IFFA 2022: Efficient and sustainable marking of meat and meat products
At IFFA 2022, REA Elektronik will present for the first time its innovations for contact-free direct printing, labeling and code verification
Mühltal, April 2022 - From inline marking in the slaughterhouse to direct marking of packaging foils to reliable goods labeling and its control: REA Elektronik, specialist for industrial coding and marking, will present its systems and innovations to the international meat industry for the first time at IFFA 2022. Under the motto "Print | Apply | Verify", they make processes more efficient, more sustainable and faster.
The expectations of the meat industry are diverse: increasing consumer demands for individualization, traceability and sustainability, new legal requirements, innovative technologies and digitalization. The key role of optimal marking for logistics, merchandise management and sales is becoming increasingly clear.
With its forward-looking and Industry 4.0-capable systems and innovations for direct printing, labeling and code verification, REA Elektronik supports meat producers and processing companies in meeting these requirements. At IFFA 2022, the coding and marking specialist will present its wide range of solutions and its experts will be on hand to answer questions. The trade show highlights at a glance:
With the REA LabelTower, incorrect labeling is a thing of the past
The new REA LabelTower verifies label contents and the quality of 1D/2D codes in one step with the help of a new technology. The innovation that thinks for itself was developed in cooperation with Strelen Control Systems GmbH, an expert in image processing and automation. It is particularly helpful for companies that label a lot and provide their food or beverages for export with labels in different languages.
To avoid confusion and incorrect labeling, the REA LabelTower compares the layout, font and graphic elements of the label with the target specification. In addition, it uses a REA VERIFIER system to check the readability, contrast, printing precision and standard-compliant quality of the printed codes. In this way, the REA LabelTower ensures a high first-pass reading rate at the point of sale - because the products are marked correctly and with high quality.
Like labels - only printed directly on the foil
Labels on packaging foil, and without any adhesive labels: REA Elektronik's new development for its high-resolution REA JET HR systems makes it possible. The innovative wet-on-wet direct printing system prints codes and plain text with optimum contrast on smooth surfaces, including transparent packaging foil, and ensures excellent code quality and first-pass reading rates.
In a single step, the system creates a white ink mirror and prints it immediately - i.e. "wet-on-wet" - with black ink - optionally also in color. The marking and the ink mirror then dry together.
With this new printing technology, REA Elektronik is supporting sustainable production and resource saving in the meat and food industry. This is because direct printing eliminates the need for labels, reduces process costs, and reduces waste, since no carrier foil is required. In addition, such labeled packaging can be disposed of according to type and recycled more easily.
REA Elektronik will present the system at IFFA 2022 in combination with the innovative REA Inline OCR solution: Mounted above the conveyor belt and equipped with powerful optical text recognition (OCR) software, a camera system reads the marking and codes on the passing product packages and verifies their accuracy.
Efficient inline marking of pig carcasses
Slaughterhouses throughout Europe count on REA JET technology for marking pig carcasses: The REA JET DOD 2.0 Large Character Inkjet Printer provides the carcasses with all the information required for traceability and further processing, contact-free and inline. For a reliable print image, the 32-nozzle print head follows the silhouette of the carcasses thanks to a special control system: Using fast-drying food grade ink, approved for use on foodstuffs, it automatically prints the veterinary stamp and individual alphanumeric codes on the pig skin in three lines. The codes are also used to control further operations in the increasingly digitalized slaughter process.
In addition, at IFFA 2022 REA Elektronik will demonstrate its coding and marking solutions with REA LABEL print and apply systems and the REA JET SC 2.0 small character inkjet printer, and provide an overview of the wide range of technologies for 1D/2D code verification with REA VERIFIER systems.
Visit REA Elektronik from May 14 to 19, 2022 at IFFA 2022 at Messe Frankfurt: Hall 11.0, Booth C41.
