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