Salt manufacturer invests in $1.3m packaging line

The automatic packaging line is designed for tablets and granular salt products and uses rolls instead of premade polyethylene (PE) bags.

Salt producer since 1922​

The system allows the company to expand its product range to 10kg and 25kg packaging.

Ofer  Rokni , deputy CEO, Salt of the Earth, told FoodProductionDaily the company is part of the Arison Group and operates in food and food ingredients.

“Salt of the Earth is Israel’s major producer of salt since 1922. It produces sea-salt to the global food market​,” he said.

“This year we will introduce two sea salt product lines complimented by two new packing lines and process equipment to decrease energy costs and improve quality​.” 

The new packaging line, incorporates a large storage tank, dual packing machine and conveyors that were custom-adjusted to the former packaging lines. This allowed re-use of existing equipment and incorporation of an automatic palletizer robot.

Rokni said the line will resolve former malfunctions in the line, for example, soldering is no longer required in the packaging process and raw material is applied accurately via a weighting system. Post-production, stacking on palettes is also fully automated.

sodium-reduction​

Production packing capacity is expected to increase from 60 tons across three daily shipments to one shipment a day.

Salt of the Earth produces and markets sodium-reduction and low sodium salt  ingredients and products made from natural salt harvested from the Red Sea.

It recently introduced a low-sodium sea salt ingredient to reduce sodium in bakery products, such as bread, breakfast cereals and snacks. It is available in formats to allow a range of 28% to 66% sodium reduction in formulation.

“With our R&D division, we penetrate new markets to answer consumers’ needs for convenience and healthy salt​,” said Rokni.

“Improving our technology and packaging system increase efficiency and ensures high quality products​.

“​As part of our global group we try to lead by example by achieving a gradual reduction in sodium intake, meaning we are searching and developing sea salt which keeps the same salty taste by using less quantity at a reasonable price​.”

Next big trend​

He added the big trend in the industry will be sodium reduction while maintaining taste and flavour.  

“Our mission is to provide sodium reduction ingredients and collaborate with retailers and marketers to provide advance salt and low-salt final products​,” said Rokni.

“In terms of emerging markets - rapidly changing demographics, rising incomes, increased consumer spending and an increasingly open business environment have all helped to make the Chinese market increasingly attractive to western businesses across a variety of industries but the South American market is growing and is going through a very positive period​.”