Dairy Filling Machine for Yogurt, Sour Cream, Cream Cheese and Curd Cheeses

Dairy product families the SDH-R fills

The SDH-R targets fresh and refrigerated dairy that is pumpable at the fill temperature. Each family behaves differently at the nozzle, so each has its own page with product-specific detail.

• Yogurt: spoonable set and stirred styles in single-serve and family-size cups.
• Sour cream: smooth, shear-sensitive tubs where whey separation and air pockets must be controlled.
• Cream cheese: dense, sticky product that needs positive displacement and a clean cut-off.
• Cottage cheese: curd in dressing, which calls for wide-bore valving to protect the curd.
• Ricotta: delicate, moist curd that narrow passages easily break.
• Butter and margarine: soft spreadable blends, where fat on the cup flange is the sealing risk.
• Parfait cups: layered yogurt, fruit and granola using up to three fillers in one pass.
• Pudding and dessert cups: chilled puddings and custard-style desserts, with fill temperature confirmed by our engineering team.
• Labneh: thick strained yogurt, often finished with a measured pour of olive oil from an optional peristaltic pump.

If your product is not listed, describe it to us. Viscosity extremes, unusual particulates and fill temperature are confirmed with the engineering team before we quote.

How a dairy cup filling machine handles syneresis, aeration and curds

Whether you are specifying a yogurt and sour cream filling machine or a curd cheese line, check these four issues before you buy.

Syneresis (whey separation)

Yogurt, sour cream and cream cheese are protein gels. Shear breaks the gel network and squeezes out whey, which pools on the surface and can foul the cup flange. A servo-driven piston with a controlled stroke adds less shear than a high-speed lobe or centrifugal pump, and an open product path avoids sharp restrictions. Keeping the product cold is the plant's job; the machine's job is not to add shear.

Aeration and fill weight

Air in the product shows up as pockets under the film, density swings and weight drift. A volumetric filler doses by volume, so whipped or aerated product fills lighter than the same recipe deaerated. Keep the hopper head full, avoid free-falling product, and use a suck-back or cut-off nozzle so no tails or bubbles follow the dose into the cup. Where weight must be tight, the optional weight checker with feedback loop corrects drift.

Curd particulates

Cottage cheese and ricotta carry curds that a narrow valve crushes into fines or bridges across. We use large-bore valving and nozzles so curd passes whole. Granola, nut pieces or fruit pieces in a parfait go through the dedicated garnish filler rather than the base filler.

Temperature and viscosity

The SDH-R fills fresh, refrigerated cups at a pumpable temperature. Dairy viscosity moves quickly with temperature: cream cheese stiffens as it chills, while warm yogurt thins and weeps. Fill temperature, viscosity extremes and unusual particulates are confirmed with our engineering team before quoting.

Sealing dairy cups: flange cleanliness, film and lids

Most seal complaints on dairy trace back to the flange. A smear of fat, whey or curd between the rim and the film leaves a leak channel. Drip-free nozzles prevent most contamination, and the heat seal itself is tuned on three parameters: temperature, pressure and dwell. Fatty products such as cream cheese and butter blends often need a different seal window from dry-rimmed ones, so we set it against your actual cup and film.

Closure options include roll-film membrane sealing (heat seal, tamper-evident), pre-die-cut lids, plastic lid pick-and-place and a snapping device for over-top lids. Every cup follows the same path through the machine:

1. Cup loading and denesting with the pneumatic denester.
2. Base component filling by volumetric piston.
3. Optional secondary or third filling: liquid, garnish or topping.
4. Roll-film membrane sealing.
5. Optional nitrogen MAP flushing.
6. Optional plastic lid pick-and-place or snap-on.
7. Discharge to your conveyor.

Dairy filling and sealing machine output, cup sizes and price

At 18–25 real-world cups per minute, the SDH-R packs roughly 1,080 to 1,500 cups per hour before changeovers and breaks. As a dairy tub filling machine it covers the standard 4, 8, 10 and 16 oz sizes in round, square or rectangular formats, with custom cups from 2 oz to 32 oz on matching tooling. Fill weights above 500 g, such as a 32 oz tub, fall outside the standard range and need an engineering review. Fills under 50 g are also outside the standard range.

SDH-R specifications relevant to dairy

Pricing starts from $45,000 USD for the single-filler configuration and scales with additional fillers, MAP, labeling and custom tooling. Delivery is 8–12 weeks from order confirmation, with a 12-month warranty and service centres in Alberta, New Jersey and California. For an itemized number, request a quote.

Request a quote for your dairy filling machine

To quote accurately we need five things:

• Your dairy product and its texture, including any curds, fruit or garnish.
• Cup size, shape and material.
• Target cups per minute.
• Number of components or layers.
• Options: closure type, MAP, labeling, weight checking and CIP.

Send these through our contact page, call +1 (888) 922-7271 or email sales@hummuspack.com. We are open Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM MDT. Our team may reach out to learn more about your application before quoting, and we reply within about 24 hours.