FDBusiness.com

An excellent reputation for supplying high quality filling machines has secured Riggs
Autopack a recent order from The Spice Shelf, an artisan food producer based in
Worthing, West Sussex who manufacture award winning chutneys and pickles.
The Spice Shelf is the creation of Meher Salman, who began teaching the art of Indian
cookery in the Sussex area some 20 years ago. She developed the company’s range of
high quality products by using traditional family recipes handed down through generations
after trying without success to find fresh, home made Eastern influenced condiments that
were authentic in taste but also versatile enough to use with Western dishes.
Since its launch in 2002, The Spice Shelf has won 14 prestigious bronze, silver and gold
honours at the Great Taste Awards. In May 2006, the company was praised by one of the
country’s top chefs, Marco Pierre White, when he judged their range of condiments as “the
best product” at the first Royal Windsor Food and Drink Festival.
Each chutney and pickle produced by The Spice Shelf is made in small batches and their unique taste is achieved by using only fresh, choice, locally sourced ingredients. Their products are strictly vegetarian and do not contain any preservatives, artificial additives or colourings. The combination of carefully sourced and fresh ingredients, small scale manufacturing and attention to detail, gives their products a unique, exotic, authentic and award winning taste.
The Spice Shelf had recently gained a substantial order from a large national prestigious
store. They had historically produced to order by hand filling their glass jars using jugs, but
now recognised that to keep pace they had to move away from manual filling to a semiautomatic
form of depositing. This was to be their first step into semi-automated production and it was paramount that when sourcing a new filling machine, they had complete confidence in a well established and industry respected machine manufacturer. The Spice Shelf require exceptional quality standards in their finished goods and therefore required a damage free and highly accurate form of depositing their products into a variety of glass jars.
With almost 40 years design and build experience, Lancashire based Riggs Autopack Ltd
manufacture high quality filling machines for the food production industry. The Spice
Shelf’s owner Mrs Meher Salman contacted Riggs Autopack to help enhance their
company’s production and during the first meetings they were able to advise on a suitable
machine.
Following a successful machine trial held at The Spice Shelf’s Worthing premises, they
placed an order with Riggs Autopack for a Model 1000 Option 1 semi-automatic filling
machine. It has been easily integrated into the company’s production area and is fulfilling
all manufacturing demands. Offering hygienic depositing with outstanding accuracy, damage free product handling and with a build quality second to none, Riggs Autopack’s Option 1 filling machine is designed for artisan food producers such as The Spice Shelf. It’s ideal for food manufacturers producing short batch runs, or those companies who need to improve production rates by moving from manual filling to a more accurate and repeated process.
This low level filling machine requires just a single operator – it’s compact, easy to use and simple to maintain. It’s supplied with a host of standard features including a 40 litre product hopper, height adjustable filling table and dispensing nozzle to suit, a foot pedal and is fully mobile with lockable castors. It’s hygienic, quick to clean and provides highly accurate depositing of hot or cold products, even those containing large particulates.

Riggs Autopack’s Model 1000 range of semi-automatic depositors and filling machines are available for outright purchase, short or long term hire and a no-commitment machine trial is available upon request at the customer’s premises. The Spice Shelf’s owner Meher Salman is delighted with the new filling machine and the vast improvement its made to their production process. She commented “I have to admit, I cannot imagine how we hand filled all those jars – never again!”