In early May last year, leading meat-processing trade fair IFFA saw Krehalon hosting live demonstrations of a revolutionary Secondary Seal concept which attracted the eyes of meat packers from around the world who were looking for fresh, innovative ideas. This new packaging concept promises to completely reinvent the fresh meat packaging industry by creating numerous product differentiation opportunities for meat processors, helping them achieve sustainable long term commercial gains.
Krehalon’s Secondary Seal products, traded under the name SSL™ are high barrier, high shrink films which use special sealant polymer grades to allow the inner layers of the material to fuse together through the normal production process of vacuum packing and hot water shrinkage.
The unique presentation offered by SSL™ can be achieved by using standard packing equipment – no new investment is required to gain presentation improvement over standard shrink bags.
Moreover, SSL™ is the perfect enhancement for Shrink Bag Replacement (SBR™) applications.According to Krehalon, combining SSL™ with SBR™ will provide a “step change” in pack presentation. SSL™ is well-suited for automated packing, particularly Flovac applications.Flovac is an automated inline system which replaces manual bag loading operations. The system is conveyor-fed and enables every product to be measured before packing so that each bag is made to the optimum size of each product, allowing for precise material-to-product ratio. The system offers exceptional cost savings through minimised material waste and pack leakers, reduced labour costs and improved efficiency. In short, driving down real pack costs whilst improving pack presentation.
Customers using SSL™ in combination with SBR™ have already seen a number of key advantages including:
Total removal of the blood pad has been achieved for some applications resulting in considerable cost reductions and a decline in overall customer complaints, including a reduction in “confinement” vacuum pack odour.
Product life extension benefits as a result of reduced blood in the bag and ‘skin tight’ presentation with no post-shrink relaxation.
Output improvement through consistent product quality and thus improved production flow.
Extensive SSL™ trials are currently ongoing in key Fresh Meat markets in Europe, Australia, South America and Russia where some of the largest beef and pork producers have expressed strong interest in the SSL™ concept due to the blood yield advantages and potential shelf life extension benefits it offers over standard shrink products. Krehalon has already secured many key customer accounts as a result of the successful trials which are proving all the commercial benefits of SSL™.
“We are excited and extremely pleased to see the level of interest from fresh meat packers in SSL™, not only the larger global meat producers but also the supermarkets. We believe this product will be the game changer in fresh meat packing that the industry has been looking for!” – comments Steven Hinchly, Sales and Marketing Director for Krehalon Europe.
SBR™ and SSL™ are a hand and glove package that supplement the key advantages of each to the benefit of the end user.
Krehalon are the seal of quality in the fresh food shrink packaging industry. The company has a depth of experience enabling the delivery of innovative food packaging solutions that maximise shelf life and visual appeal. Krehalon focuses on automated solutions for operational efficiencies and long term commercial gains for their customers.