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Pack integrity

The Background

Prepared foods processor, Simply Fresh Foods, part of the Perkins Foods Group, has adopted a new system of combined stretch and shrink-wrapping, pioneered by Japanese manufacturer, Fuji, allowing the company to produce fully-sealed overwrapped trays of products, such as stir-fry vegetables and baby potatoes, partially cooked in garlic butter.

Previously, the trays were stretch-wrapped, but with the PVC film gathered below and tacked in place by a heated pad.

The Solution

To  achieve this solution, Simply Fresh Foods installed three of the Fuji Alpha FW 3462 stretch and shrink-wrapping machines, supplied by UK distributor, Paramount Packaging Systems, complete with Fuji multi-belt smart feeders that marshal trays, arriving at random pitch accurately into the wrappers.

The machines provide an initially tight wrap that requires little shrinkage, make a bottom fin seal that is trimmed close to the tray base for a smooth appearance, and employ flow-wrapper style box-motion cross seal jaws to make a secure hermetic seal that will allow gas flushing if required.

The Outcome

The shrinking operation; which tightens the pack slightly and pulls the end seals in neatly below the flange of the tray, is carried out by Cryovac™ CJ51 hot air tunnels. “One of the main advantages of the Fuji stretch-shrink process is that consumer familiarity with the packaging style - the “just-prepared” look - is retained, but without risk of leakage from stretch-wrapped trays and the cross-contamination issues that retailers seek to avoid.” explains Aaron Bessell at Paramount Packaging Systems.

“Our customers, the major retailers, are constantly demanding much higher standards of presentation and pack integrity,” explains Alastair Clark, Engineering Manager at Simply Fresh Foods. “The Fuji stretch- shrink method gives us packs that are fully sealed for hygiene, neater than before and eliminates the risk of liquids escaping.”

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