Paper-Like™ look and feel flexible packaging film automates sandwich grab-bag packs, adding traditional appeal to brands

An automatic system to present sandwiches and similar food in the “grab-bag” style of packaging now gaining ground for premium snack products is to be demonstrated for the first time at the PPMA Show by Italian manufacturer PFM Packaging Machinery.

Based on a PFM Mistral Servo flow-wrapper, it replaces the traditional pre-made hand-loaded paper bag with a flow-wrap created from Paper-Like™ film, produced and printed by converters Bemis Europe. Paper-Like™ imitates paper, in both appearance and feel giving an authentic artisan look for optimised brand recall.

“The result is substantially reduced labour and material costs, while preserving the appeal of a hand packed product,” explains PFM sales and operations director Chris Bolton. “The pack is also much stronger than paper” thanks to structural properties of film laminates.

PFM’s Mistral machine is available equipped with a number of product feed options to handle sandwiches or collations of goods such as cookies at speeds up to 60 packs a minute. Reclosure can be achieved with a label.

  • PFM Mistral Hermetic seals increase shelf life
  • Gas flush facility
  • Hygienic construction
  • Suitable for high care environments
  • easy to operate colour touch screen
  • Fast product change over
  • High speed packaging

Also to be shown by PFM is the new multi-mode Vetta II bagging machine, able to meet marketing demands for pack versatility and variety by providing over 20 different bag styles from a single machine, in addition to traditional pillow packs.

In addition, there is the ZC1 entry level combination bagger/weigher and the Pearl low-cost servo-driven flow-wrapper.