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All over the world, many different food products have been packed successfully in SIG Combibloc carton packaging for years. These include classics such as milk and milk products as well as juices, nectars and fruit drinks. In addition, non-carbonated water, iced tea, vitamin-enriched wellness drinks, isotonic drinks and wine are also sold in carton packaging today.

SIG Combibloc has always been a pioneer, offering the food industry new, additional market chances. For instance, not only liquid but also pasty and chunky food products can be filled into carton packs from SIG Combibloc. Some examples are soups, sauces, tomato products, desserts and baby food to name just a few. Thanks to the flexible filling technology offered by the machines, products with a chunk size of up to 15 millimetres can be packed aseptically in cartons – and indi-vidual chunks can even be up to 40 millimetres long (e.g. soy beans, onions).

In addition to the tried-and-tested aseptic filling machine system, SIG is now advancing into a new, strategically interesting sector in the food segment with combisafe. Thanks to the volume-flexible, heat-resistant combisafe packaging series, it is now possible for the first time to fill chunky products such as vegetables, fruit, ready-cooked meals, stews or even wet pet food into carton packs and subsequently sterilise them in an autoclave. As a result of this process, products packed in combisafe can be stored for up to two years without quality losses, without refrig-eration and without the use of preservatives.

The combisafe carton pack consists of cardboard, polypropylene and aluminium. This combination creates the prerequisite for thermal treatment in an autoclave. Each layer fulfils an important function in protecting the product. The inner polypropylene layer is the liquid barrier. The outer polypropylene layer safeguards the product from external influences and ensures that the composite material can withstand the high temperature and moisture it is exposed to during treatment in the autoclave. Cardboard and aluminium give the carton pack the necessary stability and protect the contents from light, external aromas and direct oxygen impact. Once the carton pack has been emptied, the composite material can be recycled in an environment-friendly way.

Advantages for all combisafe is equally advantageous for filling companies, the retail trade and consumers. This innovative packaging system is based on SIG Combibloc's tried-and-tested sleeve system and volume-flexible filling machine technology, with modifications of the filling aggregate technology for the use of combisafe. In order to guarantee the safe sealing of chunky products, the opened-up carton sleeves are sealed ultrasonically after the filling process. Thanks to the combination of proven pumping and pouring technologies, the use of combisafe offers filling companies an extremely flexible packaging series and the right filling concept for each product.

combisafe – the technology The printed and coated sleeves for combisafe are perforated with a complete top perforation and sealed with a longitudinal seam before being stacked on pallets for delivery to the filling company. There the cartons are filled in a high-speed filling machine from SIG Combibloc. To this end, the carton packs are lifted individually with a suction device. Then they are opened up to form a rectangle and pushed on to a mandrel. After this the base of the carton pack is activated with hot air, pre-folded and sealed with specially shaped pressing elements. This pressing process gives the carton pack the curved-in base that is typical of SIG Combibloc carton packs and offers particularly good stability. In the next production step, the top is folded precisely along the grooves to guarantee exact formation of the top after filling. Then the product is filled into the carton pack in several steps. First the pumpable products are filled in, followed by the pourable goods in the second step. Finally - depending on the product - liquids can be added to the carton pack in the third step.

Thanks to the modular concept of the line, the manufacturer can run up to four lanes of the filling machine and exactly control the output of up to 12,000 packages per hour. Further filling machines can be added to the line to increase output.

A volume change and the associated product differentiation can be completed in just a few minutes as long as the base cross-section is the same. A décor change can be carried out without any interruption of the production process. All sides of the rectangular carton pack can be used to present product information and decorative features. Thanks to this display space, combisafe can enhance the attractiveness of a product at the point of sale and set it apart from the competition.