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A 2007 global study from Roper Reports Worldwide found that 30% of consumers purchase a pastry, sandwich or ice cream 'to go' at least once a week. In developed markets such as the UK, this figure is estimated to be even higher, creating a massive, and growing, opportunity for food manufacturers and retailers.

The choice of packaging format is fundamental to the success of such concepts. Thankfully, suppliers of both materials and machinery have been hard at work developing formats that can be produced efficiently and affordably.

Flow wrapping is the packaging method of choice for many food-to-go products, such as sausage rolls, cereal bars and bagged snacks. Equipment advances are enabling brand owners to produce packs with a difference, whether through added functionality or a ‘green’ dimension.

Softpack is a new flow wrap format for products such as baguettes and tortillas, and is touted as a green alternative to traditional flow wraps. The PLA film-laminated packs are formed on a horizontal wrapping machine and closed around the product using a combination of gussets and end seals. Inventor RAP (Rapid Action Packaging) claims Softpack could cut waste by a quarter compared with some other fast-food packs because the materials are fed from a reel rather than pre-cut sheets.

Flow wrap equipment specialist Ilapak has designed the hardware for producing the packs, by modifying its Delta 2000 PC5 horizontal flow wrapper. The company is reluctant to disclose exactly what modifications were necessary, but divisional sales manager Tony McDonald hints at a specific gusseting and forming system. The equipment is still undergoing development and testing – Ilapak wants to achieve packaging speeds of about 60 packs per minute before taking it to market – but says it already has a high profile customer lined up who is keen to trial the technology for sandwiches. Besides making flow wraps greener, equipment manufacturers have been busy making packs easier to open. Attempts to make tubular flow wraps, such as those used for cereal bars, easy to open have included the use of tear tapes or zigzag cuts.

However, Sigpack Systems believes it has devised a simple and more controlled method with its Pull Pack concept.

The consumer holds the main part of the pack and pulls the shorter end off with the other hand. The package opens cleanly along the perforation that is hidden beneath a folded flap, explains Marius Wirthlin, general manager for sales Europe. He says a Pull Pack module can be easily fitted to an existing Sigpack flow wrapper to produce up to 800 packs per minute.

Zip it up
PFM Packaging Machinery, meanwhile, expects more food companies to start incorporating a zip closure into their flow wraps following the launch of its BG2800 multi-die flow wrapper.

The BG2800 produces three-side hermetically sealed packs with longitudinal zips, and standard pillow packs, at speeds of up to 150 packs per minute. Packs can be gas flushed for prolonged shelf life. A reel of zip is fed to the zip applicator, which is mounted adjacent to the former. Rollers then transfer the zip profile to meet the film. Heater bars mounted beyond the roller seal both the film and zip as they travel towards the multi-die crimp seal unit.

Although the machine was designed with the cheese industry in mind, PFM says it is ideal for bagging items such as fresh fruit into portion packs. Another flow wrap for bagging fresh fruit portions, already on-shelf in continental Europe, has been devised by Ulma Packaging. The idea is to turn the flow wrap pouch on its side so the top and bottom seals become the sides.

The product is fed into a long tube of film that is print registered. Everything on that film is rotated by 90 degrees from where it would normally be, explains Derek Paterson, Ulma’s UK managing director. The packs are produced on a modified vertical form, fill and seal machine.

Another popular format for foods such as fruit portions and pasta salads is the plastic tray. Heat sealing specialist Proseal has just installed three bespoke tray packing systems for fresh fruit salad at a UK fruit processing factory.

Each of the three, fully integrated lines comprises an automatic tray denester, ‘Fastrax’ product delivery conveyor, filling conveyor, Proseal GT1 tray sealer and outfeed conveyor with label printing and verification, metal detection and checkweighing equipment. Proseal’s Proline-M line management software enables each line to be controlled from a single touch screen on the GT1.

The lines, which run at speeds of up to 60 trays per minute, incorporate eight packing stations where fruit is packed by hand. The Fastrax product delivery system is said to ensure constant product availability at each one, while the tray denester uses fibre optic technology to sense when the next tray is required.

Two weight-checking stations check each tray prior to sealing in the Proseal GT1. The GT1 also incorporates a thermal transfer printer for coding of the film. An extended outfeed conveyor allows application of a clip-on lid; trays then pass through a label printer applicator, which is followed by label verification, metal detection and checkweighing.

Competitor Ishida, meanwhile, has installed a mini convenience line at fresh fruit supplier Mack Service’s Southampton factory, which has reduced product giveaway from 7% to 1%. The line, which comprises two Ishida Fresh Food Weighers (FFW), a QX-775 tray sealer and a DACS-W checkweigher, packs a variety of mixed and single fresh fruits for leading retailers into tray sizes ranging from 160g to 460g.

The FFW was developed to enable fresh, sticky and difficult to handle products, which previously could only be weighed and packed manually, to benefit from the combination weighing principle for improved accuracy.

At Mack Service, each of the FFWs is divided into two sections, enabling up to four types of fruit to be handled at different weights for discharge into the same pack. The specified line speed is 25ppm (packs per minute) but speeds over 30ppm are regularly being achieved and single fruit can be packed at a speed of up to 40ppm.

Historically, manufacturers and packers dealing in lower volumes or looking for format flexibility have opted to buy in pre-formed trays rather than thermoforming their own. However, according to Jim Campbell, Multivac general sales manager (thermoforming and tray sealing), this is changing, with packers of fresh convenience produce coming round to the idea of investing in thermoforming equipment.

If you talked to that market five years ago people wouldn’t have known what thermoforming was. Now it’s one of our biggest business areas, he says.

Packing a profit
The overriding reason for this shift is cost pressure from retail customers. There’s a massive drive from retailers to cut costs, says Campbell. A lot of our customers are getting the same price for their packs as they were four or five years ago. He estimates that, as a rule, packers are looking at a 25-40% lower pack cost when using a former rather than pre-made trays.

As for criticisms that thermoformed packs lack format flexibility, a glance at some of the packs being produced on Multivac’s thermoforming equipment shows there’s plenty of scope for creativity and variety.

Most of these packs use established thermoformers and tray sealers as their production platform. The innovation comes from our pack design, combined with materials and print, says Campbell.

With new ideas coming thick and fast, the main barrier to the development of on-the-go packaging technology is not how far equipment and material manufacturers can go, but how far food manufacturers and retailers are prepared to go, or how much they are prepared to spend, to get their perfect pack.

THE EASY OPTION
We are constantly developing new packaging solutions for the growing on-the-go market, says Tetra Pak’s Linda Bernier. This means satisfying both our customers’ demands for more flexible packaging options that meet their storage and space requirements, and the consumer’s need for convenience, ease of use and guaranteed quality and safety. Both groups want these benefits at a competitive cost.

Tetra Pak’s latest innovation is the Tetra Top Eifel O38, a one-step opening for drink cartons, which was launched in December. The opening has tamper evidence built into the cap, so there’s no need for a tamper band, and is said to be easy to reseal and to pour and drink from.

Based on recent user studies, consumers prefer the easy opening, closure and tightness of the Tetra Top Eifel O38 package when compared to plastic bottles, says Bernier.

The concept is currently undergoing market testing in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland and is scheduled for worldwide availability later this year. Manufacturers and packers who want to run this format need the TT/3 XH IC dual-line filling machine with integrated capping unit, a tool that places the screw caps onto the packs inside the filling machine.