Smurfit Kappa is working with a company in France, Fée Nature, to provide the Bag-in-Box packaging solutions for a health drink made from birch sap.
The sap, which is harvested each spring in the wild forests of the Pyrenees mountains, is sold in organic shops in France and in other European countries and is growing in popularity as a detox product for people looking to shed toxins after the Winter months.
Fresh birch sap can be kept for 90 days but to extend the shelf life, the sap is lightly pasteurized for a few minutes at 60°c while still maintaining the quality of the product. Smurfit Kappa Bag-in-Box® was therefore able to create a perfect packaging solution for the drink that keeps it fresh for up to 24 months before opening and 8 weeks after opening. What's more, the pack is environmentally friendly and easy to use.
To increase its production capacity, Fée Nature invested in a brand new BIB 700 automatic machine that was installed in February, just in time for this season's harvest. To preserve the maximum quality, the birch sap has to be packed very quickly; the whole production is done in just two months between March and April.
The BIB 700 machine, which has a new generation filling valve with two separate circuits for nitrogen and vacuum, can fill up to 15 3-litre BIB packs per minute so it can easily facilitate the necessary speed and maintain the quality of this unusual product.
