Until recently, if a manufacturer or packer wanted to fill aseptically, the only packaging options available were bottles or Tetra Paks.

Not that there’s anything wrong with bottles or Tetra Paks, it’s just that, as Integrapak sales manager Mike Lindsay says, “bottles are expensive and Tetra Pak is getting a bit stale and, being a squared pack, doesn’t offer much differentiation.”

However, thanks to a breakthrough in aseptic flexible packaging machinery technology, this is no longer the case. Manufacturers and packers now have at their disposal a horizontal form, fill and seal (FFS) machine for producing aseptic Doypack-type pouches.

The machine in question is the SMA-260 from Spanish equipment manufacturer Volpak, represented in the UK by Integrapak.  Lindsay sees massive potential for the technology in dairy applications for, say, milk-based drinks and yoghurt and fromage frais products.

“Basically it is suitable for any product that needs an extended shelf-life or is presently distributed through the cold chain,” he says. “The other advantage is that you can put a spout on the pouch, so the format isn’t just limited to just drinking yoghurts. ‘Spoonable’ products such as fromage frais, for example, can be squeezed.”

Several of the systems have already been installed and validated, and, unsurprisingly, Volpak’s competitors are intent on developing equivalent technology.

“We know one of our competitors sold an aseptic line last year, but they were never actually able to validate it and had to downgrade it to an ordinary pouch-filling machine because they couldn’t achieve aseptic results, whereas we have delivered a number of aseptic machines and have validation certificates,” says Lindsay.

With the competition eager to muscle in on the aseptic action, it’s understandable that Lindsay is reluctant to explain how Volpak has succeeded where others have failed.

“Because we’re the only people who can do it and our rivals are trying to copy us, we can’t give away too much about what we do, although I’m sure they’ve got a pretty good idea.”

Decontamination

Essentially, the concept is based on the principle of decontaminating the formed pouch using a vaporised H2O2 solution inside and out. By sterilising the formed pouch, the aseptic area is kept to a minimum, making it easier to control.

As well as being an industry first, this development has brought benefits to Volpak’s standard pouch producing kit.

“One of the indirect benefits is that some of the features developed for the aseptic machines have filtered down onto our ordinary machines, resulting in better efficiency,” says Lindsay. Two such features are a new cap-feeding system and a system for positioning the pouches that eliminates the need to realign the dosing equipment after a size change.

As well as the aseptic pouches, Volpak has also made progress in other areas of pouch production.

“We now have machines for producing pouches with slide zippers as opposed to just press-close resealable zippers. These are generally used for grated cheese,” says Lindsay. “The difficulty with slide zippers is that you have to seal the package over the top of the slider so that after the first use it’s a completely sealed pack.”

Volpak has also developed a vertical ‘quadruplex’ pouchmaker, the SM-360, capable of making four pouches per cycle with a top cap, at speeds of 240 pouches per minute. “That’s pretty fast for spouted pouches,” says Lindsay.

This system would typically be used for packaging dairy products and fruit purees or compotes.