Alpma reimagines classic butter wrapping with aroma-retaining FreshPack

06 Apr 2020 --- Alpma has reinvented classic butter wrapping with FreshPack – a patented packaging solution that boasts all-round sealing, tamper-protection and an oxygen exchange barrier to retain product aroma more effectively. Further, the easy-open tabs allow consumers to peel open the butter more easily and avoid greasy fingers. The mechanical engineering specialist has also developed the Alpma Eagle Eye inspection system that examines numerous cheese types to detect contaminants that the human eye cannot see.

The conventional, envelope-like folding wrap for butter is a classic but it has weaknesses, Alpma points out. The traditional butter wrap is not sealed, not optimally protected, not secure from being tampered with, allows for loss of flavor and allows for oxidation, reducing taste quality and shelf-life. It also leads to the greasy, buttery fingers that people experience when opening the classic, decades-old butter wrap.

A fragrant experience
FreshPack is the name of the patented packaging solution that equipment manufacturer Alpma has developed. It is the reinvention of a butter wrapping method that has remained unchanged for decades. “We have heard time and again from our customers that they are looking for alternative packaging to solve these old problems and give a new pack style and fresh experience,” notes Franz Glas, Alpma Division Manager for Cutting and Packaging Technology. 

In contrast to the classic butter wrap, FreshPack offers all-round sealing, which creates protection against tampering. The seal also protects the butter from oxygen exchange. “As a result, the aroma is retained in the product much better,” according to Glas. “When you open the packaging, you have a fragrance experience. You can smell and taste that the butter is fresher.”

The opening of the pack is also a new sensation. The practical easy-open tabs make it possible to peel open the butter quickly and easily, making greasy fingers a thing of the past.

Electronic eagle eye for cheese handling
Alpma has also developed some products for the cheese sector. It now offers a new system that automatically inspects blocks of cheese and detects every flaw, every piece of contamination and the presence of mold, even mold spores and growth that are not visible to the human eye.

Using modern light systems and a combination of the latest camera technologies and proprietary algorithms, the Alpma Eagle Eye inspection system can examine numerous cheese types and achieve a detection rate of over 99.9 percent.

With cheese blocks weighing several kilograms in a cheese dairy, there is a fair amount of hard work and numerous manual processes required, including de-palletizing, removal of the cheese from an outer cardboard box, removing the ripening film bag and heaving it onto the cutting machine infeed.

Alpma offers machines that unpack cheese blocks automatically from the pallet and remove the cardboard and film, but automation also brings new risks. With it, there is no one to make the visual quality and safety checks of the cheese block before processing.

In the past, the employee had a view of any mold or contamination that stuck to the cheese after unpacking or was present from the ripening process. Today, the employee’s eye is missing and mold or contaminants can end up in production more easily. However, customers can now use an “electronic eagle eye,” which inspects all six sides of a block of cheese before processing, giving an even better quality control and risk reduction than was possible with human checks.

Edited by Joshua Poole