As tens of thousands of meat and poultry industry professionals begin to gravitate to Chicago, many industry suppliers are finalizing their plans for their booths. Many new and recently introduced products, machines and services will be offered at the AMI International Meat, Poultry & Seafood Industry Convention and Exposition for the first time. Below are some of the exhibitors who will be displaying a variety of equipment, products and services.

At Aramark Uniform Services, the company is dedicated to service excellence. Its commitment to food safety, stellar product quality, and industry-leading service are just some of the reasons why hundreds of the most demanding food processors have chosen Aramark to provide their uniform service. With Aramark’s Total HACCP Solution, it is setting new standards for food safety and sanitation. Aramark’s unwavering commitment to food safety is reflected in its active memberships in the International HACCP Alliance, FPA, AMI, IDFA, NTF, and AIB.

Cintas knows the importance of proper sanitation practices to the overall food safety program. The company uses the industry’s only validated microbe-reducing laundry process that results in a six-log (99.9999 percent) reduction in bacteria on laundered garments. That means the garments returned to a facility are hygienically clean and sanitized.

A few of the additional services Cintas can provide include: SANIS UltraClean™ restroom/break area/test kitchen cleaning service; SANIS™ hand sanitizers and soaps; anti-slip, anti-fatigue and anti-microbial mat service; document shredding for proprietary formulations and plans; first aid and safety supplies and training, and fire suppression services.

Cintas is the official uniform supplier of the International Dairy Foods Association and works extensively with other leading trade organizations. Cintas is also the choice of more than 700,000 businesses throughout North America.

At AMI, Computerway Food Systems exhibits advances in computerized systems for tracking meat or food production from source to destination. Computerway features Process Tracking, R5 Inventory and Quality Control software modules along with P-6 HMIs, B-15 washdown PCs, WOLF ISS sizing controls and mobile data collection equipment. Computerway systems excel in providing real-time data collection and control on the plant floor while connecting seamlessly with accounting or ERP systems.

Since 1986, Computerway Food Systems has been devoted to serving the food processing industry. Food manufacturers seeking efficient traceability and effective control over their entire manufacturing process should visit the Computerway Food Systems booth.

Curwood has released a breakthrough packaging film engineered for optimum performance on high-speed Multivac FormShrink machines. New Form-Tite™ films maximizes the equipment’s potential to triple productivity and lower total costs compared to rotary chamber shrink films. Curwood’s Form-Tite films provide better gloss and clarity as well as higher shrink than competitive films, creating tight, crystal-clear packages that deliver a superior branded presentation in the meat or dairy case.

Curwood’s broad portfolio of Form-Tite films helps processors achieve significant productivity gains for small, consistently portioned meats such as salami or prosciutto, as well as block or chunk cheeses. The forming films also create a superior package for high-profile foods like half hams, because they allow deeper draw than competitive films.

Dorner’s AquaPruf line of sanitary conveyors has several patents, an open design and requires no tools for assembly/disassembly, allowing for fast, effective sanitation. This has provided customers with labor savings and reduction of time required to sanitize their conveyors. As a result, conveyors of AquaPruf are gaining full days and even a week’s worth of production back a year with the conveyors. Dorner further supports its AquaPruf conveyors with system solutions as well. The main focus areas are installation, inspection, identification, labeling and marking and sorting.

At the Dorner booth, attendees will be able to examine and evaluate a variety of the AquaPruf product line, including a USDA red meat and poultry accepted equipment, a working CIP system, a Z-frame conveyor and a conveyor driven with a sanitary motorized spindle. Both modular plastic belt and MOL Industries’ Thermodrive® belting will be shown.

At this year’s WWFE, Gainco will highlight its expertise in weighing and yield management systems by displaying several pieces from its AccuFill series of automated equipment, including the Dual Bulker and Quad Batching System with AutoCount technology. Additionally, an In-Line Motion Scale, specifically developed for use in red meat processing plants, will be displayed.

All products on display use proprietary Infiniti and/or Infiniti Plus weight indicators and programmable controllers. For customers in need of static scales, bench and/or floor style, several models from the DuraWeigh line will be available for viewing and testing.

Attendees can see the latest technology opportunities Gainco provides the red meat industry with respect to automated material handling solutions for a whole range of products, including loose meats, variety meats, whole-muscle products and boxed/case-ready products. Gainco’s equipment and systems provide unique, value-added solutions in the areas of labor reduction, production efficiency, minimized giveaway and improved logistics.

