“Panko” –the bread crumb in Japan is indispensable ingredient for our daily food such as fries, cutlet, bonding in hamburger steak, gratin etc. Panko’s crispy texture is popular in Japan and overseas as well. There are two types of panko we can get in the supermarket; one is dry panko and other is soft panko. We would like to share in this article is –the packaging of panko.

Our packaging machines are used by panko/bread crumb manufacturer overseas. Overseas, the emphasis is on texture, so some products tend to have larger grains and be a little harder than Japanese breadcrumbs.

Packaging machine for Bread crumb

The difficulty of packaging panko/bread crumb is how to take measurement to prevent contamination between the seal. Panko/bread crumb is the delicate product and it gets deteriorated by being exposed in the air. As the contamination in the seal may cause the air leaking. Taking any measurement on the packaging machine is crucial.

Critical option devices for Bread crumb

The suitable option device for packing bread crumb by VFFS machine is to focus on the prevention the air leaking by seal contamination and releasing the air inside the bag. It is because the packages are cased in the cardboard case in the most of the customers. So the volume of the bag needed to be saved for casing.

The following measurements are effective for the seal contamination and air releasing.

Measurement for seal contamination-1

• Static eliminator

By the friction resistance, the packaging material will have electrostatic. The static eliminator takes the adhered powder crumb off the film by the ionizer that prevents the seal area contamination.

Measurement for seal contamination-2

• Shutter to prevent product drop

The seal contamination is occurred when the panko is bitten in the end-sealing bar. The shutter device is mounted above the end-sealing unit. It closes the shutter just before the end-sealing is carried out so as to prevent the panko dropping into sealing area.

Measurement for seal contamination-3

• Shutter to prevent powder blowing-out　

Measurement for seal contamination-4

• Double-tube for dust collecting

The product free-falls to the bottom of the formed bag after they are weighed by multi-head weigher. The dropped panko for about 1 m from above naturally fly out. This device vacuum the flying panko powder by taking advantage of the double-tube so as to prevent fine powder from invading the sealing part.

The each product in each case has different drop timing by its shape or ratio. We examine the sample product provided by the customer in advance, and conduct adjustment by testing the device position and motion timing before shipment that would contribute smooth start-up on site. 

Weigher for “Panko”

Generally, a multi-head weigher is used for weighing the panko/bread crumbs. There are load cells are equipped on each bucket of the weigher. Once the bread crumbs are fed from the upstream process, only the most suitable packet for the target weight opens and the suitable weight of product will be fed to the packaging machine. As the panko has fine particles, the specification is special such as a cover for preventing the powder dust or crumb running over from the packet for example.

Things to be considered

How about the article about the Panko packaging machine? The production of Japanese panko has been increasing outside Japan. There are cases the packed panko export to other country. Our packaging machine can produce the package based on the Japanese quality to achieve the beautiful finish and secure sealing. Should you have any interest, please feel free to contact us !

Tam Contact to: tam-overseas@tam-tokyo.co.jp