Fresh and marinated cuts of meat and poultry, smoked meats, and fish, are all great sources of protein. They make up a massive chunk of our food pyramid. From bacon at breakfast to the salami we use to make a midnight sandwich for ourselves.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, protein-packed foods have the highest recall rates among all other food categories.
76% of all poultry-related food recalls are categorized as Class I, meaning they can cause severe health consequences if consumed. The popular food group is also at the highest risk of contamination and spoilage due to mishandling.
Partly responsible for that are our long food supply chains. Most forms of protein are processed at huge plants and sold frozen or chilled at supermarkets thousands of miles away.
The poultry, fish, and meat temperatures must be maintained throughout the supply chain. Fluctuations in storage temperatures, improper handling, and unsuitable packaging temperatures often result in massive food waste within the protein category.
That’s where automation in food processing plants plays a pivotal role. While there is no use crying over spilled milk, automatic case packing can certainly help cut down spoilage and waste. Faster processing, increased safety for your employees, and less waste.
These are some factors that inherently improve your bottom line and make things more efficient.
Here are some more advantages automatic case packing can leverage for processed protein brands.
Smart automatic case packing means each food container/ bottle is loaded up with the same amount of product. Each tray will have the same weight of meat or cheese, and each bottle will be filled up to the same height. That increases accuracy and similarly filled items are also easier to package.
Uniformly proportioned packages also take less space to ship and stack on shelves. Meaning cost and space-saving benefits throughout the supply chain.
Automation in the protein industry makes the workplace safer for your employees in two ways:
Firstly, most proteins carry higher numbers of bacteria and viruses such as E-coli and salmonella than other foods. Using automatic case packing instead of labor to process raw meats and poultry, you cut down on contamination hot spots within the assembly line.
Secondly, many specialized machines used to skin, cut, and portion meats and seafood can be dangerous if improperly handled. Workplace accidents with such machines are common and can cause serious injury.
By handing these jobs over to robots and automatic case packing machines, your staff can operate them from a safer distance.
Sure, investing in a bunch of high-tech machines may seem like a sizeable expense at first. But the return on investment can surprise you.
Moreover, investing in automation might make you eligible for certain tax benefits. So you can save money on labor costs while also getting a tax break.
Well calibrated automated case packing machines also make less costly mistakes in your factory. That means you can ensure a higher quality standard while increasing productivity and production capacity.
Automatic case packing is also a great way to cut down labor costs throughout your factory. Most forms of protein need to be processed within a short time window to maintain peak freshness and avoid spoilage. As the recent pandemic showed us, labor is not always available.
Also, the cost of training, hiring, and retaining staff has only increased in recent years. Automation means better control over your production processes, even when done remotely. That helps make your processing center more resilient and less dependent on the availability of labor.
Most automatic case packing machines these days use much less packaging material to wrap products and do so more efficiently. Money is also saved by reducing your energy bill as most modern automated case packers are more energy-efficient than their predecessors. Low sealing temperatures mean less use of electricity and more secure seals for all edibles packed at your factory.
Another way automated case packing helps save your brand's resources is by reducing food waste. Machines are faster and more capable of cutting up meat or de-boning fish.
Food stays on the assembly line for shorter periods, meaning increasing the freshness of the finished products. Passing through the factory quickly also makes it easier to maintain optimal temperatures.
Automation helps increase food safety for your brand's products. Food safety standards are not set in stone but are an evolving process. New regulations are easier to follow when it's not a team of employees you have to re-train to comply with the new rules.
Automated case packing machines only require to be calibrated or packing material to be switched out to become safety compliant.
Meat, poultry, cheese, milk, yogurt, and seafood can be packaged much more efficiently when machines do the heavy lifting. Vacuum seals created by these packers are an easy way of telling if a food product has been tampered with.
The machines of today don’t just make the job easier.
Artificial intelligence means they also troubleshoot your problem spots and try to come up with solutions. They collect and process data to help provide better insight into common processing practices.
So automation not only improves productivity, it improves the practicality and utility of all your assets and resources.
Automation is the way of the future and will prove to be a worthy investment for your brand. While all packaged edibles require vigilance, proteins can be especially tricky to process and package accurately.
Our expert teams at BluePrint Automation understand the unique challenges of packaging meat, poultry, dairy, and seafood while adhering to the highest safety standards. Give us a call today to discuss how intelligent machines can help transform your factory.
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