Having sold, throughout the world, more than 3000 horizontal and vertical flow pack machines for packaging cheese PFM can be considered one of the leading companies in this sector. Nowadays it is no longer necessary to use heavy, thick packaging materials, in fact a single roll of very fine material is sufficient to package, using flow pack, cheeses of different sizes and insulate them completely from the outside world in close fitting, airtight wrappers.
The packaging of cheese offers a number of case histories that vary significantly from one country to another based on the levels of development and consumption.
The packaging of cheese must in fact satisfy the following criteria:
- Hygiene protection
- Preservation
- Transportability
- Marketing (weight, price, codes, expiry date, etc.)
Types of cheese
Mozzarella cheese with liquid
Dedicated machinery: Zenith inox, Comet.
Portioned Cheese
Dedicated machinery: Shamal, Tornado, Mistral BB, Scirocco, Scirocco Pocket-Bag, BG 2800.
Sliced Cheese
Dedicated machinery: Tornado, Mistral BB, Scirocco, Scirocco Pocket-Bag, BG 2800.
Grated Cheese
Dedicated machinery: Zenith inox, Azimuth, Comet, Vetta, Solaris, C2.
Diced Cheese
Dedicated machinery: Zenith inox, Azimuth, Comet, Vetta, Solaris, C2.
The PFM flow pack machines for wrapping cheese offer the following advantages:
- Greater flexibility: With respect to vacuum packing or similar systems, the flow pack machines allow rapid size change operations (2-3 minutes) without the need to replace mechanical parts, moulds or other such operations.
- High wrapping speed: The PFM flow pack wrapping machines are able to pack cheese at a rate of 130 packs per minute in modified atmosphere.
- Reduced wrapping material costs: The PFM flow pack wrapping machines produce packs sealed on three sides from a single reel of flat wrapping material 35-40 micron thick for guaranteeing a good gas barrier. Most other machines operate with two reels of wrapping material normally 120 micron thick, i.e. three times that of the flow pack.
- The carbon dioxide is soluble in the water contained in the cheese.Therefore 24-36 hours after wrapping, air depression is created inside the pack, causing the wrapping material to adhere to the surface of the cheese. Many cheeses that appear to be vacuum packed have in fact been wrapped using the flow pack system.
- Same product life: Cheese wrapped in modified atmosphere lasts as long as cheese wrapped on other machines.
- Easier to clean : The PFM flow pack machines are constructed using a cantilevered system. Starting from a vertical plate, the sealing and product movement units are assembled on one side, while on the other side (which becomes the back of the machine), the movement units and the electric/electronic board are installed. The final result is that the front of the machine is left free to allow the sealing and product supporting units to be cleaned directly with water and steam, while the mechanical and electronic parts, which are housed at the back of the machine in separate compartments, are protected. Traditional machines do not in fact feature a cantilevered construction. They are therefore unable to offer such advantages as the movement unit is positioned under the sealing unit by means of a horizontal plate. Any type of direct cleaning therefore inevitably leads to contact of the cleaning substances with the units.
