Sig Combibloc has launched carton bottle combidome for low-acid products such as milk and plant-based dairy alternatives with US company Steuben Foods.
Steuben offers premium nut-based beverages in combidome, in almond, cashew, hazelnut and walnut varieties.
Sold under the Elmhurst brand, the beverages have a very high nut content.
The products were presented to the public for the first time at the Natural Products Expo West in California in March 2017.
They will then be available commercially.
With this market launch, combidome is now also available in America for the first time.
“Compared to other nut beverages, our products are like home-made – with absolutely no emulsifiers and no thickeners,” said Jeff Sokal, senior VP business development at Steuben Foods.
“The aseptic process ensures that all harmful germs were eliminated, while simultaneously allowing us to capture and stabilize the freshness and quality of our nut milks longer than any anyone else.”
The company opted for combidome, which looks and handles like a bottle, while offering the environmental and logistical advantages of a carton.
“Unlike juices, the taste of dairy products or plant-based dairy alternatives can be affected by light,” said Christian Szameit, key account manager at SIG Combibloc.
“So, for example, we’ve designed the spouts for combidome Liquid Dairy cartons in such a way that they let in almost no light. So the products are optimally protected.”
Like many other SIG Combibloc filling machine models, the combidome Low Acid machine has an FDA Master File.
This offers the best conditions for rapid acceptance by the US food and health authorities.
“In FDA master files, we can provide our customers with all the necessary data, information and supporting documents required by the FDA in connection with our filling machines,” says Hanno Geissler, who in his role is also responsible for the FDA master files at SIG Combibloc.
“On the basis of this, food manufacturers can be assured of a certain and rapid start to production on filling machines from SIG.”
