What Do You Mean By Vacuum Sealing?

by David Watson Blogger

Vacuum sealing is a packaging process. In this process, air is removed from the package before it’s sealed. The process involves a lot of steps-manually or automatically placing of the items in a plastic film package, removing the air right from inside of the packaging and then sealing of it.

The main purpose of this process is to remove oxygen from the container. The shelf life of the products in the packaging is extended with this procedure. It generally lessens the atmospheric oxygen and prevents the growth of bacteria or fungi. The evaporation of volatile components is also prevented with vacuum sealing. This process of packaging is basically used for storing dry food products for long time without damage.

The food products, which are usually vacuum sealed, are cereals, coffee, cheese, nuts, meats, potato chips and smoked fish. A lot of fruits and vegetables are also packed this way. But there are a few vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower that are not to be packed this way. These vegetables actually give off gases when stored and that causes the bag to expand and the food items to go bad. These vegetables are best stored by blanching initially and then cooling, drying, vacuuming sealing and ultimately freezing.

There are different kinds of machines available for vacuum sealing. Use automatic machines if you want to get the job done quickly and efficiently. To vacuum pack the food with automatic machine, you will first have to clean food products and get them ready for seal. For doing this, you will need to scrub or peel the fruits and vegetables. There won’t be any dirt trapped in the package if you do this. You also need to keep one more thing in your mind. If you are packaging meat, you should remove all the bones and trim the skin that you don’t need.

After getting the food products cleaned for packaging, put them inside the plastic bag. The plastic bag should be of a particular brand. Put the open edge of the bag into the machinery and then press the button for the process to begin. It is a very easy method of packaging and the use of automatic machinery makes the job a lot easier.

Vacuum packed food machines have an automatic sensor that alerts the machine when the bag is put inside and then the process of sealing starts automatically. Gradually you will see that the machine will withdraw the air and bag will shrink. After the device stops its operation, you will find the bag to be sealed just the right way. After this is done, all you will need to do is remove the food product that’s vacuum sealed and store it in fridge, pantry or freezer.