Luxme’s hygienic food-grade bag slitter eliminates dust and cuts costs
The Food Grade MiniLux Automatic Bag Slitter’s sanitary design includes multiple access points for cleanability to ensure allergens and pathogens do not make their way into the food chain. It also features components approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure the safe processing of dairy products.
Capable of opening up to six 25kg bags per minute, including plastic and kraft paper bags with or without multi-ply plastic inner liners, the company said it is suited for the automatic opening of bulk dairy foods such as milk powders, whey powders, and lactose powders.
The MiniLux is an all-in-one conveying, slitting, emptying, integral dust filtering and empty bag compaction unit, and the company said it improves operator health and safety, reduces the risk of cross contamination and cuts waste.
Occupational asthma – often caused by workers inhaling dusts – is one of the most common work-related lung diseases, accounting for 33% of European food industry compensation cases, the company said. However, by containing dust emissions, the MiniLux helps to safeguard dairy workers handling bulk foods.
Operators must also be aware of the dangers of allergen cross contamination, particularly as segregating the processes that handle raw ingredients might not be possible for small and medium-sized producers.
With its ability to control dust emissions and provide accessibility to machinery components in contact with dust particles, the MiniLux can help combat cross contamination, Luxme said.
In addition, automating the bag opening and emptying operation reduces costs and waste. There is also an optional upgrade of a recovery tumbler, which opens, rotates and tumbles empty bags numerous times to release any remaining product.
