published on 02/10/08
Food packaging industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, with full engineering support every step of the way from project management for installation of new machinery to servicing and shutdowns all carried out by skilled contract mechanical engineers. The demand for easy-to-handle and effective packaging, especially for perishable food items is tremendous. Such foodstuffs include vegetables, dairy products, eggs as well as meat.
Materials used for Packaging
Meat wrapping requires materials that are non toxic, lightweight and capable of protecting the food from moisture and microbes. Normally, a wide range of plastics are used for the purpose. Heavy-duty aluminum foils may also be used when necessary. There are specially coated freezer paper wrappings available for meat packaging. The meat wrap packaging also may include wax paper to separate the different layers of meat.
PVC or PP materials are also used. Cling wrap is employed in supermarket storage for fresh meat. Vapor resistant material is always preferred.
Machineries and Technologies Employed
1. Thermoforming machine: this kind of equipment allows for automatic operations. It uses either semi flexible or rigid materials for meat wrapping.
2. Shrink wrapping for meat: this machinery is a specialized and totally electronic device used for meat wrapping. It is normally used to shrink wrap fish so that frozen fish can be preserved for a longer time. Items of most lengths can be handled easily by this equipment. There are adjustable push rods specially designed for this purpose.
3. Prepack machinery: this kind of equipment is used in the central wrapping procedures or in backrooms for wrapping as well as labeling of meat items. It automatically weighs the meat as well. It has several scaling operations and control options for adjusting to various applications. Mostly used for prepacked meat products.
4. Netting for meat wrapping: this equipment comprises of a guide shell and an envelope for wrapping the meat. The envelope is resilient and is in the form of netting. One end of the shell has the working platform and a cylinder carrying a cartridge for proper alignment of the envelope around the meat. One extreme of the envelope is made to contract and fixes the meat product firmly. As the meat is pushed out of the shell, the envelope accompanies it and then the wrapping is completed. The cartridges re used to load the envelopes faster onto the packing machine. There is no need of any other supporting device.
5. Stretch wrapper: such machines offer maximum flexibility and high speed operation. Up to 90 packets can be handled in a minute, on an average. Knife position and length adjustment is done automatically.


Read the full article at Packaging Machinery - news, technologies and reviews