Salsa Filling Machine
The SDH-R automatic salsa filling machine fills, seals and caps chunky salsa, pico de gallo and salsa verde at up to 30 cups per minute with ±0.5% fill accuracy.
The SDH-R is a fully automatic salsa filling machine built for high-particulate product — diced tomato, onion, corn, black bean and jalapeño — that bridges and shears in narrow-valve fillers. Designed and manufactured in Calgary, Alberta by Alter Pack, it denests, fills, optionally nitrogen-flushes, heat-seals and caps in one rotary pass at up to 30 cups per minute with ±0.5% fill-weight accuracy. Standard cups run 4oz to 16oz, and every machine is CE, FDA and UL certified. Review the full SDH-R specification, read our salsa filling application notes, or request a quote.
Why the SDH-R Excels at Salsa
Large-Bore Valving Passes Whole Chunks
Diced tomato, onion, corn, black bean and jalapeño move through oversized valving and a servo piston without shearing, so pico de gallo lands in the cup looking like the recipe rather than pulp.
±0.5% Fills Through Free Liquid
A servo-driven volumetric piston doses by displacement, not by time or pressure, so brine that separates in the hopper does not swing net weights. Fill 50g to 500g and stop paying for give-away.
Tamper-Evident Seals on Wet Rims
Seal temperature, pressure and dwell are each controlled independently, so the roll-film membrane bonds through the light moisture salsa leaves on a flange. Optional snap-on lids add a reclosable second barrier.
304 Stainless Built for Low-pH Salsa
Acidic salsa and vinegar-forward brines contact food-grade 304 stainless steel only. CIP and tool-free strip-down clear tomato skins between recipes, and every machine ships CE, FDA and UL certified from Calgary, Alberta.
How an Automatic Salsa Filling Machine Handles Chunky Particulates
Salsa is the product that finds a filler's weak points. Diced tomato, onion, corn, black bean and jalapeño are irregular solids suspended in a thin, acidic liquid, and most low-cost fillers were built for one or the other. Narrow nozzles bridge and stall, rotary pumps shear the dice into pulp, and augers turn a chunky medium salsa into something the label no longer describes. The SDH-R takes the opposite approach: a servo-driven volumetric piston feeding large-bore valving sized to pass particulates whole.
Why Piston Dosing Beats Pump and Auger Fillers for Salsa
A volumetric piston measures a fixed displacement on every stroke. It does not infer volume from time and pressure the way a pump does, so the solids-to-liquid ratio in the hopper can drift without dragging net weight with it. That is what holds ±0.5% fill-weight accuracy across 50g portion cups of pico de gallo and 500g retail tubs of restaurant-style salsa on the same machine.
Free Liquid, Separation and Hopper Behaviour
Fresh salsa releases water. Left standing, tomato settles and brine rises, so the first cups of a run go heavy on solids and the last ones run thin and wet. The SDH-R keeps a short, direct path from hopper to valve, and the piston draws from a blended column rather than skimming the surface, so each deposit carries a representative mix of chunk and sauce.
- Whole particulates: corn kernels, black beans and quarter-inch dice pass without shearing.
- Consistent solids ratio: the cup a consumer opens looks like the cup on the photography table.
- Up to three filler stations: a base salsa, a drizzle and a garnish deposited in one rotary pass.
- 50g to 500g range: single-serve portion cups through food-service tubs on one frame.
Full dosing specifications are on the SDH-R product page, and production examples are documented in our salsa filling application notes.
Salsa Packaging Machine: Sealing, Lidding and Shelf Life
A salsa packaging machine has to make a hermetic bond on a flange the product wants to splash onto. The SDH-R seals with a roll-film membrane applied under independently controlled temperature, pressure and dwell, so you can tune a bond that survives a wet, acidic rim without scorching thin-wall polypropylene cups. The result is a tamper-evident seal retail buyers accept and consumers have to break to open.
Keeping the Sealing Flange Clean
Most seal failures in salsa are not seal-head failures. They are flange contamination: a splash of brine or a stray dice of onion sitting exactly where the film has to bond. The SDH-R deposits through a clean cut-off valve into a cup held square and stationary at the fill station, so product drops centre-cup instead of running down the wall. Fill volume is set by the piston and stored in the recipe, not judged by an operator, so cups do not overfill into the rim.
Membrane, Pre-Cut and Snap-On Lid Options
- Roll-film membrane seal: tamper-evident, printable, lowest film cost per cup.
- Pre-cut lids: die-cut lids placed and sealed for tighter print registration on premium SKUs.
- Snap-on lids: a reclosable outer cap over the membrane for multi-serve tubs.
