Sidel delivers Britannia’s first aseptic PET packaging line for Winkin’ Cow business
Britannia Industries Limited, one of India’s leading food companies, selected Sidel to deliver its first-ever aseptic PET packaging line for its dairy drinks portfolio. This strategic partnership aims to enable Britannia to scale its dairy beverage brand presence under the Winkin’ Cow portfolio.
Britannia entered the dairy drinks business in 2018, with value-added dairy drinks under the Winkin’ Cow portfolio. The company made a strategic decision to partner with Sidel, a global provider of packaging solutions with five decades of expertise in aseptic PET packaging. The objective was to deliver a complete aseptic PET packaging solution at Britannia’s greenfield dairy factory in Ranjangaon, Maharashtra, India.
As a technology and solutions partner, Sidel supported Britannia from the initial line design and technical planning to the installation, commissioning and final ramp-up. Beyond supplying the line equipment, Sidel was delivering a broader range of services that included developing a new packaging concept, validating the packaging, advising on label selection, conducting customised filling tests and carrying out shelf-life studies to support the company’s entry into the aseptic PET segment and the launch of its new product.
Simple and fast aseptic solution
To ensure a high level of food safety, Sidel installed a complete line with integrated Aseptic Combi Predis at the Britannia plant. The solution, running at 24,000bph, integrates preform sterilisation, blow moulding, filling and capping into one process that is intended to ensure product integrity and a longer shelf life for sensitive products.
Sidel claims that its Aseptic Combi Predis is the market’s simplest and fastest aseptic solution with Predis dry preform decontamination. Predis technology employs the injection of Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into the preform just before it enters the oven. This results in activation of the H2O2 by the existing preform heating stage, ensuring a high level of decontamination while minimising the sterile zone and controlling all risk of potential contamination. Critical parameters are continuously monitored to ensure full production sterility, beverage integrity and food safety, regardless of liquid type or beverage characteristics.
Sidel’s Aseptic Combi Predis is designed to be easy to use, allowing the operator to manage the sterilisation process without the need for extensive training or lengthy downtimes. It is also flexible, offering the ability to switch between three different formats for dairy drinks – from 180ml to 1L – while maintaining a high levels of efficiency, says the company.
By employing dry preform decontamination, no water and almost no chemicals are used in the process. This reduces water and chemical consumption, allowing Britannia to reach total food safety using fewer resources and with a lower impact on the environment.
Aseptic Combi Predis also facilitates a low total cost of ownership (TCO) without compromising food safety or production simplicity, while delivering high uptime and packaging versatility across multiple SKUs.