FDBusiness.com

PA have extended their range of tray sealing machines and have developed SkinPAC, the revolutionary pack format for enhanced presentation, preservation and protection of fresh products such as meat and fish. The SkinPAC system of sealing uses a highly transparent barrier film that wraps tightly around the product like a second skin and forms a seal with the bottom of the tray. This pack format offers high visibility vacuum packs aimed at improving shelf life, better product quality and packaging reduction with the use of a shallower tray than would otherwise be possible. Skin packing which originally found favour in the packaging of fish has recently been adopted for the packaging of meat, poultry and game products.

SkinPAC offers enhanced product protection enabling the product to stay fresher for longer, excellent attractive on shelf product presentation enabling the product to be clearly seen and packs can be placed upright to maximise shelf space. The tight seal ensures retention of product fluids eliminating leakage.

SkinPAC technology is available on the eclipse range and Revolution machine and boasts the fastest tray skin cycle due to the innovative process controllers with speeds up to 80 packs per minute.

Matt Delaney, Technical Sales Engineer of Packaging Automation, says: “Prior to commencing development of our vacuum skin packing solution, we carefully assessed the existing solutions in the market and found that consistently there was a shortfall against expectations with respect to the packing speeds being achieved. Our aim was to develop the fastest solution to meet customer expectations which we achieved by doubling the throughputs of any other machine currently installed. Having recently benchmarked our latest installed PA Skinpac solution against the competition we can confidently state a speed of 10 cycles per minute with a superior quality sealed pack.”

SkinPAC base tools can accommodate varying depths with simplified tool change overs thanks to the innovative auto-docking solution. The ability to SkinPAC and gas flush on the same tool without any modifications minimises cost and gives flexibility to the customer.  No water cooling of the tooling means the running costs are further reduced.

PA’s range of tray sealers can be easily adapted to seal trays atmospherically, with MAP (gas flushing or vacuum) or skin packing. This flexibility future proofs the investment in new machinery and allows food producers to alter pack formats in the future to suit retailer demands without additional investment.

Customers are safe in the knowledge that the whole skin process is monitored on the machine’s HMI to ensure a successful finished pack.  Because all process controls are via the HMI, operating parameters are automatically activated, simplifying the setup process.

The latest SkinPAC machine is running successfully at a fish processing site. The previous machine was replaced for a Revolution high speed sealer for increased throughputs and improved pack presentation.

As with all new pack formats, PA’s seal technologist is on hand to assist customers who are planning to adopt this new packaging technology with free sealing trials and shelf life tests in the company’s test facility in Knutsford, Cheshire. For further information visit www.pal.co.uk.