MAP Nitrogen Flush for Fresh Refrigerated Salsa
Fresh salsa that is not hot-filled typically holds a refrigerated shelf life of roughly seven to ten days. With the optional MAP nitrogen flush, headspace oxygen is displaced immediately before the seal, extending that window to 30 to 45 days or more depending on recipe, pH and cold chain. That is often the difference between a local direct-delivery SKU and a regional grocery listing. The same fill-and-seal platform runs across our wider range of dip filling and sealing machines, so a co-packer producing salsa, queso and crema works from one set of change parts.
Salsa Cup Filling Machine: Cup Formats, Changeover and Throughput
The SDH-R is a rotary machine, so cups index through denesting, filling, optional gas flush, sealing and lidding on a single turret. A pneumatic cup denester feeds the turret from a stack, and the whole machine occupies a 44 x 52 in footprint: small enough for a commissary kitchen, fast enough for a co-packer.
Cup Sizes and Shapes
- Standard formats: 4oz, 8oz, 10oz and 16oz.
- Custom formats: 2oz to 32oz on request.
- Geometry: round, square and rectangular cups.
- Fill range: 50g to 500g per deposit.
That covers a 2oz taqueria portion cup, an 8oz retail pico de gallo and a 32oz food-service tub without changing machines. The pneumatic denester is set to the cup stack rather than the recipe, so lightweight portion cups and rigid retail tubs both feed the turret reliably.
Recipe Storage and Changeover Under 15 Minutes
PLC control with an HMI stores a recipe per SKU, holding fill volume, seal temperature, dwell and index speed, so moving from mild restaurant-style to hot chunky salsa is a recall rather than a rebuild. Product-contact tooling strips down without tools, and a trained operator completes a full size changeover in under 15 minutes. Because the settings live in the recipe, parameters that took a shift to prove out are not rediscovered by the next operator.
Hot-Filled Salsa and Fresh Refrigerated Salsa
Hot-fill programmes lean on product temperature and acidity for stability, and the 304 stainless contact path is specified for both. Fresh refrigerated salsa leans on cold chain plus headspace control, which is where MAP earns its place. On throughput, plan production around 18 to 25 cups per minute; 30 cups per minute is the dry-cycle rate, and heavier, chunkier recipes index more slowly. If your plant also runs smooth spreads, the same platform is sold as our hummus filling machine.
Salsa Filling Equipment Price, Certification and Support
The SDH-R salsa filling equipment package starts at $45,000 USD, with typical delivery in 8 to 12 weeks. Configuration, not haggling, drives the final number, so it is worth scoping the options against the SKUs you actually sell. Most salsa producers are replacing a bench-top sealer and two pairs of hands, so the honest comparison is machine against labour, give-away and rejected seals.
What Changes the Configuration
- Filler stations: one base filler, or up to three for base, drizzle and garnish in a single pass.
- MAP nitrogen flush: the largest single lever on refrigerated shelf life.
- Lidding method: membrane only, pre-cut lid, or snap-on lid over the membrane.
- Cup tooling: one format is included; additional diameters and shapes are quoted as change parts.
Build Quality, Certification and Audit Readiness
The SDH-R is designed and built in Calgary, Alberta by Alter Pack. It is CE, FDA and UL certified, with food-grade 304 stainless steel through the product path, CIP clean-in-place and tool-free strip-down for verifiable sanitation between acidic recipes. Those are the details a retail or third-party food-safety audit asks about first, and the same details that let a small salsa brand answer a national buyer without hedging.
Warranty and Service Coverage
Every machine carries a 12-month warranty, backed by service centres in Alberta, New Jersey and California, so a North American producer is not waiting on an overseas spares container when a seal head needs attention. Installation, operator training and recipe commissioning are handled with your own salsa rather than a water test, so the machine leaves its first day of production running saleable cups. To scope a line, send us your cup format, target fill weight and shelf-life requirement and talk to an application engineer.
Certified, Food-Grade Engineering Behind Every Salsa Filling Machine
CE, FDA & UL Certified
Every SDH-R ships with CE (European conformity), FDA (US food-contact) and UL (electrical safety) documentation - the paperwork your auditor, insurer and electrical authority ask to see.
Food-Grade 304 Stainless Steel
All product-contact surfaces are food-grade 304 stainless with CIP clean-in-place and tool-free strip-down, built for HACCP and BRCGS-audited facilities.
Servo-Driven Precision
A closed-loop servo volumetric piston holds +/-0.5% fill-weight accuracy across the full 50-500 g range, protecting net-content compliance and cutting product give-away.
