Food Packaging & Vacuum Packaging Machines

• Fresh cuts and steaks: the Variovac Optimus EasySkin thermoformer is described for high-quality products such as meat and seafood, takes a product protrusion of up to 55 mm in skin packs, and switches to MAP by redirecting the film. Where cuts go into pre-made trays, the listing for the Linus 1100 tray sealer names fresh meat, with trays simply sealed or packed under protective gas or skin.
• Mince, burgers and meatballs: the SL309 loading line loads minced meat, cevapcici, sliders, burger patties and meatballs into a variety of tray types and formats and has an integrated tray denester, and the AML273 forms meatballs and loads them directly onto trays. The filled trays then go to a tray sealer. See ground meat for the machines listed for that application.
• Fresh sausage: the LL335 link loader aligns cut fresh sausage, including sausage in natural casings, and deposits it into trays and thermoformed pouches, so it reaches packaging without manual handling. See fresh sausage and sausage processing equipment.
• Bacon, whole muscle and cooked meats in bags: a Supervac vacuum chamber belt machine such as the GK501B seals product already in a bag. Shrink bags can then go through a shrink tank and the AC 15 Cooling Tank, whose listing describes rapidly lowering the meat's surface temperature after shrinking to extend the shelf life of vacuum-packed products. The shrink tanks are listed for bacon, whole muscle and cooked meat and deli.
• Smaller runs in trays: the semi-automatic Variovac Rotarius packs fresh, refrigerated and frozen food in ready-made trays under MAP or as a skin seal, and its listing describes it as suited to small companies.

• Thermoformed packs: the machine forms the pack from a roll of bottom film, so the pack size is set by the die. Where their pack types are published, the Variovac thermoformers compared below list sealed, vacuum and MAP packs, and the Optimus EasySkin, Primus and Primus MP also list skin packs.
• Pre-made trays: a tray sealer lids trays that are bought in and filled before sealing. Our tray sealers page compares the semi-automatic and fully automatic models from Variovac and Ross.
• Bags: a vacuum packaging machine with a chamber and belt seals product already in a bag, and shrink, cooling and drying equipment can follow it. See vacuum packaging machines and shrink tanks below.
• Loading: robots and loading lines put product into the pack, ahead of the sealing station. See loading and lane equipment below.

“Not published” means the figure is not in the published data for that machine, not that the machine lacks it. Pack length is given as each listing gives it: stroke, die, film advance or draw-off length.

• Output is published as machine cycles per minute. Each cycle forms and seals every pack in the die at once, so packs per minute depend on the format: confirm output for your own pack.
• The Maximus RE has an integrated control cabinet that keeps it compact, and its listing describes it for smaller productions.
• The Optimus SE and SEL differ in frame length, 3 m and 3.5 m. Both come pre-configured as entry-level fully automatic machines, with a vacuuming system, trim removal, a long cut with rotating blades and a discharge conveyor in the basic equipment.
• The Optimus EasySkin allows a product protrusion of up to 55 mm in skin packs, and switches to MAP by redirecting the film in its skin module.
• The Primus MP covers the Primus applications and adds modules and special equipment, with a draw-off length of up to 1200 mm and a frame of up to 30 m.

• AT 6 and AT 7: electric shrink tanks with 70 l and 140 l basins, listed as suitable for all single-chamber and double-chamber machines.
• AT 8 and AT 15: shrink tanks heated by electricity, steam or both, with up to 7 immersion cycles per minute and an integrated vapour exhaust. The AT 8 is listed for conveyorised machines up to and including the GK 501 B, and the AT 15 for conveyorised machines from the GK 602 B.
• AC 15 Cooling Tank: brings the product's surface temperature down quickly after shrinking, operating at 2 to 5 °C, which its listing says increases the shelf life of vacuum-packed products.
• BL 15 Drying Tunnel: two sensor-controlled top nozzles follow the product's contours and a fixed nozzle dries from below. Its listing names the AT 8/15 shrink tanks and AC 8/15 cooling tanks as matching equipment.

• JLS Robotic Systems: JLS builds hygienic, vision-guided robots that load product into thermoformed packs, trays and vacuum skin packs, and handle carton loading and case packing.
• Variotrack Eco 2.0: a line converger that combines product lanes into a single lane, described in its listing as a complement to Variovac thermoforming machines.
• LL335: a link loader that takes cut fresh sausage and loads it into trays and thermoformed pouches.
• TD315: a denester cassette that supplies trays, with formats changed by swapping the cassette.

• the product, its size and shape, and whether it is fresh, cooked, frozen or sliced; for meat, the cut and whether it is bone-in;
• the pack: a bag, a pre-made tray or a thermoformed pack, sealed plain, vacuum packed, under MAP or as a skin pack;
• the film, bags or trays you use now, if any;
• the output you need and the floor space you have;
• how product reaches packaging today, by hand or from a line.