Tailored packaging in the dairy sector

Tecno Pack’s packaging machine used with success by Qualità Leone, the cheesemaking company from Verona, is called FP027. Horizontal and multi-axis, it’s specifically designed for the packaging of cheeses in a modified atmosphere.

From foreign to Italian cheeses, the flow pack FP027 is able to package over 120 portions. Produced by the Vicenza-based Tecno Pack, it’s one of four machines specifically designed for the dairy sector offered by the company. Thanks to the reel from the bottom, it’s suitable for packaging loose cheeses that are then transferred directly onto the film, avoiding conveyor belt transport problems.

Tecno Pack’s brand horizontal packaging machines include the FP200 EVO which, in contrast, has the reel positioned above, making it, besides the FP025EVO and the FP025EVOBB, also suitable for packaging portioned cheeses in trays. The solutions have been developed to be combinable with robotised systems, for example, automated product feeding, with the aim of reducing human intervention to a minimum.

FP027 at work

In the Villafranca factory in Verona, Qualità Leone is, therefore, successfully using an FP027 packaging machine. The cheese wheels, aligned on the machine’s loading belt, are first detected by a barrier photocell which, sending signals to the rear video camera, makes it possible to understand when any of the blocks is incorrectly positioned for packaging: in this case, the machine stops or sets off an alarm or bypasses the wheel.

This control system, made possible by seven different motors, is also responsible for the correct closure of the packages depending on the materials used, from cling film to the paper-based film.

The key word is modularity: instead of one large loading belt, in fact, it’s possible to insert two, four or six belts matched to an automatic cutting line, depending on the production requirements of medium and large industry. Among the other advantages of the machine is the ability to avoid excesses of film over the packaging, an unsightly and dangerous situation as it could affect closure and the consequent shelf-life of the product. The FP027 is able to avoid this problem thanks to the double reel holder which makes it possible to quickly switch from one reel to another as necessary.

Extending shelf-life. The FP027 ensures effective sealing, leading, in this case, to increasing the product’s shelf-life, a parameter defined by the initial microbial loads of the cheese, by the type of film, by the sanitisation operations and by the correct mixtures and temperatures of the gases used in a modified atmosphere (MAP). Taking account of these variables, in the numerous tests carried out by Leone, with the FP027, the shelf-life of some cheeses passes from 90 to 120 days.

Multi-functional and versatile. Not only is the multifunctionality of the machine surprising, but also the possibility of packaging unportioned fresh products, which undergo a predictable physiological decline in the first ten days of life. With the help of the right mixture, the FP027’s flow pack closure and insertion into the cold chain, this decline has been reduced by around 70%.

The packaging machine has great versatility and can quickly pass from one type of cheese to another (from small cubes to entire wheels), handling up to 100 pieces a minute.