Industrial Vacuum Sealers and Read to Eat Meals

For high volume food manufacturing, industrial vacuum sealers provide the behind the scenes technology to ensure that RTE meals are both safe and attractive to the customer.

One of the least talked about stars of the U.S. economy in recent memory has been the exponential growth of the gourmet and specialty and organic foods in ready-to-eat (RTE) packages. This industry has a projected market size of $5.3 billion by 2012, according to Packaged Facts, an industry research group. Contributing to this growth is a variety of factors, including the mobile American life style, a desire of healthy foods and Americans’ interest in global foods and cuisines. But to make this market growth possible, the specialty foods industry needed to package its RTE meals in a manner that would retain flavor and freshness as well as prevent food spoilage and freezer burn. For high volume food manufacturing, industrial vacuum sealers provide the behind the scenes technology to ensure that RTE meals would be safe for the customer.

Industrial vacuum sealers are more robust versions of the product one might have as a handheld kitchen appliance. Industrial vacuum sealers are purchased by a food manufacturer or a food reseller who has the need to store foods for a lengthy period of time. They have much larger capacity than a home vacuum sealer. Finally, they are automated devices such that very little human interaction is required to vacuum seal the food. They will not only remove oxygen within the sealing bag but other chemicals as well. The operator of an industrial vacuum sealer places the food to be sealed on the inlet of the sealer and the sealed product will be exit at the outlet.

Some of the features unique to industrial vacuum sealers are:

Less Audible Noise: designed with special vacuum pumps that operate quietly.
Solid State Controls: seal, dwell and vacuum timing can be set to optimize sealing for large-scale operations.
Stainless Steel Retractable Vacuum Nozzles: permit increased and maintained vacuum pressure and improve bag loading to reduce human intervention. Stainless steel makes for easier cleaning and improved durability.
Safety Interlocks: releases the sealing bar before locking down which prevents possible injury when an operator is inserting product. Electric and pneumatic micro-switches are used to prevent the seal jaws from closing on unwanted objects.
Dual Vacuum Chambers: designed for high volume applications.
Password-Protected Process Recipes: to prevent unintended changes, process recipes that control vital functions of the sealer are password protected.
Data Recording: RS-232 port provides connection to data recorders.

The innovative technologies incorporated into the current models of industrial vacuum sealers allow the food manufacturer to increase sealing rates for large packing operations. This technology has translated into the fast-paced development of the gourmet and specialty RTE meals industry.