“Right now we are producing over 20,000 kilograms of fresh sausage per week, with about 70 per cent of our fresh production utilizing MAP,” says Kuhn.
With about 70 per cent of the company’s production dedicated to fresh-meat products distributed by major retailers, and about 25 per cent for producing smoked and/or pre-cooked deli-meats—the company has steadily built its business up to about $5 million in annual sales by servicing all of its Ontario retail customers two to three times a week, Kuhn relates, while also patiently cultivating its client base in Quebec and western Canada.
“We sell our Vitto Brand products throughout the Loblaw companies, Beouf Merit, A&P, Loeb and Food Basics, Sobeys and its Price Choppers and Foodland stores, Farmboys, Galati’s, Longo’s and a whole lot of independent retailers,” Kuhn expands.
The Vitto Brand plant currently runs three packaging lines: one for bulk packages; one designated specifically for pre-cooked and smoked products; and one just for MAP trays.
“Along with being one of the first meat processors to embrace MAP, we developed a case-ready program that allows small retailers or convenience-store operators to be able to handle fresh meat-cuts using MAP packaging,” points out Kuhn.
“While it may not be an earthshaking innovative breakthrough,” he allows, “it works well-enough to allow us to fill that segment of the meat business.”
COMMON GROUND
With MAP techniques essentially divided into two commonly-used methodologies—compensated vacuum and the more economical gas-flushing application—Kuhn says he relies on the advice of leading industry experts to utilize the technologies that are best-suited for his production requirements, singling out the Cryovac division of the Sealed Air Corporation and the Burlington, Ont.-based meat-processing and packaging equipment supplier Reiser Canada Limited.
“I was personally first introduced to this technology while attending a meeting with Reiser in Boston,” recalls Kuhn.
“As I watched an empty sample tray sitting there in the boardroom, it had occurred to me that there must be something more than just chicken which would work well in this packaging.”
After a couple of false starts, Kuhn finally got the MAP ball rolling following the purchase of the Inpact series MAP tray-packing machine from Ross Industries, Inc.—still running to this day at 14 cycles per minute—and an automatic Dixie-Vac 2000 rollstock packaging machine from Reiser Canada.
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