Popcorn is an American snack favorite, but it is also a favorite of many people around the world. In fact, according to the information from ReportBuyer tracking the growing global popcorn trend, the industry is growing at a rate of about 7% per year and should continue to do so at least until 2020, which was the scope of the report.
The Popcorn Board, which is located here in the United States, reports that there are a whopping 14 billion quarts of popcorn consumed every year, which works out to about 43 quarts for each person in the country. While about 90% of that is sold in unpopped form to consumers for home popping, about 30% of popped popcorn, or gourmet types of popcorn, is sold for home consumption and that number is growing.
The need for specialized popcorn packaging machine designs for popped popcorn, which may be bagged in bulk or smaller bags of individual or consumer sales, has created a niche in the bagging equipment industry.
Effective Bagging
The goal of any type of popped or unpopped popcorn packaging machine is to provide efficient bagging with minimal damage to the product. The unpopped kernels can be damage with pressure or heat, and the popped popcorn is extremely vulnerable to being crushed.
Effective bagging for either option typically uses a vertical bagging machine that also includes a weighing system. This combination ensures that the specific amount of product enters into the popcorn packaging machine for each bag based on the specifics of the production run.
Complete Seals
For both types of popcorn, it will be critical to have a complete hermetic seal on the bag. Incomplete seals or seals that allow any moisture into the product will result in molds, bacterial growth, and spoilage of the popcorn.
Additionally, consider the range of sizes of bags the machine can handle. Most production lines will need to accommodate various sizes of bags from the small individual servings to the large bulk bags for commercial use.
