Coast facility.

Integrating solutions
Keeping costs down and maintaining production efficiencies are constant concerns when considering the addition of new technology such as HPP. Multivac, as a market leader in thermoform packaging machines, is successfully overcoming this obstacle. The company recently announced its newest technical innovation that allows its HPP technology to be integrated into fully automated packaging lines. Prior to this innovation, HPP was typically conducted in a separate manufacturing stage, which some processors consider to be disruptive to throughput. Using patent-pending technology, Multivac has developed a solution to integrate high-pressure equipment into packaged food lines, according to Tobias Richter, product manager in the Systems Business Group for MULTIVAC Sepp Haggenmüller GmbH. The solution includes the high-pressure equipment as well as an automation concept to integrate the process into packaging lines designed to meet the demands of the food industry. With the integration solution developed by Multivac, the finished food packages are automatically loaded into transport containers, HPP-treated, and then automatically unloaded before being dried and undergoing necessary labeling and packed into cartons. “In this way, it is for the fi rst time that we can process large, industrial-scale production quantities fully automatically in a quasi-continuous operation,” Richter says. Efficient use of the space inside the HPP vessel is crucial to achieving maximum productivity, Richter says. “Since the high-pressure equipment is round for reasons of optimizing the distribution of pressure forces, the loading pattern also has to be designed accordingly.” With a favorable pack shape it is possible to treat

102 • Meat&Poultry • March 2011 • www.MeatPoultry.com
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Meat&Poultry - March 2011

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