Packaging machinery

Abstract

Machinery for MAP did not require invention, but has been a development of established packing systems. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, experimental work in the commercial use of MAP was being undertaken. The horizontal form-fill-seal or pillow pack type of packaging machine was becoming established setting a packaging style that today is commonplace. In Italy, a company producing processed cheese attempted to introduce an inert gas into the packs produced on a pillow pack machine by flushing out the air prior to the pack being sealed. Whether or not the product remained fresher longer is not known. Given the unsophisticated type of sealing system then employed and the simple film structures available, a successful result is unlikely. However, this was the beginning and as the demand for improved seals and efficiency of flushing increased so manufacturers of machinery turned their attention to developing the pillow pack machine into a specialist MAP machine.