Baker Perkins has extended its range of production equipment for the functional and medicated gummy and jelly market by introducing a new starch-free depositor with additional process capability: The Servoform Mini+ meets the increasing demand for high-viscosity recipes and centre-filled gummies, particularly liquid centre fills, by including a mould lift feature. The system is an extension to the range of 50 kg/h Servoform Mini depositors.

The mould lift synchronizes raising and lowering the moulds with the depositing cycle. The effect is high-accuracy positioning, and crucially a clean separation, without tailing, of the thin strand of viscous syrup between one deposit and the next. It is also vital for centre-filling to keep the filling and casing separate.

Baker Perkins has also worked with Rousselot on the development of gummy caps using their Simogel fast-setting gelatin product. Gummy caps is a new delivery format for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products that combines a chewy casing with a liquid centre-filling.

The filling is prepared and deposited at ambient temperature to avoid heat degradation of high-value active ingredients. To maximize the benefit, it is vital that the filling and casing streams do not mix during the depositing process – and this was a major driver behind the introduction of the Servoform Mini+. The development of this machine follows the recent introduction of the Servoform Flexi starch-free depositor with outputs up to 250,000 pieces/hour.