Machinery Update May June 2020

34 MACHINERY UPDATE MAY/JUNE 2020 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Feature: Convenience foods
ixapack Global devised a complete line to handle the secondary packaging for prepared pasta
Riggs Autopack’s depositors are easy to use
Delivering ready meals
The simplicity of ready meals belies the complexity behind the processes
used for their manufacture and packaging, here are some new examples
The ready meal has come along
way since the TV dinner of the
50s, with the huge range of
ambient, chilled and frozen
versions being joined by more
exotic ingredients and healthier meal
ideas to satisfy diversifying palates.
But even the simplest serving solution
requires highly flexible packaging
technology to deliver the flavour profile
in a cost-efficient pack.
Depositor manufacturer Riggs
Autopack says the pressure on machine
manufacturers in this sector is to supply
equipment that is reliable, hygienic,
versatile and capable of damage free
product handling. And this was the case
for Pegoty Hedge when it was looking for
ways to improve production efficiency
without compromising the hand
preparation and finished aesthetics
of its artisan meals.
Riggs supplied a demonstration
depositor for the Pegoty Hedge kitchen
and supported it with change-parts and
training. When this no obligation trial
was complete, the company was happy
to purchase a semi-automatic depositor.
In April this year, the company became
US-based Multi-Fill’s UK agent, selling
its volumetric fillers that can dispense
a wide variety of traditionally difficultto-handle
‘dry’ products such as cooked
pastas, rice (cooked, IQF or dry) or
deli salads. Multi-Fill machines are
in many factories having previously been
available in the UK from F Jahn.
“This is a great partnership as it allows
us to further help our existing customers
with automatic solid handling machinery
for difficult to handle components such
as spaghetti,” says Riggs’ sales manager
Lee Humphries. “The speeds, quality
and ease of cleaning fits perfectly with
our own range of filling machines.”
SAVE WITH HI-TECH MACHINERY
Meanwhile, Malcolm Havord, managing
director of Hi-Tech Machinery is urging
ready meals producers to hold onto their
cash by not wasting their money on
overdosing ready meal components
either during collective manufacture or
individual dosing of sauces, dressings,
salsas, fruit compotes, soured creams
and relishes, for example.
The company supplies Hibar pumps
and standard non-drip nozzles that
all deliver accuracy.
Baker Perkins has developed a new process
For the more difficult products,
a range of purpose-designed nozzles to
handle products including those with
5 mm square cheese pieces, for example,
are also available. These pumps and
nozzles are in extensive use within the
food industry, where dosing ready meals
components as close as possible to the
target weight is a prime requirement for
optimum production economy.
“Performance results with free-flowing,
air free, liquids to within a couple of
microlitres is normally expected of Hibar
pumps and for thicker products including
Dead-Sea Mud, honey and cook-in sauces
with particulates, the results are
similarly impressive, given the additional
variables,” Havord tells Machinery Update.
Winkworth says that food
manufacturers are looking for cooking
vessels to help them achieve the flavours
they require and to provide flexibility
between recipes and smaller batch runs
– the challenge being to retain the unique
selling approach of chef cooked foods
while increasing productivity.
In response, the company conceived
the design of a pressure cooker along
the lines of a classic processing vessel (PV).
Operating under pressure and
with the normal characteristic of a PV,
the cooking time would be accelerated
while increasing the flavour intensity
of the meat being cooked.
The design was presented to food
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