Multivac extends Les Maraîchers d’Armor’s white bean shelf life with equilibrium atmosphere packs

07 Dec 2021 --- Multivac is promoting its FreshSafe packaging system for extending the shelf life of delicate natural products, including fruit and vegetables. The system employs a method of producing equilibrium atmosphere (EMAP) packs, optimizing the oxygen content.

Les Maraîchers d’Armor, a cooperative in the French region of Brittany, uses the technology to pack its white beans, the so-called “Cocos de Paimpol,” in trays under modified atmosphere, enabling the shelf life and quality of the product to be preserved for longer.

“To satisfy the demand from consumers for a ready-to-cook, ‘all-in-one’ product, the idea was conceived in 2020 of packaging the Paimpol beans under modified atmosphere,” explains Florian Josselin, who is responsible for new product innovations at the cooperative.

“The challenge was to find a reliable packaging concept for a semi-dry product, which alters extremely rapidly after harvesting.”

Oxygen concentration
Les Maraîchers d’Armor found its solution with FreshSafe. The packaging process involves pre-perforated films or films perforated mechanically on the Multivac packaging machine, ensuring a controlled oxygen permeability. This permeability can be matched precisely to the specific respiration characteristics of the particular fresh product.

The objective is always to maintain the most beneficial oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration for the particular product. EMAP is achieved through the interaction between the product’s respiration and the required film permeability.

The FreshSAFE packaging system can be produced on thermoforming packaging machines and traysealers, and chamber machines.

T 600 traysealer with FreshSafe
Les Maraîchers d‘Armor uses the T 600, the smallest fully automatic Multivac traysealer that can be integrated into a line. This versatile and scalable model is suitable for flexibly packing small and medium-sized batches. Moreover, it is particularly easy to operate thanks to its IPC06 machine control with touchscreen.

Multivac’s FreshSafe solution for Les Maraîchers d’Armor.The T 600 is equipped with the Multivac FreshSafe microperforation system, which automatically perforates the upper web during the packaging process. Thanks to the cost-effective needle perforation system, all current upper webs can be perforated to the individual permeability required.

The packaging line for Les Maraîchers d’Armor also included a TDS 300 denester from TVI, and an MDC drag chain infeed system and a direct web printer from Multivac.

The packs themselves consist of a board tray and a transparent upper web, so the consumer can see the freshness of the product at a glance.

Extended shelf life
Due to the FreshSafe microperforation system, the product retains all its sensory characteristics in the pack. It remains appetizing and fresh, and its shelf life is significantly longer than products packed in other types of packaging, indicates Multivac.

These benefits mean there is considerably more leeway in the supply chain, which may prove especially useful during periods of COVID-19-induced supply disruptions and political uncertainties.

In other Multivac developments, the food packaging and processing company recently launched a thermoforming packaging machine for plastic or aluminum snack packs, full wrap egg pack labeling for enhanced hygiene and shelf appeal, and a spray system for slicing and packaging cheese, ham and vegan products.

Les Maraîchers d’Armor
Les Maraîchers d’Armor is a cooperative situated in the heart of the vegetable growing area of Les Côtes d'Armor. More than 420 gardeners, operating in the northwest corner of Brittany, cultivate over 80 types of vegetables, strawberries and other fruits. The annual production quantity is around 175,000 tons. In conjunction with two other cooperatives in Brittany, the products are marketed under the well-known label of “Prince de Bretagne.”

Around 200 producers concentrate on the cultivation and propagation of white beans. These yellow and violet-flecked pulses with their egg-shaped seeds find their ideal growing conditions in the area between Paimpol and Tréguier. In 1998, the ‘Cocos de Paimpol” was the first fresh vegetable and the first Breton product to receive a special designation of origin. Several years later, this became a protected product name.

Edited by Joshua Poole