Thermoformed tray sealing for Ready-to-Eat Packaging with Nichrome

Athena Tray Sealers Machines

The global thermoformed packaging market is expanding rapidly. Growing acceptance of thermoformed packaging, increasing range of applications in food and pharmaceutical industry, high usage of thermoformed shallow trays in bakery applications are some of the factors stimulating the market growth globally.

Pre-formed tray sealing with modified atmosphere (MAP) increases useful life of product if compared to traditional packaging (stretchable film).  The automatic sealing machinemodel Athena from Tecnovac is capable of packaging in modified atmosphere any combination of compatible trays and top film studied for such applications.

Athena packages fresh, refrigerated, processed or frozen food products at a full range of output rates. Athena produces attractive, leak-proof, tamper-evident packages with greater seal integrity and extended shelf life. They are perfect for all types of prepared food, meat, poultry, seafood, produce and snack packaging as they delay microbiological spoilage & deterioration of the product, offering perfect exposure on supermarket shelves.

Thanks to Athena’s strong stainless steel structure, easy maintenance and conformity to hygienic requirements, this machine is ideal for use in small and medium sized companies. The aluminium mould is made each time according to the customer’s requests in order to obtain absolute precision in the details of the packaging.

To double productivity, consider the Athena Dual Drive. This machine is an integrated, double chamber version which can have two identical moulds to double productivity. At the same time the machine allows the reduction of the waste film (no waste film in the area between the two chambers).

High flexibility is ensured as the machine allows the packing of trays with two different tools since the two chambers can work alternatively. Both tools can remain constantly heated and therefore always ready-to-use. The machine also offers the possibility of performing Skin + Standard Top Seal application without manual operations and changeovers and with only one passage of the trays into the machine.

The price-quality combination and Tecnovac’s high international standards make Athena the best solution for RTE / RTC packaging. In India, Athena is brought to you by Nichrome, the leading packaging solutions provider, so customers are assured sound sales & service support. For snack packaging, Namkeen packaging, RTE/RTC packaging, Nichrome offers a wide range of automated packaging machines andend-to-end integrated packaging lines.

Visit for more:www.nichrome.com

Nichrome RTE Packaging: Helping to ladle profits for food industries

The RTE (Ready-To-Eat) industry is booming. And why not? RTE food offers convenience and variety. It saves time and energy — elements of great value in contemporary India with its changing lifestyle, growing urbanization, increase in nuclear families and rise in disposable income.

The Indian RTE food market is dominated by Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR), GITS Food Products Pvt. Ltd., Indian Tobacco Company (ITC), Kohinoor Foods and Priya Foods.

Product innovation, branding and attractive packaging have also provided impetus to the RTE industry. The players in the packaged food industry tweak their product offerings to suit the taste of Indian consumers and launch new variants of the products to cater to region-specific demand which have widened their consumer base. The industry players also consider factors like freshness, crispiness and flavor of the product, which the consumers consider important, before launching new products. Newer preservation techniques have led to enhanced shelf life.

Nichrome’s Totpack Pick-Fill-Seal machine offers the combined benefits of variety, productivity and specialty packaging for ready-to-eat food packaging. The ready to cook packaging machine conveniently packs a wide variety of ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods in eye-catching innovative shapes while maintaining freshness of the products. Advanced packaging technology enables 2 or 3 different fillers to dispense multiple types of ingredients in the same pouch.

The Horizontal Form Fill Seal (HFFS) machine is a sturdy, cost-effective solution with multiple filler options. The RTE Filler facilitates the packaging of products such as Palak Paneer, Dal Makhani, Butter Chicken, Biryani, Gravies, Matar Paneer, Punjabi Chhole, Punjabi Kadhi, Rajma Masala, etc.

The Linear/Gate Weigher can be used for vegetable seed packaging while the Servo Auger Filler is suitable for powders like ORS, Pharmaceutical Powder, Spice Powder, Milk Powder, Coffee, Health Drinks, Instant Mixes, Premixes, etc. Multi-Head Weighers are used for snack & Namkeen packaging. Piston Fillers transform the machine into a ketchup packaging machine, ideal for viscous products like pastes, pickles, soup, sauces, ghee, etc.

