“Fruitful investment” in aseptic filling: 3.5 million by Serbian fruit juice producer

03 Apr 2018 --- Serbian fruit juice producer, Nectar, is raising the level of its technical equipment and production with the purchase of The Innosept Asbofill 711 C from KHS. The line has a capacity of 12,000 bottles per hour and processes 500-milliliter, 750-milliliter and 1.5-liter PET bottles. This marks the first aseptic filler of its kind in Serbia, and it will increase the production of Nectars products, which range from fruit juice, fruit nectar, iced tea, energy drinks and spirits, and vinegar and preserves.

Until very recently sensitive products were pasteurized and filled with the help of ultraclean filling technology (UCF), where overpressure is applied to the filling and capping zone. The air is fed in through filters to prevent any possible microbiological contamination. In addition, the empty bottles are first filled with nitrogen to improve the microbiological quality of the filling process.

To "satisfy its own growing demand for quality,” the company has now opted for aseptic filling. This allows its range of products to be expanded – both with regard to the fruit content and the various flavors and product variants in all categories.

Nectar is known as a manufacturer that covers all stages of the value chain: its own plantations through purchasing, fruit processing and cooperation with fruit farmers, to the finished production. The company states that its high standards are expressed by the Serbian “nije svejedno” which translates into English as “it does matter.”

“Not only was the high quality of the components important to us; it was also essential that we could fully rely on the technology to generate aseptic production conditions,” says Milka Tomanović, Production Manager at Nectar.

“Five years ago we attended an aseptic presentation at the KHS factory in Bad Kreuznach together,” he says. “Since then we’ve been in constant contact, both locally and at various trade shows.”

WorldPackagingOnline spoke with KHS about their aseptic fillers at Anuga Foodtec 2018.