Back in December, the jury of Sustainable Packaging News magazine selected Multivac's innovative Cooling@Packing system as the winner in the Sustainable Packaging Machinery category. The Sustainable Packaging News Award is presented annually in six categories.

The Multivac Cooling@Packing system is a vacuum application that integrates the cooling process for baked goods into a thermoforming packaging machine. This allows baked goods to be packaged immediately after baking, keeping them fresh and long-lasting for longer. Conventional cooling processes for baked goods are usually carried out using cooling spirals at ambient temperature or in a separate cooling tunnel. Both approaches take up a lot of space in production facilities and require high investment costs.

"With our Cooling@Packing system, which is about to be launched on the market, baked goods can be placed directly from the oven into the open packaging cavities of a thermoforming packaging machine even automatically with the help of loading robots," explains Thomas Fickler, Product Manager at Multivac. "By vacuuming the chambers of the packaging machine, the baked goods are cooled from 95°C to around 30°C within a few seconds. Vacuuming generates evaporation energy, which is released by the evaporation of the product's own moisture and cools the baked goods in the process."

As a result, the Multivac Cooling@Packing system enables companies to make savings: on the one hand in terms of the reduced space required for cooling the baked goods, and on the other through reduced energy consumption during product cooling. The risk of product contamination during the cooling process can also be minimised. In addition, production capacity can be increased thanks to shorter baking times without compromising product quality. The new solution can be integrated into Multivac thermoforming packaging machines for the high-performance segment.

"We are continuously developing new and pioneering technologies that help our customers to produce even more efficiently and sustainably," says Thomas Fickler.