Harpak Inc., located in South Easton, Mass., is the exclusive distributor of G. Mondini Tray Sealing, Filling, Meal Assembly equipment as well as Hooper Engineering Form, Fill and Seal packaging machines. Recently, Harpak has added CAMA Secondary Packaging and Easiweigh Scales to its line of packaging solutions.

Harpak is a leading supplier to the Case Ready industry with more than 200 installed lines in North America. Its expertise has been put to work at some of the nations largest producers of meat, and its lines include tray denesting, meat loading, tray sealers and much more.

Hitachi America Ltd. is highlighting its Environmentally Friendly Family products at WorldWide Food Expo, which includes Continuous Inkjet Printer, Oil-Free Air Compressors and Energy Savings Variable Frequency Drives. Hitachi’s PXR Series small character inkjet printer meets all RoHS requirements. Thousands of users enjoy the lowest cost of operation of any inkjet printer available today. Hitachi’s Innovation of Oil-Free Air Compression Technology is now available in North America. Package Purity in achieved via incorporation of Oil-Free Rotary Screw, Oil-Free Scroll & Oil-Free Vortex Blower Designs. With over 100 years of experience in air compression, Hitachi is able to provide the consumer with proven, reliable and efficient options.

Hitachi’s inverter family features a variety of new and enhanced functions, delivering unprecedented performance, simplicity, reliability, flexibility and energy savings. With a high degree of commonality between models and common configuration software, Hitachi inverters are easy to install, program and maintain.

Meritech Inc. is the leader in automated hand and boot washing equipment. For almost 20 years, its CleanTech® brand systems have been used worldwide in agriculture, food processing, foodservice and clean room manufacturing. The patented technology in CleanTech systems provides a comfortable wash, sanitizing and rinse in just 10 seconds and has been shown to increase compliance by up to 400 percent. This year, Meritech introduces the CleanTech ELF (Extremely Low Footprint). The ELF model offers the same advanced hand hygiene technology as the original line of CleanTech equipment, but with a smaller footprint and a lower price point.

The complete line of CleanTech automated handwashing systems will be available for demonstration at the Worldwide Food Expo. Meritech will also have a wide range of boot washing and sanitizing equipment on display.

Mettler-Toledo Safeline will exhibit its state-of-the-art metal detectors and X-ray inspection equipment at the Worldwide Food Expo. Safeline will feature three metal detectors, including the PowerPhasePRO, the most sensitive metal detector available today. It detects ferrous, non-ferrous and stainless steel contaminants up to 40 percent smaller than any other metal detector. The company’s PowerPhasePlus is designed for both wet and dry environments offering both 1 and 2 frequency metal detection for ferrous, non-ferrous and stainless-steel contaminants. Also showcased, Safeline’s Pipeline metel detector has a patent pending on a revolutionary design that has a uniform diameter and requires no clamp, unlike any other design in the industry.

The company will feature two X-ray systems. The newest unit, AdvanChek, is unmatched in the industry for sensitivity and simplicity and detects and rejects contaminants such as metal, stone, bone, glass and dense plastics using a low-energy technology.

Multisorb Technologies, the leading global provider of active packaging solutions, invites you to meet with company executives to learn more about their innovative sorbent solutions for the food industry.

The company will be showcasing its FreshPax® CR system for low-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) for case-ready meats. This unique packaging system prolongs the product’s shelf life and preserves the qualities of packaged meats over an extended period of time.

Niroflex USA is a global leader in metal mesh safety gloves and garments. Niroflex2000 is the first totally hygienic steel mesh glove on the market. It has replaced the fabric straps on mesh gloves, which are a constant source for repairs (as well as a hiding place for bacteria) with a patented all-stainless steel closing system. Additionally, Niroflex2000 gloves have no springs or rubber bands making them totally adjustable and customizable for the user. Facilities that are using the Niroflex2000 have also experienced a dramatic savings on repairs. Research shows that nearly 67 percent of all metal mesh gloves that are sent in for repairs only have strap problems; the mesh rings are in good shape. With the Niroflex2000 there are no more nylon straps, thus saving money on repairs and reducing inventory requirements.  

