IMA Dairy & Food Group Manufactures Innovative ‘Milk in a Stick’ Package for Lakeland Dairies
SAS 20/30 Form-Fill Seal Machine Affords Extended Shelf Life and Enhanced Product Quality for New Low-Weight Stick Pack Product
EDISON, NJ – IMA Dairy & Food USA (formerly OYSTAR USA) – whose parent company develops and manufactures complete packaging lines and individual machines for the dairy and food industries – has helped Lakeland Dairies develop a creative new option to complement hot beverages: milk in a stick pack. The new “Milk in a Stick” packages are currently being produced at Lakeland Dairy’s Ireland facility on an IMA Hassia SAS 20/30 Aseptic Pouch Form-Fill-Seal (FFS) Machine.
The new aseptic product format is ideal for meeting both the efficiency and passenger service needs for a variety of sectors, most notably the commercial airline industry. Here, the stick packs help save crucial inflight weight by weighing up to 45% less than the typical mini cups that are traditionally used. And because the sticks are up to 50% less bulky than mini cups, they also require less storage space and produce less on-board waste.
Milk in a Stick also is consumer friendly, as the packages are easy-to-open, have contemporary styling, and use strong and flexible packing, making them more robust than mini cups. The longer, broader packaging format also affords upgraded branding opportunities when compared to mini cups.
IMA’s 20/30 FFS Machine is ideal for producing Milk in a Stick. Offering product-specific filling systems with high filling accuracy, the machine can produce stick packs from 60-225mm in length, 26-80mm wide, and at volumes of up to 250ml. It can produce as many as 24,000 stick packs per hour.
Designed and manufactured in accordance with international hygienic standards, the SAS 20/30 FFS Machine can operate as many as eight lanes. After manufacturing the aseptic stick packs by sterilizing foil on all sides, the machine then fills and seals these pouches under aseptic conditions in a sterile tunnel. Through this process of active packaging material sterilization, a bacteria reduction >log5 is achieved, which results in extended shelf life, even outside the cooling chain. FDA and 3A compliant machine configurations also are available.
“Milk in a Stick exemplifies the primary benefits of aseptic stick packs, which are extended shelf life and enhanced product quality achieved without the use of additional preservatives, said Arnold Lawner, Vice President of Sales for IMA Dairy & Food USA. “In this instance, the IMA Hassia Form-Fill-Seal Machine enables Lakeland Dairies to offer an innovation that meets the specific needs of major customer segments, including the sought-after aviation industry.”
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About IMA Group
IMA Group is world leader in the design and manufacture of automatic machines for the processing and packaging of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, tea, coffee and food. The Group has approximately 3,700 employees and 24 production plants in Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, India and China as well as a global sales and service network. IMA Group is active in more than 80 countries.
IMA Dairy & Food USA serves the dairy and food industries with a portfolio covering nearly all areas of packaging machine application, including:
• Filling and sealing machines (FS) for preformed cups and bottles, and forming, filling and sealing machines (FFS) for packaging products in the food, dairy, beverage segment filled up to the aseptic level as well as wrapping machines for packaging butter, margarine, etc.
• Aseptic vertical form, fill and seal machines for stick packs / pouches (with the corresponding dosing systems) as well as FS and FFS machines for packaging single portions of coffee, honey, jam, etc.
IMA Dairy & Food’s main office in the United States is located in Edison, NJ. For more information, call (732) 343-7600 or visit www.imadairyfood.com.