Trays for food: new developments

Arcoplastica brings to interpack a new range of rigid containers for food products with optimized structure and high transparency, designed for compatibility with the most advanced MAP, vacuum and skin packaging techniques. 

A leader in trays and thermoformed containers, Arcoplastica will appear at interpack with an important novelty: a new line of rigid trays in 232x146 mm and 254x185 mm, which are becoming increasingly widespread for packaging portioned meats and fish, but also ready meals and gourmet products.
In response to the market’s preference for trays made from rigid rather than expanded material, the Andezeno concern helmed by the Torta family has developed a new complete range of rigid containers. Available in various heights with different bottoms, the new line revisits these two classic formats in order to make them compatible with the most advanced MAP, vacuum and skin packaging processes.

The research parameters
The reengineering project hinged on the geometry of the trays, enhancing their robustness and rigidity, as well as ease of de-stacking, the distribution of packaging gases (thanks to special ribbing on the bottom) and - in the case of skin packaging - the vacuum speed.
The concern’s engineers have effectively perfected the structure of the container, focusing on innovation of the materials.
The new line thus features greater transparency (to highlight the characteristics of the product inside), sealability and temperature resistance.
Much care was also paid to the environmental sustainability of this new packaging, which is made using more lightweight structures (partly thanks to the possibility of reducing thicknesses), and where the application permits, adopting new recyclable mono-materials.

Advanced materials knowhow
Arcoplastica’s in-house production of mono/multilayer plastic films at its three extrusion plants enables the concern to design and manufacture, in combination with the more common A-PET, A-PET/PE, A-PET/EVOH/PE, PP, PP/PE and PP/EVOH/PP also innovative materials like monobarrier A-PET (a barrier A-PET with high transparency); thermostatic A-PET (resistant to temperatures as high as 90°C); C-PET with superior gas barrier (C-PET with barrier properties similar to those of A-PET/EVOH/PE), suitable both for freezing and heating in microwave or conventional ovens up to 220 °C.
All the trays of the new line can be equipped with different types of sealing layers, thanks to lamination of different grades of functionalized PE, easy-open PE for skin packaging, low seal easy open PE (with reduced energy consumption), reclosable PE (able to seal in presence of contaminants), easy open PE for MAP and blocking PE.

Objectives: sealability and personalization
The product development path undertaken by Arcoplastica has the primary objective of guaranteeing the greatest possible sealability of each container under any packaging conditions, so as to secure significant productivity advantages for the customer.
From material type to color and container shape, the packaging personalization characteristic of previous lines have been carried over to the new line of distinctive quality trays offered by Arcoplastica.
In order to achieve maximum synergy of packaging and materials used, the Andezeno concern has created an in-house R&D studio for applied research, as well as a space for testing packaging alongside customers.
The testing area is equipped with a packaging machine adapted for both MAP and skin packaging, enabling testing of different types of containers and materials directly on the product in question. The R&D studio and the competency of Arcoplastica’s technologists, who for years have also relied on a modern instruments lab, thus guarantee identification of the perfect solution for each packaging application.