All About Tray Sealing

We seal food on trays with lidding film to preserve
pre-prepared meals for later consumption.

Frozen meals will last up to six months while chilled meals
can be up to three weeks or potentially longer if gas-flushed before sealing.

Our machines can seal one, two or 4 trays at a time
depending on their size. We can customise our tray sealer to fit any Enduro trays which range in size from 170x127 up to 293x194. They can be made from foil, plastic or fibre. We supply all three varieties at Contour.

While CPET plastic is used by most ready-meal manufacturers
due to its durability and ability to withstand extreme hot and cold
temperatures, our range of compostable bagasse trays can also be sealed with compostable biofilm.

Smooth-wall foil trays are also ideal for sealing with
lidding film.

We have a sealer to suit all applications. For small
businesses sealing a few hundred meals per week, our manual END-5TS would be
ideal. Each tray takes under a minute to seal.

For large scale meal production we recommend our automatic
tray sealers that can seal 700 meals per hour.

High clarity lidding film, anti-fog lidding film, film for
aluminium trays and compostable  bio film are all suitable for use in our
tray sealers.

Film comes in rolls that range in width from 220 to 350mm.

Almost all rolls are 500m long and can seal more than 2,000 trays before replacement.

It's a function that our sealing machines offer as default,
but which can be turned off when not needed. It's known as MAP (modified
atmosphere packaging) and extends food storage for up to two weeks for chilled
meals.

We don't advise gas flushing our compostable trays or film as its intended for non-porous plastic and foil trays and film.

The gas flushing
process removes oxygen and fills the tray cavity with preserving gas.

We can recommend a gas supplier near your location.

If you explain what you're sealing they'll advise the best mixture but it's usually a
combination of CO2 and nitrogen with a small percentage of oxygen.

It's the type of tray carrier installed in a machine. Most
machines have interchangeable tooling so you can switch between different tray
sizes or configurations without  having to buy multiple machines.

Our 9-series tray sealers have airlines and yes, they need a
compressor to operate. They plug into any regular power socket.

Our 3 and 5 series tray sealers have motors that do the work
of a compressor so you can just plug and play these models, which plug into any regular power socket.

If you're a small supplier starting out, we recommend our manual tray sealer, the 5TS. It has a seal-assist feature that means you don't
have to hold the lid closed while it seals. It's affordably priced and it's very easy to operate. Each tray takes under a minute to seal.

Our entry-level semi-automatic 39M tray sealer can seal 120 meals per hour. The lidding film feeds automatically and you just need to press a button to insert the tray for sealing.

Our industrial 9 series models can seal up to 700 meals per
hour. They require a compressor to operate (supplied separately). Gas flush capability is included, but can be deactivated when not needed to speed up the
process. Gas flushing adds around 5 seconds to each cycle.

We supply tray sealing and vacuum sealing machines. Both have gas flush functionality for Modified Atmosphere Packaging.

In general, it's less expensive to vacuum seal than tray seal due to the initial machine cost, but there are affordable options for both techniques.

• Tray sealing is popular with chefs who want to present visually appealing meals that may be kept chilled for a week or so. Sealing reduces the risk of oxidation and a gas cycle extends storage life for two to three weeks. It also assists in tamper-proofing for meals on supermarket shelves or in transit.
• Vacuum packing extends the storage life of food longer than tray sealing by completely removing air, preventing oxidation and freezer burn. 
  It's possible to vacuum seal meals on trays but they will not have the same
  visual appeal as the trays sealed with lidding film. If presentation is important then tray sealing is the best option.
• A third option is known as skin sealing. It's when food is placed on a tray and the skin film is vacuumed so it's moulded tightly to the product, preventing movement and holding the food tight. It's ideal for delicate, expensive foods that will be stored in a chiller for several weeks. Skin sealed meals last even longer if gas flushed.