At its Caryville, TN, facility, Advance Food automatically fills the bags at 55/min on a vertical form/fill/seal machine from Triangle Package Machinery (Chicago, IL). The machine applies a low-density polyethylene zipper from AMI/Rec-Pro (Atlanta, GA) near the top of the bag, in the transverse direction.
"The bags have two side gussets and a flat bottom, allowing them to stand in the freezer case," notes Bridget Little, retail marketing public relations manager for the meat processor/marketer. The 3-mil bag is an adhesive lamination of 48-ga polyester and LDPE. Sierra Converting (Sparks, NV) reverse-prints the polyester flexographically in eight colors before laminating the two layers together. The frozen, bagged product has a six-month shelf life and retails for $7.99.
Advance Food markets Easy Beginnings as "restaurant quality meat products ready to be served in a salad, stir fry, pasta dish, fajitas, or simply heat and serve for a delicious and quick meal."
"They've received excellent acceptance by supermarkets and grocery stores so far," says Rob McLaughlin, Advance Foods' director of retail marketing.