Other filler options include Cup Filler (for sugar, rice, pulses, etc.) and Gravity Filler/Flow Meter (for liquids like milk, lassi, oil, juices, wines, etc.).

The high-precision Totpack PFS packaging machine is controlled through a PLC with touch-screen interface, and supports a variety of pack/pouch formats. Packing material for preformed pouches include heat sealable laminates like PET/PE, Paper/Alu-foil/PE, Alu/PF, PET/Alu-foil/PE or Co ex films.

All these features and advantages have made Nichrome’s PFS machine the preferred choice of players in the processed food industry – serving speed, efficiency and flexibility to make operations smooth and profitable.

Visit for more: www.nichrome.com

Heat-Open-Eat! The Super Convenience of RTE Food

It’s never been so easy to put together a delicious meal! Shop shelves are overflowing with packages of Ready-to-Eat (RTE) food – and the variety of cuisines and dishes grows everyday as food companies introduce new items to tempt the consumer’s appetite. Parsi dhansak; Punjabi chole, Rajma-chawal, Matar-Paneer and Dal Makhani; South Indian Rasam, Sambar-rice, Lemon-rice and Bisibelebhath; Nawabi Kaju-halwa or Biryani – the choices abound.

Contemporary urban Indian lifestyles, with working women, nuclear families, higher income levels, long commutes and paucity of time for cooking, are firing this market. This type of food saves time and labour. It has extended shelf-life and is available off the market shelves – so demand grows at a healthy pace.

What’s more, these products provide variety and are tasty to eat. The advancements in food processing and packaging technology have made it possible to protect the flavours and extend the shelf-life of these products. So buyers feel more confident about the quality and hygiene aspects of such foods.

RTE FOOD PACKAGING

A key performer in this success story is Nichrome’s Pick-Fill-Seal (PFS8) machine. For ready-to-eat food packaging and ready-to-cook food packaging, this Horizontal Form Fill Seal Machine from Tot pack, Spain is an 8 station packaging machine with Versatile Rotary Technology, providing multiple pouch shape packaging solutions to many industries. 3-side seal, 4-side seal, and standup pouch, stand up with zipper, stand up with spout or even customized shapes – the PFS8 offers all formats.

The PFS8 machine is sturdy and compact, operator friendly, easy-to-clean and maintain. The high precision machine is controlled through a PLC, with the latest synchronized motion Servo System. It is available in hygienic Stainless Steel Construction as an option.

Nichrome’s Pick-Fill-Seal machines present an advanced variant of packaging technology that enables 2 or 3 different fillers to dispense multiple types of ingredients in the same pouch. The machines conveniently pack a wide variety of ready-to-eat foods in eye-catching innovative shapes while maintaining freshness of the products.

A special advantage of this European trendsetter is its versatility. It offers multiple filler options for diverse applications. Besides the RTE Filler for foods such as Palak Paneer, Dal Makhani, Butter Chicken, Biryani, Gravies, Matar Paneer, Punjabi Chhole, Punjabi Kadhi, Rajma Masala, etc., there is the Multi head Filler for packaging dry products such as Snacks, Dry Fruits & Nuts, Confectionaries, High Count Biscuits, Namkeen, Soya Chunks, Pasta, Shortcut Vermicelli, and Frozen Foods & Dry Fish.

With a Piston Filler, the PFS8 transforms into a ketchup packaging machine, and also packs other viscous products like Pastes, Pickles, Sauces, Soup, Curry, Fruit Pulps, Ghee, Vanaspati, and Edible Oil.

Other Fillers include the Gravity Filler for liquids like milk, juices, health drinks, wine, etc.; the Linear/Gate Weigher for granular products like Tea, Sugar, Rice, Pulses, Seeds; the Servo Auger Filler for powders like ORS, Pharmaceutical Powder, Spice Powder, Milk Powder, Coffee, Health Drinks, Instant Mixes, Premixes, etc.; and Cup Filler for free flowing powders & granular products.