Made in Calgary by Alter Pack
Designed and built in Calgary, Alberta, Canada by Alter Pack, with a 12-month warranty and North American service centres in Alberta, New Jersey and California.
SDH-R Salsa Filling Machine - Full Specifications
Complete specification for the SDH-R automatic rotary cup filling, sealing and cupping machine.
| Specification | SDH-R |
|---|---|
| Throughput | Up to 30 cups per minute (dry cycle) |
| Real-world output | 18-25 cups/min depending on product, cup size & options |
| Fill range | 50 g - 500 g (2 oz - 17 oz) |
| Fill-weight accuracy | +/-0.5% (servo-driven volumetric piston) |
| Standard cup sizes | 4 oz, 8 oz, 10 oz, 16 oz |
| Custom cup sizes | 2 oz - 32 oz with matching tooling |
| Cup shapes | Round, square, rectangular |
| Sealing | Roll-film membrane heat seal (tamper-evident) |
| Lidding options | Pre-cut lid | snap-on lid (pick-and-place) |
| Shelf-life option | MAP nitrogen flush - 7-10 days to 30-45+ days refrigerated |
| Filler stations | Up to 3 (base + drizzle + garnish in one pass) |
| Construction | Food-grade 304 stainless steel |
| Cleaning | CIP clean-in-place + tool-free strip-down |
| Controls | PLC + HMI with recipe storage & diagnostics |
| Changeover | Under ~15 minutes between SKUs |
| Certifications | CE, FDA, UL |
| Footprint | 44 x 52 in (1,100.5 x 1,315.5 mm) |
| Height | 65.6 in |
| Origin | Made in Calgary, Alberta, Canada by Alter Pack |
| Warranty | 12 months |
| Delivery | 8-12 weeks from order confirmation |
| Starting price | From $45,000 USD |
The SDH-R Salsa Filling Machine
Products It Fills
Available In These Markets
How the SDH-R Fills & Seals Salsa
Fully automatic from empty cup to sealed, retail-ready product - no manual labour
Cup Denesting
Empty cups are automatically separated from a nested stack and placed into the rotary table carriers. The pneumatic denester handles round, square, and rectangular cups from 2oz to 32oz.
Servo-Driven Filling
The volumetric piston filler draws a precise dose and dispenses it into the cup. Servo control adjusts stroke length and speed per recipe, maintaining plus/minus 0.5% fill-weight accuracy. The PLC stores recipes for quick changeovers.
Membrane Heat Sealing
Roll-stock film is drawn across the filled cup and heat-sealed to create a tamper-evident, airtight membrane. Sealing temperature, pressure, and dwell time are individually controlled to match your film and cup materials.
Snap-On Lid (Optional)
A pick-and-place mechanism applies a consumer-friendly snap-on lid over the membrane seal - a two-barrier system providing tamper evidence and reclosability for grocery retail and foodservice.
MAP Nitrogen Flush (Optional)
Modified Atmosphere Packaging replaces headspace oxygen with food-grade nitrogen immediately before sealing, typically extending refrigerated shelf life from 7-10 days to 30-45+ days.
Salsa Filling Machine - Frequently Asked Questions
The SDH-R starts at $45,000 USD. The final price depends on configuration: how many filler stations you need, whether you add MAP nitrogen flush, which lidding method you choose and how many cup formats you tool for. Delivery normally runs 8 to 12 weeks, and every machine includes a 12-month warranty and CE, FDA and UL certification.
Up to 30 cups per minute on a dry cycle. In real production, plan on 18 to 25 cups per minute: chunky pico de gallo indexes more slowly than smooth restaurant-style salsa, and larger cups take longer to fill. Throughput is governed by product rheology, fill weight and cup size rather than by the servo drive itself.
Yes. That is the reason for the large-bore valving and the servo-driven volumetric piston. Diced tomato, onion, corn, black bean and jalapeño pass through whole instead of being sheared by a pump or auger, and the piston still holds fill-weight accuracy to within ±0.5% across a 50g to 500g range.
Fresh refrigerated salsa typically runs roughly seven to ten days. Adding the optional MAP nitrogen flush displaces headspace oxygen immediately before sealing and commonly extends that to 30 to 45 days or more, depending on your recipe, pH, cold chain and film. Hot-filled acidified salsa follows your own validated process instead.
The product path is food-grade 304 stainless steel with CIP clean-in-place and tool-free strip-down, so hopper, piston and valve come apart for inspection without hand tools. That matters with acidic, pigmented salsa, where tomato skins and chilli oils otherwise hide in threads. A wash and recipe changeover fit inside the same 15-minute window.
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