Premier Pallet Systems market a range of American-made freezer spacers that are regarded as the World’s most popular brand. Their purpose is to reduce blast freezing times for cartoned meat by allowing the cold air to circulate more effectively between each layer.
Premier’s separators are in the “egg carton” style and are manufactured from polyethylene and partially recycled plastic.
They are available in two sizes, conforming approximately to the 800 x 1200 and 1000 x 1200 pallet sizes. Premier keep both sizes in stock.
They are 32mm in depth, weigh 1.65 kgs each, and because they are extremely durable, will last without cracking or distortion for many years. When not in use they nest easily with 100 spacers making a stack of only 400mm in height.
The normal procedure is to create a stack of boxed meat on a pallet with a spacer between each layer. Depending on the size of the blast freezer this could be up to 2m high. The improved air circulation through the stack will reduce freezing times by at least 30% over product which has not been separated.
The system works hand-in-hand with the Premier inverters; the load can be turned on its side to quickly remove the spacers after freezing and then upended onto a pallet ready for storage or shipment.
Premier also market the Maxi spacer which has a much deeper profile and therefore offers quicker freezing times. This is offset by a higher cost and greater stack heights which can limit the number of layers on a pallet.
The alternative to using freezer spacers is steel racks which, of course, offer excellent freezing times but consume space and are very labour-intensive in the handling of the boxes. Premier encourage customers to try the plastic spacer by offering trial packs of 10 units at a very competitive delivered price. Most people come back for more!
Freezer Spacers