Commercial Vacuum Sealers

Vacuum Pack Machines: What You Need to Know

Operators use a vacuum packaging machine to remove air from special food storage bags, sealing the desired food product. Whether your goal is space preservation when storing non-perishables, keeping perishable items fresh in the freezer for more than a year as a hedge against food shortages, or cooking sous vide style immediately after sealing, KaTom has a vacuum pack machine that will accomplish the task.

Common Questions About Vacuum Sealers

How does a commercial vacuum sealer work?

Vacuum sealers contain either an internal chamber that removes the air around and in the bag before sealing it with heat and reintroducing air, or a connection that externally sucks the air out of the bag before sealing it. Depending on the unit, you may set the sealing process by time, percentage of air removed, or pressure. Delicate items that need to retain their conformation, such as tomatoes, may require less of a vacuum. Internal chamber units may also protect fragile items or prevent puncture in items with bones by slowly reintroducing air, a feature known as soft air. Hard cheeses, meats, and other solid items can maintain their integrity when air is completely removed, enabling prolonged storage. In both in-chamber and external units, a heated seal bar – some machines have two bars for extra protection – melts the ends of the bag together when the unit has established a vacuum. Total sealing time depends on several variables but is typically less than a minute.

What foods should not be stored under vacuum seal?

While vacuum sealing most food preserves integrity while avoiding freezer burn, operators should generally avoid the following ingredients when using a vacuum sealer for food storage:

• Soft cheeses: Cheese needs the right mixture of air and moisture to maintain a balance between molding and drying out. Hard cheese can survive under a vacuum seal, which removes most of the air and locks in moisture, but soft cheese becomes susceptible to mold.
• Certain raw fruits and vegetables: Some fruits and vegetables ripen quickly under a vacuum or release gases. Cooks can prepare some items such as leafy greens by blanching, a process that includes a brief boiling period and then insertion into cold water that stops unwanted release of gases without cooking the food item.
• Hot foods: Users should generally wait for hot food to cool before vacuum sealing. Some commercial vacuums sealers, however, have a mode that can handle this function.

Can I vacuum seal liquids?

External vacuum sealing machines cannot handle liquids unless they are pre-frozen. Chamber unit operators should consult their unit's instruction manual for the proper protocol before attempting to seal liquids, since they require a weaker seal. Moisture can damage the vacuum pump, so some units include a pump conditioning process that should be completed daily or weekly depending on use. Units may have a setting that seals liquids at the ideal pressure using a moisture sensor.

What is sous vide cooking?

Sous vide, which means "under vacuum" in French, is a style of cooking first developed in the 1960s that involves submerging a plastic vacuum-packed bag in a low-heat bath to achieve precise temperature throughout the food. Cooks can prepare their food for this process with a vacuum sealing machine.

What size vacuum packaging machines are available?

In-chamber units may have a width and depth of 2 or 3 feet with a similar height, although taller floor units are also available. Chamber volume is typically more than half the total unit size. Customers should check the size of the chamber to see if it can accommodate the amount of food they need.

External units take up about a square foot of countertop space and usually measure less than 1 foot in height. Except in smaller handheld pistol systems, seal bar width determines the bag width the user can vacuum seal and ranges from 10 to 20 inches. Operators may seal multiple bags simultaneously, provided the sum of their widths is less than the width of the sealer bar.

Shop KaTom's collection of the best vacuum sealers to find the right pieces for your operation.