Greg Jacob, general manager of Allpax, with the help of Phillip LeBlanc, lead engineer, and Jonny Watkins, director of software development, devised the Allpax Telescopic Basket Loading System for making retort loading and unloading much safer.

Hormel Foods is well known for its variety of meat products in microwaveable, refrigerated and canned formats.

Available in diameters from 24 to 63 in., Shaka retorts provide high-speed reciprocating agitation for batch retorting.

Offered in 1,400 and 1,700mm diameters and up to 6 cube positions, SURDRY oscillating motion sterilizers overcome viscosity by controlling the deflection angle and dwell time of the product.

Meeting code requirements before, during and after the retort process, Videojet V476 and V521 inks change from dark red to light red when the printed codes are exposed to heat and moisture during the retort process.

The Allpax protection system features compression-molded, temperature- and moisture-resistant polymer tray liners that are placed on aluminum or stainless steel retort tray bottoms or used as slip sheets between trays; a grommet system snaps liner sections onto the tray.

Due to the processing’s seasonal nature, 24 hour per day, seven day per week uptime is required.

Rapid movement can dramatically reduce cycle times in retorts, but controlling the force created by a heavy basket’s motion required years of additional development.