Halal meat and sausage products in many varieties

Burger patties, pizza toppings, sausage and sausage products as well as tasty snacks and convenience foods are the core business of Fettayleh Foods. Since it was first founded, the Australian family business has developed into a leading supplier of halal food and it now exports its high-quality products all over the world. A traysealer had previously been handling the packaging procedure, but the company’s attention was drawn to MULTIVAC’s R 105 MF thermoforming packaging machine at Anuga FoodTec 2015 and they have seen benefits from its use ever since.

Fettayleh primarily supplies its products to some of the leading Australian supermarket chains such as Woolworths and Coles, as well as airline caterers, restaurant suppliers and upmarket restaurants, however recently it has also been exporting its products abroad. This is because the market potential for halal food is extremely large. Around twelve percent of people in Asia and the Pacific region eat halal food, as well as 50 percent in Africa and the Middle East and four percent in Europe. Therefore, halal products are not niche products – as there is a demand for them all over the world.

Regulations and requirements, which are governed by the Islamic tradition are very strict, both in the production of the food and in the packaging procedure. Fettayleh is audited by HACCP, HALAL, SGS, DAFF and EXPORT Standards and they continue to meet the strict regulations of the statutory bodies as well as the Halal Certification Authority. All products leaving the company are halal certified. They are regularly inspected by independent halal inspectors and certified food bodies.

The company’s diverse product range extends from burger patties made of beef and lamb, kebab sticks, strips of chicken breast and sliced salami for pizza toppings, as well as Wiener sausages and many other sausage varieties such as poultry sausages with green pepper or olives.

It started with a vision

The “Story of Fettayleh” began back in the early 1990’s, when Jamal Fettayleh opened a small butchers shop in the centre of Punchbowl, an area in the south west of Sydney. The Abu Ahmad Butchery is still there today, however Jamal’s son, Ahmad had a vision. He wanted to become one of the best known halal producers on the continent and also become a byword for 1.8 billion Muslims throughout the world. With energy, fresh ideas and an innate respect for high-quality and traditional butchered meat, he gradually turned this vision into reality – and in 2005 he founded Fettayleh Foods with his brother Mohamed.

The energetic entrepreneur started his career in 1994 as a butcher in the family-owned butchers shop. Today, Ahmad is CEO of Fettayleh Foods and one of the pioneers within the halal market. He is tireless in his efforts to ensure that Muslim consumers throughout the world are well informed and can, with good conscience, buy high-quality halal products, which comply with all industry standards. As Executive Sales & Export Manager, his brother Mohamed has systematically expanded the company’s sales and ensured that Fettayleh’s products reach the consumer in a fresh and appetizing manner.

MULTIVAC traysealers had been used until then for packing Fettayleh’s wide range of products – first a compact T 350 and then a larger T 700 traysealer. But when it came to planning for a new packaging solution, the flexibility of the system was a critical factor. It was for this reason that Fettayleh Foods decided to invest in a thermoforming packaging machine, which, in contrast its traysealers, could be used to pack a variety of products in a wide range of pack designs using a standardized packaging material.

Compact R 105 MF as the new packaging solution

The company’s attention was drawn to MULTIVAC’s R 105 MF thermoforming packaging machine on the stand at Anuga FoodTec 2015. The compact entry-level model is very versatile and enables high-quality vacuum skin packs as well as modified atmosphere packs to be produced efficiently and economically in small and medium-sized batches. An upper web chain guide and upper web heating on this machine ensure that skin films are run reliably and without creases. Heating on the upper web ensures that the web is heated evenly and precisely over the whole surface. This means that vacuum skin packs can be produced in a unique quality and at a high output.

Ambitious objectives

The Fettayleh brothers had concrete ideas regarding the objectives of their new packaging solution and how they wanted their products to be packed. “In addition to the optimization of the stock inventory for the packaging materials, the shelf life of our sensitive food products was also an important factor. At the same time, we also had a vision of a highly flexible and efficient solution, with which we could pack the products of our very wide range in an ideal way,” says Ahmad Fettayleh, describing his initial idea.

Today just a single thermoforming packaging machine at Fettayleh Foods packs various portions of minced meat, burger patties and sausages in attractive modified atmosphere packs, as well as fresh meat and sausage products in high-quality vacuum skin packs. This means that the company achieves longer shelf life for its products than previously achieved using a traysealer. The product variety is enormous and each pack sets the scene perfectly at the point of sale for its individual products. The final packaged products are highly impressive. The vacuum skin packs have been particularly well received by consumers and retailers alike. Products packaged with MultiFresh™ can be displayed vertically, horizontally or suspended (thanks to the hanger space) at the point of sale, because the skin film fixes the contents of the pack in place, and the all-over sealing prevents any liquids in the product from escaping, particularly in the case of fresh meat. The packs are provided with an easy-open corner to make them simple to open. Fettayleh is also delighted with the individual design of the pack base for the burger packs, which contributes to increasing the rigidity of the pack, and which MULTIVAC’s packaging specialists were able to easily introduce into the pack.

Success all along the line

The company was also impressed with the rapid implementation of the project by the experienced MULTIVAC team on site. The technicians needed only a single day to install the new packaging solution. The R 105 MF was fully in use the following day and production was barely interrupted. “We can now pack our wide range of products with just a single machine – and are now able to offer our tasty products in attractive vacuum skin packs,” says the company boss. It has also been possible to significantly reduce the costs for packaging material and to better utilize storage capacity, since less space is required for storing trays. The packaging procedure is also now designed much more efficiently than before. It allows for packs required for the Australian market and those for export to be differentiated – a further benefit the two Fettayleh brothers can appreciate from the new machine.