22 Jan 2020
According toEuromonitor International, the single portion dairy drinks and dairy alternatives market in Latin America is forecast to significantly grow in the next five years. Also playing a role is the rise in snacking which has penetrated all areas of packaged food and beverages, including the dairy sub-categories, such as yoghurt. For the same period, packaged health and wellness products are expected to grow by 7.4 percent, largely as a result of an expanding middle class, which has more disposable income which it is more willing to spend on healthy products.
High quality, safe and delicious products with a long shelf life without the need for a refrigerated or temperature-controlled distribution chain. High-speed, sterile production with lightweight, innovative bottles that minimizes raw material usage yet enables a wide variety of attractive container designs. It’s all possible, thanks toaseptic technology.
The latest evolution of aseptic technology isaseptic blowing, whichenables absolute sterility throughout the process. This is the only way to grant the maximum safety of the product. This means after the sterilization process, the preforms enter the sterile zone – where the aseptic blowing wheel is located. Next, the fresh-blown, or molded, sterile bottles are transferred to the aseptic filling module without leaving the sterile zone.
The key benefits of the GEA Aseptic Blow Fill System include:
GEA Aseptic Blow Fill system combines an aseptic blow molding module with aseptic filler and capper modules
– Gianluca Ortalli, GEA Sales Manager for Latin America
Peruvian-based Gloria, which has a leading position in the dairy foods manufacturing market in Peru and other South American countries, added a new aseptic blow filling (ABF) line at its Arequipa plant in early 2019. Today, Gloria is able to produce highly sensitive beverages such as UHT milk and drinkable yoghurts, including their newest offerings: YoFresh, PRO and Shake, none of which require refrigeration to maintain their quality and safety, all thanks to aseptic bottling conditions.
Preform sterilization, which precedes the aseptic blowing process, ensures that all product organoleptic (i.e. sensory) properties are maintained, reaching customers with the highest level of quality and safety and without the need for preservatives or refrigeration. The new production line features filling technology via theGEA Fillstar FX-Cwhich is also suitable for complex beverages containing pulps, fibers and particles up to 6x6x6 mm.
In addition to the turnkey and complete new bottling line, as the primary contractor, GEA also supplied Gloria with a downstreamOpera palletizer. The new ABF line achieves an impressive production speed, accommodates diverse bottle formats and ultimately has allowed Gloria to strengthen and expand its distribution network. Gianluca Ortalli, GEA Sales Manager for Latin America, has already noted a growing trend in his region, which is the transition from cartons and HDPE to PET containers, which are more easily recyclable.