Allpax Marks Shaka Retort Five Year Anniversary with Progress Updates and New Insights into this Revolutionary Retort Process

The fifth anniversary of the first production Shaka agitation retort also signifies the expiration of patent royalties, lowering the cost of Shaka production.

COVINGTON, LA - Allpax, powered by Pro Mach, announced today the end of patent royalties for Shaka agitation retorts. The five-year anniversary of the first production scale machine also brings a fresh understanding of where best to apply this revolutionary retort process that significantly reduces sterilization time and improves the taste and quality of shelf stable foods.

Shaka technology, which agitates foods for faster and more uniform heat transfer within a package and consequently slashes processing time, started with the idea to improve existing products in terms of taste and appearance. However, through product testing with the multi-mode Allpax R&D Shaka retort in the Allpax test kitchen, it has been realized that there are novel opportunities to develop unique shelf stable products that have not historically performed well in traditional retort applications, and are currently positioned in more expensive refrigerated or frozen formats. Examples include pureed foods such as guacamole, humus, and baby foods. It also is excellent for thick sauces, pasta combinations, and seafood products such as shrimp.

“Shaka offers an excellent retort option for young, smaller niche food companies,” said Greg Jacob, Vice President and General Manager of Allpax. “Companies are marketing to a new generation of consumers that are looking for wholesome ingredients for their children and themselves as well as novel foods. These consumers tend to want new types of convenience packaging and are somewhat averse to cans, which plays to the strengths of Shaka. Co-packers providing a versatile line of products for larger brands can also find Shaka capabilities a business opportunity.”

No more royalties

In 2016, the Shaka process patent expired and with it the royalties companies paid to the UK-based process developer. This makes the fast sterilization system even more attractive. Shaka retorts agitate packaging with intense horizontal back and forth movement equivalent to two g-force. This level of agitation rapidly creates a uniform internal heat map within the package. Faster sterilization lowers thermal load and improves taste and appearance. The Allpax test kitchen research shows that the quality of foods produced by the Shaka process is comparable to that produced by aseptic packaging at a fraction of the cost of aseptic systems. Sterilization times dramatically shrink with Shaka as compared to static processing. A single production unit is capable of sterilizing approximately 9,000 pounds of product per hour.

For more information on the Allpax Shaka retort and the company’s entire range of retorts, retort room automation, control and validation solutions, and laboratory retorts, including the multimode 2402, call 1-888-893-9277 and visit www.Allpax.com.

About Allpax Products

Allpax Products, a market leader in retort technology and retort room automation, designs, manufactures, and delivers turnkey sterilization solutions for the food, beverage, pet food, and pharmaceutical industries. The company is recognized for helping customers become more successful by decreasing time to market with laboratory retort equipment, lowering overall labor costs through automation, and increasing the overall throughput of the sterilization process. www.Allpax.com

About Pro Mach

Pro Mach is a leading provider of integrated packaging and processing products and solutions for food, beverage, consumer goods, pharmaceutical, and other diverse companies. Through multiple brands, Pro Mach provides product packaging and processing equipment, PMMI certified trainers, installation, parts, and service in Bottling & Capping, Primary Packaging, Pharmaceutical Packaging, Flexible Packaging, Material Handling, Labeling & Coding, and End of Line, as well as Integrated Solutions for complete packaging lines.

Pro Mach has a diverse customer base, from Fortune 500 companies to smaller, privately held businesses worldwide, which depend on reliable, flexible, technologically advanced equipment and integrated solutions. Pro Mach is headquartered near Cincinnati, Ohio, with manufacturing facilities and offices throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and China. For more information about Pro Mach, please visit www.ProMachInc.com.