Vacuum Pack Machines
Properly packaging food is essential for presentation and for ensuring food safety. By using a vacuum pack machine, you can significantly extend the freshness of your food compared to storing it in a sandwich bag or aluminum foil. This not only saves you from having to discard spoiled items but also helps optimise space in your refrigerator or freezer.
What is a professional vacuum pack machine?
A vacuum pack machine is used to package food in an airtight manner. The package is sealed shut, which ensures that the packaged product has a shelf life of up to five times longer than with other packaging.
What are the advantages of using a vacuum pack machine?
Packaging is very time-efficient. The vacuum time, sealing time, temperature and cooling time are all fully adjustable. The biggest advantage is that you can keep food up to five times longer. Throwing away food that has spoiled because it wasn’t stored correctly is a waste of money. You also have to buy new stock.
Vacuuming also prevents freezer burn. Vacuum freezing your produce keeps your bread, meat, ice cream and vegetables fresher for longer, and it keeps them looking better too.
When vacuuming, you create compact packets of your food. This helps save space in the refrigerator or freezer because you can store vacuum bags neatly. Thanks to the transparent vacuum bags you can always see what you have frozen.
What type of vacuum packaging equipment does Maxima offer?
A packaging machine is beneficial for any catering establishment. That is why Maxima has them in different sizes, to suit various needs. There are compact tabletop models, floor models, ones on wheels and even a packaging machine with double chamber for larger quantities.
In addition to vacuum pack machines, Maxima also has in all shapes and sizes. These are perfect for the leak-free packaging of food into pre-formed trays and containers. Tray sealers are ideal for catering companies, hotels and restaurants, butcher shops and supermarkets.
Finally, in the vacuum packaging category, there are . These are vacuum pack machines without a chamber. Here, you use sealer rolls or vacuum bags to store your food.
What foods can you use a vacuum pack machine for?
You can vacuum pack a lot of different types of food. This doesn't only have to be food that you keep in the freezer, but also many products that you can keep in the refrigerator or pantry, such as spices or baking goods. For vegetables, the advice is to blanch them first before packing them.
The following foods are suitable for vacuum packing:
- bread and pasta
- flour, sugar and other dry ingredients
- fruits
- hard cheeses
- vegetables
- meat and fish
- liquids like soups, sauces and oils
How do you use a vacuum pack machine?
First, choose a vacuum bag that’s the right size for your machine and the food you want to pack. Put the product in the bag and set the vacuuming time and temperature. Then place the bag in the open area of the machine. Make sure that you place the vacuum bag with the opening on the sealing bar. Leave about five centimetres free between the opening of the bag and the contents to get a good seal.
After closing the lid, the bag of food is now vacuum sucked and automatically sealed airtight through a heating process. As soon as you hear a beep, you can remove the bag from the machine and check the seal. The bag is properly sealed when the seal is even and transparent.
Does a vacuum machine for packaging require maintenance?
For machines that come with an oil pump, it’s important to check the oil level weekly and top it up as needed. At least twice a year you should change the oil completely. The oil is included in the service package as standard. In the case of a vacuum pack machine without an oil pump, this does not apply.
Regularly check that the seal strip is clean and intact to seal properly. To clean the machine, a damp cloth with a mild detergent is sufficient. After cleaning, dry everything thoroughly again.