The growth of new coffee products, such as Cold Brew, and consumer demand for fresh orange juice are likely to present increased opportunities for innovative bag-in-box filling systems from one of JBT’s newest alliance partners, TORR Industries. The company’s simple-to-operate solutions complement existing JBT technologies and are expected to help support the growth of innovative projects in the retail and foodservice sectors.
A design and manufacturing business based in Redding, California, TORR, which also markets aseptic filling machines under the Engi-O brand in Australia, specializes in bag and box packaging systems, and has grown to become one of the major vendors of filling machines for 1.5 to 5 liter packs worldwide.
TORR technologies at customer BEL-OBST’s Belarus facility
Secure system
As TORR Sales Director Chris Rutter explains, TORR’s low acid aseptic Bag-in-Box filling system complements JBT’s portfolio of aseptic bag filling technologies, covering a wide range of products from wine to milk, cream and soups.
TORR’s Engi-O double-membrane aseptic filling process utilizes steam and high temperatures to ensure a sterility assurance level validated by the FDA. Capable of filling 2-1500 liter containers for shipping, the closed system guarantees that sterile products like milk, cream, coconut water or vegetable pulps are not exposed to the outside atmosphere at any stage. “Any sterile liquids can safely and securely packed, meaning they can be transported without refrigeration whilst maintaining their shelf-life and complying with food safety requirements,” says Rutter.
Emerging opportunities
“This is a very simple system and way less complicated from a machinery point of view,” he continues. “We can take the bags and put them into the boxes, so while JBT does the processing, we do the aseptic bag filling and can do also the boxing.”
Rutter views Cold Brew coffee and fresh fruit juice as being two of the most significant emerging opportunities for the technology. In the former case, Cold Brew – which provides the coffee taste without much of the bitterness – is a low-acid product that requires aseptic filling to be shelf stable. In the case of fruit juices, Rutter says being able to fill aseptically will enable retailers to be able to sell more fresh orange juice instead of the hot fill product present on most store shelves. Significant opportunities also exist on the foodservice side for ice cream mixers and fruit juices found in many fast-food outlets.
JBT Alliances
Liquid Foods Alliance Program is a growth platform allowing JBT to bring cutting-edge technological solutions to JBT customers. These solutions are typically sustainable, cost-effective, commercially viable, and complementary to the core JBT products. TORR and Engi-O alliance products are helping JBT offer a versatile solution for both low-acid and high-acid food products in a variety of packaging formats. Since the formation of alliance, JBT has received interest from customers for juice, dairy, coffee, and plant-based beverages. The TORR alliance has provided an excellent opportunity to the JBT team to engage with its customers at a deeper level, helping JBT close the technological gap and develop a thorough understanding of the customer value proposition in the aseptic filling market segment.