Spreafico Automation and University of Milan partner on coffee capsules project

Spreafico Automation has partnered with the University of Milan’s Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Science (DeFENS) to study self-protected coffee capsules. The DeFENS research capsule project, led by Professor Sara Limbo, started in the European summer of 2018. The team will now examine capsules that do not need exterior packaging, but have a barrier ensuring its shelf life and they will now examine different varieties might possess characteristics that change the behaviour of the capsule. This project will help roasters identify how capsules are packaged, prepared and filled. Spreafico will assist DeFENS financially and provide it with a fully automated machine designed and built in its factory in Caloziocorte, Italy. DeFENS will analyse the plastic materials used for making the capsules, gas mixtures inside the capsule, features of the packaging, machines and quality of the ground coffee. The first round of capsule testing saw a comparative analysis on different capsule types currently on the market. Parameters such as the layers of the plastic structures, the evolution of the packaging gases and the interaction of the coffee-capsule-environment in time were evaluated.  DeFENS aims to understand how these interactions will affect the quality of the finished product, and create optimal capsule packaging that guarantees the fragrance of the coffee and longer shelf life. Spreafico Automation specialises in designing and marketing machines for the packaging of coffee capsules. The company, headquartered in Calolziocorte, Lecco, offers a selection of machines with different speeds and features in order to be suitable to the most diverse of production needs. The IMA Group recently acquired a controlling stake in the packaging machine manufacture. For more information, click here