The Cryovac Flavour Mark (FM) Aseptic FMA855 film is designed for form-fill-seal aseptic packaging applications and provides food processors with flexible packaging in the two to five litre format range, claims the manufacturer.
The company said the film is suited to high acid applications such as tomato sauce, fruit and juices and is designed to run on the Cryovac Flavour Mark Antares equipment, a vertical form-film-seal machine that uses multi-rib seal technology.
"The film and the equipment are designed to best match each other and optimize system capacity and capability," communications manger for Sealed Air Cryovac, Eliane Scherrer, told FoodProductionDaily.com.
"Given the chemical nature and composition of our film we tend to think that it may run on other vertical form-fill-seal equipment.
However best performance will be achieved on the Cryovac Antares," said Scherrer.
Increased outputs
The company claims that the Cryovac FM Aseptic film delivers a lower cost per kilogramme of product when compared to competitive systems.
"If we consider a five litre pack of tomato sauce, the Cryovac FM Aseptic output is 6000 litres per hour or 20 packs per minute, whereas a traditional Bag-in-Box machine running five litre pouches delivers 3900 litres per hour or 13 packs per minute," claims Scherrer.
Lighter packs Scherrer said that the film's design was informed by market demand for line flexibility in terms of pack size change and a film that enabled better resistance and increased speed over current Bag-in-Box systems, while using less material.
"We have been able to obtain the best mechanical performance at the minimum packaging weight, an environmental objective that will continue to inform future Sealed Air developments," said Scherrer.
Trials Sealed Air Cryovac said that its project partner, CFT, also wanted to ensure that the new technology makes the resulting aseptic pack compliant with EU legislation.
"The technology can guarantee aseptic conditions at filling, coupled with increased pack safety in terms of sealability, puncture and abrasion resistance and shelf life," said Scherrer She said that long distance transport tests proved that the film's mechanical and chemical properties guarantee package safety throughout the distribution chain, while trials on its shelf-life capabilities were also successful.
"In the laboratory, pouches were held in an incubation chamber at 38°C for up to 12 months, and field test trials indicated that our target of full flavour protection over a 24 month shelf life is achievable at industrial level," added Scherrer.