Salad days for MAP in pre-cut produce

Prepared Foods, April, 1997 by Judy Rice

Last summer, Tanimura & Antle (T&A) launched a line of Salad Time salads in single-serve bowls for the retail market. Four varieties - Caesar, Italiano, Santa Fe, and Spinach - have a 14-day refrigerated shelf life and weigh from 5.6 to 6.3 oz.

"We wanted to keep costs down for ourselves and for our customers, so we didn't want to over-package," reports Leonard Batti, vice president of value-added products for the Spreckles, Calif.-based company.

"We chose custom-molded PVC bowls from Winkler Thermoforming and permeable, anti-fog, easy-peel flexible lidding from James River's Flexible Packaging Group (now a part of Printpack). The lidding materials - we use different structures for the different salads - allow the various salads to respire (taking in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide) at the optimum rate to maintain extended shelf life."

The bowls feature a patented stand-up foot, which allows them to be displayed standing on end in the refrigerated case. Merchandised in that manner, the preprinted lidding gets high shopper visibility.

During packaging, the bowls are hand-filled with the basic salad ingredients. Then the condiments, such as croutons and dressings in clear barrier film portion-packs, along with pre-packaged napkins and utensils, are placed on top of the salad just before gas-flushing with nitrogen and sealing.

T&A does its own packaging, using four automatic gas-flush and seal machines - two rated at 20 bowls/min. and two at 60 bowls/min. Supplied by Orics Industries, College Point, N.Y., the machines operate with preprinted lidding rollstock and automatically die-cut and seal the lidding. "We wanted equipment that was affordable and simple to operate," states Batti.

Meating Of The Minds

Fresh Express, Salinas, Calif., is taking its packaged salads to the next level with meat processing and packaging expertise from Hillshire Farm & Kahn's, Cincinnati. Last September, Fresh Express rolled into national markets with its Ready-To-Go Entree Salads containing vegetables and cooked meats. Varieties include Chicken Caesar, Fat-Free Chicken Caesar and Chef Salad (with a mixture of chicken and ham).

"We see Ready-To-Go Entree Salads as a breakthrough, a triumph," exclaims Paul Cracknell, director of new product development for Fresh Express.

The 8-oz. salads are packaged in dual-compartment, barrier polyethylene trays from Tray Pak. Containers are then sealed with a breathable lidding film which allows the fresh-cut vegetables to respire for extended shelf life.

During the packaging operation, an automated scale system drops the vegetable components into the larger of the two tray pockets. Individual portion-packets of meat, dressing, garlic toast or breadstick, plastic fork and a paper napkin are hand-deposited into the smaller tray pocket. Then the tray is gas-flushed as it is sealed with the breathable lidding film from Microclean.

According to Ori Cohen, president of Orics Industries, the Fresh Express products are being sealed on Orics R-20 MAP machinery. "We are operating two Orics machines at the Salinas plant, two machines at the Atlanta plant and two machines at the Chicago plant," confirms Zoltan Payerli, director of package engineering at Fresh Express.

The meat components are processed and portion-packed by Hillshire Farm & Kahn's. "We use clear, printed barrier film (from Curwood) and a Tiromat form/fill/seal system (from TW Kutter, a Tetra Laval Co.) to package the meat strips in 1 1/2-oz. to 2-oz. packets, depending on product type," explains Stuart Oliver, vice president of technical operations for Hillshire Farm. "The packets are flushed with a mixture of inert gases just before sealing."

"Both the meat packets and the salads are code-dated for 14 days of refrigerated shelf life in a 50 [degrees] F environment," reports Orinda Tims, marketing director for new products. "Testing has verified that the packaging and proper storage conditions will deliver the full flavor and wholesomeness."

"This venture is an example of two strong, recognized brand names establishing an excellent partnership," declares Oliver. "We're very excited because we believe we've created a new category - prepackaged, all-in-one meat salads - with outstanding growth potential."