The top-sealed food tray is a perfect example how to protect food, keep it fresh and reduce unnecessary waste. Proseal Australia sales manager Gary Lee looks at developments in the form.
The top-sealed food tray not only meets the need for convenience from consumers, it provides protection in transit, can enhance on-shelf presentation, and most importantly, extend the shelf-life of products.
A tray, sealed with a top film, can inhibit and control the ingress or egress of gases and moisture, and extend shelf-life.
Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) enables the manipulation of the atmosphere inside a tray containing perishable foods. MAP can be achieved by vacuum assisted gas flush and standard displacement gas flushing.
More recently, ready meals and proteins have used skin packaging, which features a special film that seals to all surfaces of a tray to tightly cover the entire contents.
Sealed trays are also ideal for further processing using different sterilisation methods such as retort or HPP (High Pressure Processing).
Selection of the most appropriate tray sealing machine is critical for achieving these results.
The Proseal “e” range of sealing systems can handle any type of tray and provide all sealing capabilities. Customers can simply select the format types they require in conjunction with the correct tooling set.
E-seal technology also delivers a high-precision seal with an extremely strong sealing force, ensuring every seal has the tightness and reliability to maintain its effectiveness both for further processing and throughout the supply chain.
Proseal is a local supplier and manufacturer of tray sealing machinery and tooling. It has full test kitchen capability at its Westmeadows factory in Melbourne and regularly assist NPD teams from various manufacturers to ensure the best solutions are found.
This article first appeared in the February-March 2023 edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.