For players in the RTE and RTC business, Nichrome offers the expertise and experience to partner for success. Visit www.nichrome.com

How Retort Packaging is Transforming the Ready To Eat Food Industry

While convenience food has been prevalent and popular in the developed world for years, its presence in the Indian market is comparatively recent. However, due to its many advantages, it is becoming increasingly popular. This type of food saves time and labour, has extended shelf life and is easily available – so with more and more couples going out to work, rise in income levels, change in food habits and lifestyles, and the Indian market for convenience food is growing in leaps and bounds.

Retort Processing is the preferred method of Ready-to-Eat food packaging, packing meals in durable pouches. Retort packaging is a unique form of stand up pouch used for cook-in-a-bag meals and sides, such as soups, rice, sauces, and pasta dishes. It maintains the shelf-life, texture and nutritive value of the food.

Ready-to-use retort pouches are flexible packages made from multiplayer plastic films with or without aluminum foil as one of the layers. Unlike the usual flexible packages, they are made of heat resistant plastics, thus making them suitable for processing at a temperature of around 121°C. The food-grade materials used to construct this type of packaging undergo a sterilization process that extends the shelf life of the product inside while boosting the durability of the package itself. After going through a retort machine, the food package is able to withstand high temperatures, making this the perfect solution for microwavable meals.

These retort pouches possess toughness and puncture resistance normally required for any flexible packaging. They can also withstand the rigours of handling and distribution. The material is heat sealable and has good barrier properties. Because of their strength, flexibility, and light weight, retorts pouches have become a widely used alternative to traditional methods for preserving and retailing food.

Indian food like palak paneer, dal fry, curry rice, pulav, vegetables Biryani etc. are retort processed because they are low acid food with moderate to large size particles; hence it is easy to remove oxygen from the head-space by gas flushing.

In India, 3-ply laminate consisting of PET/Al Foil/PP is commonly used for packaging of ready to eat retort packed food. The product packed in such laminates has a shelf-life of one year. The other materials generally used in retort pouch structure includes nylon, silica coated nylon, ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) and polyvinyledene chloride (PVDC). These materials have high moisture barrier properties and are used successfully for packaging of ready-to-eat high moisture Indian food.

Ketchup Packaging Machine

Nichrome’s Pick-Fill-Seal (PFS) machine is an innovative packaging solution for ready-to-eat food packaging and ready-to-cook food packaging. Nichrome’s PFS machine conveniently packs a wide variety of ready-to-eat foods in eye-catching innovative shapes while maintaining freshness of the products. It enables 2 or 3 different fillers to dispense multiple types of ingredients in the same pouch.

Nichrome’s RTE food packaging machine is the preferred choice for its sheer versatility, easy-to-clean design and cost-efficiency.  This Horizontal Form Fill Seal machine provides a cost-effective solution with multiple filler options like Visco Filler, Servo Auger Filler, Volumetric Cup Filler, Multi-Head Weighers, Indexing Type Bucket Conveyor, etc. 

It is the ideal machine for products such as Palak Paneer, Dal Makhani, Butter Chicken, Biryani, Gravies, Matar Paneer, Punjabi Chhole, Punjabi Kadhi, Rajma Masala, etc. It is also a ketchup packaging machine that efficiently packs other products such as Ginger Garlic Paste, Sauces, Ghee, Instant mixes, Nutraceutical, Namkeen, Seeds and even liquids such as Milk, Juice, Lassi, Oil, etc.

It also supports a variety of pouch formats such as the pre-made 3-side seal, 4-side seal, stand-up pouch, stand-up with zipper, Doy pack with side spout, or even other pouches with customized shapes. So for food manufacturers aspiring to make the most of the exciting potential of the fast-growing RTE/RTC market in India, partnering with Nichrome is certain to yield healthy profits.