Pactiv is one of the industry’s leaders in the packaging field and introduced the first slider into the poultry market in 2004 with a PE bag. That same year, the company also introduced the first PET/laminate bag in the freezer section. The company is a leader in the manufacture of slider zippers.

The slider zipper is an alternative to traditional press-to-close packaging closures and guarantees the consumer a positive close every time, with no chance of the product falling out of the package or being exposed to freezer burn. Along with protecting the product inside the package, it improves the consumer’s overall experience with the product.

Pactiv has developed proprietary materials that perform better in the freezer. In addition, Pactiv’s style package is completely sealed around the header which creates a more sanitary package. The slider zippers function on a number of different packaging types.

WWFE attendees who visit Rollstock’s booth will learn about the company’s line of packaging equipment, including the new RSS200 Stainless Steel Wash-Down Rollstock machine. Designed for larger processors, it features dual lifting systems, wider and longer web widths and higher speeds. The company will also have information on its 12-foot and 16-foot Rollstock models that offer simple reliability in low-cost machines. They feature programmable PLC controls with readable diagnostics and vacuum leak check programs. Each machine comes with training from a factory technician and a one-year warranty.

Rollstock will also be offering its Zipper Packaging Machine at the show. It is designed for seafood, luncheon meats, bacon and any other food or non-food products that require reliable, consumer-friendly recloseable features.

Sealed Air’s Cryovac Food Packaging will highlight its new Marinade on Demand package, a two-part, thermoformed rollstock package that separates fresh meat from restaurant-quality marinade. When ready to marinate, consumers can squeeze the marinade pocket, breaking the seal between it and the pocket containing the meat. Marinade is transferred to the meat side, beginning the marinating process that lasts as long as the user desires.

Processors save time and labor with the Marinade on Demand package, because it runs on existing inline systems and reduces flavor changeover time to minutes. The tumbling process and equipment wash-down time required for pre-marinated meats can be eliminated.

Smiths Detection is a leading manufacturer of X-ray inspection equipment designed specifically for the food processing and packaging industry. All of the machines in the Smiths Detection product inspection line use the latest in X-ray technology to detect and reject harmful physical contaminants and other defects in the food.

At the WWFE, Smiths Detection will showcase the latest in Fat Analysis equipment. The Smiths Detection Eagle™ Fat Analysis systems analyze up to a 60-pound box for chemical lean (CL) value within a 1 percent margin of error. Unlike traditional sampling methods, the Smiths Detection DEXA (dual energy X-ray) technology analyzes 100 percent of every carton. Cartons can also be tracked by bar code for easy batching and traceability.

Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. is the industry’s premier integrated paperboard and paper-based packaging manufacturer. Smurfit-Stone is a leading producer of containerboard, including white top linerboard and recycled medium, kraft paper, corrugated containers, and point-of-purchase displays.

As the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of corrugated containers, the company knows how to build a better box. From produce packaging to pallets, Smurfit-Stone is fully equipped to meet a processor’s corrugated needs.

Treif’s weight control portion-cutting machine, Falcon conti, is fed continuously through a conveyor belt. Once the operator has placed the products on the conveyor belt, the machine, equipped with gripper, scanner and laser-guided product down holder, processes the meat with the highest degree of accuracy. The company’s Divider 800 slicer can achieve up to 3,200 slices per minute and offers the choice between stacking, shingling, shaving, staggered stacking and portioning. The Divider 440 is compact and space saving, combining optimum usage of space with the performance capacity of much larger machines. Treif’s Twister SP dicing and strip cutting has an output capacity of up to 3.5 tons, depending on product and application. It maintains an impeccable cutting quality even at very high performance levels.

Innovation is a keyword at Volta Belting, and to keep up with its innovative goals, Volta has designed a unique positive-drive belt line comprised of the Superdrive, Dual Drive and Dual Drive Small Pulley, all of which are capable of lowering maintenance and sanitation costs while abiding to the highest hygienic international standards. 

Unlike modular construction, Volta’s highly smooth quality surfaces and homogenous characteristics ensure low costs and efforts in sanitation and water treatment. There is no need to remove the belt for soaking or to add costly in-process washdown systems. There is no belt pretension, slippage or elongation, and integral teeth prevent off-tracking.

Volta has the broadest range of thermoplastic positive-drive belts in the industry to cover a wide range of applications and offers a unique and versatile splicing tool that enables you to splice all our positive drive products.