FachPack 2021: Ima Benhil unveils “world first” FoldWrap Machine for hermetically sealed butter packs

28 Sep 2021 --- Dairy filling and wrapping machine specialist Ima Benhil is showcasing what it says is a breakthrough in butter and margarine packaging, the FoldWrap Machine. The innovation, on show now at FachPack in Nuremberg, Germany, allows for new, more environmentally sustainable materials to be used for packaging dairy.

Speaking to PackagingInsights from the trade show floor, Ima Behhil’s area sales manager Philipp Janker explains the release has created a watershed advance on a hundred years of traditional butter wrapping.

“We are introducing a completely new packaging style compared to what we have known in the past with bottom fold or end side fold wrapping,” he asserts.

“The new model is able to have tamper-evident packaging that is hermetically sealed and brings all the advantages of new materials by means of sustainability.” 

The wraps are not heat sealed but instead sealed by pressure. 

Spreading safety in butter 
Janker explains the FoldWrap machine’s hermetic sealing properties ensure hygienic casing for dairy products and can extend shelf life. 

“Hermetic sealing means we are sealing the complete packaging so there is no free space inside and brings advantages because there is not so much contact with ambient oxygen.” Hermetic sealing ensures hygiene for butter products.

“It also means consumers are ensured to be the first ones to open the packaging by means of tamper evidence,” he says. 

Tamper evidence technology makes unauthorized access to a product, such as an F&B product, easily detectable. Once butter or margarine has been sealed by Ima’s FoldWrap machine, concealing an initial opening will be all but impossible, Janker says. 

The Ima Zero Initiative 
Janker continues that the FoldWrap machine comes as part of wider efforts to enable packaging producers to switch to more easily recyclable materials. 

“The most known wrapping material for butter and margarine is aluminum coated wrapping paper, but with our new machine, we can play with all new wrapping materials based on our Ima Zero initiative,” he says. 

The Ima Zero initiative is the company’s pledge to improve its environmental footprint, including a No-Plastic Program, which aims to promote non-plastic materials through its machine manufacturing designs. 

“We are now searching for our first customers who want to go together with us in this direction. We are not going to change the world completely, but it’s a very interesting alternative in the market, and we see a huge potential in the future,” Janker says. 

While the FoldWrap machine is aimed mainly at dairy products like yeast, Janker says it can also have the potential for plant-based alternatives. The FoldWrap machine in action.

Recently, a spate of plant-based dairy F&B alternatives has hit the market, for which environmentally sustainable packaging designed to match the environmental benefits of such products has risen. 

Ima innovations 
Ima’s new butter wrapping machines join a series of innovations by the company’s global divisions in recent times. 

This year, IMA Dairy & Food USA launched a patented punch technology enabling multipack yogurt cups to be easily separated, supporting the shift to recyclable, mono-material packaging. 

Suited to IMA’s Erca, Hassia, and Intecma brands of form-fill-seal (FFS) machines, the tools utilize a patented punch process providing high-quality cutting and precutting of PET, PP and PLA.

Recently, NatureWorks, manufacturer of Ingeo PLA biopolymers, entered a strategic partnership with IMA Coffee to accelerate the North American market for compostable single-serve coffee pods. 

, reporting from FachPack 2021 in Nuremberg, Germany

By Louis Gore-Langton