Chilled Ready Meal Technology
Has Evolved

A Vicious Cycle & An Opportunity

Costs, Consumption, Margins, Market Share

We help you
break this
To
get more of this?

Chilled Ready Meal Market Size

8 Billion units

5-15% growth yearly

*Estimation based on Euromonitor data.

Extended Shelf Life

45+ days without compromises

Cook &
Chill

Taste,
Texture &
Colour

Long
Shelf-Life

Retort

Eliminate Batch Processing

Move To A Continuous Flow Process

Pre-cooking
Manual Handling
Semi-Finished Goods
Micvac FlexProcess ®

Industrial Automation System Raw To Pasteurised In 7 Minutes

Micvac & Sustainability

Two words which are synonymous to one another

The food waste problem

The shelf life problem

The resource problem

A sustainable solution.

Extended Shelf Life Without over processing

Minimal use of water 5% excess required for processing

Low Energy Requirements for processing

Mono material packaging all delivered in recyclable PP

Comparison of g plastic/kg Food

of different ready meals to the average in a Swedish Supermarket

Low ratio of
G plastic/kg food

Transport Efficient

What Are The Ready Meal Methods?

C&C-MAP, Retort, Steam, Microwave

Cook & Chill
  • Vitamin friendly
  • Taste, Texture, Colour
  • High hygienic requirements
  • Shelf Life < 10 Days And 15-20 Days With MAP or Preservatives
Retort
  • 30+ days shelf Life
  • Degraded Texture, Colour, Vitamins
  • Long processing cycle
  • High Energy, Water Usage
Batch Processing
Steam
  • Continuous Flow
  • Degraded Texture, Colour, Vitamins
  • High Energy, Water Usage
  • 15-20 days shelf Life
Stand-alone Microwave
  • Continuous Flow
  • Unable to Leverage microwave power due to varied packaging
Batch Processing

How

Continuous Flow

Tray denester,
Filling, Sealing

Chilling, Outer
Packaging,
Palletisation,
Warehousing

Micvac Microwave Tunnel

A scaleable and efficient manufacturing method

Production Capacity & Efficiency

A scalable manufacturing system

Capacity

Your capacity with our largest tunnel: ≈10 Mpcs/Year

Consumption of energy is just
0.08 kWh Per Meal

Requiring only
5% excess water for processing.

Needing
≈7 FTE’s per shift
to produce

Supporting Your Scale - On Demand

A Modular Based System

Tunnel Sizes

108kw
90kw
72kw
54kw
36kw

1.5m

Total Width

1.9m

Total height

1.2m

(Additional Length)

Infeeder Conveyor

Future Capacity Increase :

Modules of 18kW can be added later to increase Capacity up to 108kW

Packaging Within Micvac FlexProcess®

Sealing film, FlexTray®, Micvac FlexValve®

FlexTray®

  • Collapsable bottom and strong side walls.
  • Curves and angles for microwave cooking for even energy distribution.
  • Standard PP material can withstand temperatures from -20 to 121 C
  • Available in multiple standard formats and custom designs are an option.

Micvac FlexValve®

  • Material (PP) and adhesive selected for full compatibility with the film for proper sealing
  • Provides easy reheating by safely venting steam to prevent bursting of the package.
  • Specially designed to work with the Micvac FlexProcess microwave system
  • Custom design available

Films

  • Designed to withstand the pressure inside the package during the cooking process, and flexible enough to conform to the vacuum created.
  • Material properties provide sufficient barrier property to enable best-in-class chilled shelf life.
  • Bonds strongly to the tray to withstand pressure during the process, yet easy to peel open for the consumer after reheating.
  • Laminated polypropelene (PP) with EVOH

How Our Customers Apply

Our Technology

Customer Examples

Oval

Ready Meals

Kid Meals

Sea Food

Size

Final Weight Range

200 g

180-220 g

6.3-7.7 oz

330 g

310-350 g

10-12.3 oz

400 g

380-420 g

13.4-14.8 oz

600 g

580-620 g

20.4-21.8 oz

1000 g

980-1020 g

34.5-36 oz

Dual

Ready Meals

Size

Final Weight Range

420 g

400-420 g

13.4-14.8 oz

Round

Porridge

Risotto

Soup

Size

Final Weight Range

300 g

280-320 g

10.2-11.2 oz

365 g

345-385 g

12.2-13.6 oz

One portion ready meals

Family packs

Seafood

Two-compartments & Soups

Food Safety with the Micvac method

Unique In-pack cooking and pasteurisation process

  • Heat treatment 98°C for 2min to target Cl. Botolinum which can grow in anerobic conditions (vacuum) (Log 6 reduction: 1 000 000 to 1)
  • No risk of recontamination during or after pasteurization by maintaining an overpressure in the package during heat treatment and until final sealing of the vented package
  • Vacuum ensures that oxygen is flushed out & inhibits growth of aerobic bacteria
  • Short processing time preserves vitamins which are anti-oxidants
  • Tamper evident packaging

Control of ingredients, GMP/Good Manufacturing principles, Rapid cooling and Maintening the chill chain are also key factors.

Food Safety with the Micvac method

Unique In-pack cooking and pasteurisation process

Industrial line Example,108 kw

A new facility would require 1200-1500 sqm to include:

  • Kitchen and storage
  • storage for finished products
  • Machinery
  • staff facilities

The machine equipment would need at minimum 400 sqm

Micvac Superior Quality of the Food

External Study by Institut KIN GMBH

The MICVAC in-pack cooking and pasteurization method has a short processing time, which reduceS the time that the ingredients are exposed to high temperature, reducing the vitamin loss in the process.

Autoclave Pasteurization

MICVAC Cooking and Pasteurization

Micvac Superior Quality of the Food

External Study by Kantar

Key Findings

> 600 Consumers from Germany, France and UK (made by Kantar 2013-2016)

84% of the consumers said that they would buy a chilled Ready Meal made with the Micvac process, because “they look healthy, the vacuum keeps the nutrition and there are no additives”.

  • Easy to cook
  • Easy to serve
  • No need to check on the food while cooking
  • Even temperature across the meal
  • No holes to be punched into the film
  • Crunchy vegetables
  • Easy to handle