Washing, removing soil, stones, and foreign bodies such as metal, wood, or plastics from potatoes significantly boost food safety, however it is not only washing but also optical sorting and checking, that prevents impurities from contaminating the product.

It is important for any equipment that can separate crop from the soil, stones, and debris, to be designed to handle the cultivars gently, to ensure product quality. By using advanced and automated equipment, these processes can be carried out much quicker and more effectively than before, ensuring the process is efficient and productive, while maintaining the integrity, and ultimately the value of the crop.

Joost Posthumius, sales manager at Allround Vegetable Processing, exclusively talked with www.potatobusiness.com editors about his company’s solutions

Knowing that your company’s experts are continuously developing new, sustainable technologies for these processes, can you tell us what are your most advanced standalone and turnkey solutions for this “Pre-cleaning, Washing, Destoning” triad?

One of our turnkey solutions for washing and destoning is the PD washing machine. In front of the PD there is an integrated destoner, which cleans your produce of clods and stones. This combination is perfect because there aren’t any stones or clods in the PD, the PD is far more efficient. Also, the PD is equipped with a stainless steel drum that won’t rust.

For pre-soaking, you can use our wet hopper. The wet hopper is used in the same way as a normal hopper but has the ability to pre-clean produce. The product falls in the water, where the sticky soil makes it heavier. With air coming from the bottom of the machine, bubbles are created which has a cleaning effect. Because of the reduced weight, the product comes up and is taken out by a web belt.

Destoning can be done with our destoners. The destoners are designed to remove dirt and stones from the processing line. When you place a destoner in front of a washing machine it creates an even better cleaning result. Our AIPL (Allround integrated processing line) is our turnkey solution for pre-cleaning, washing, and destoning. With these lines, you can process multiple products. Our AIPL’s are easily extendable and can be adjusted to particular needs. In the AIPL’s you are capable of receiving, grading, washing, polishing, cleaning, inspecting, and weighing. With the AIPL’s you can have every process of the product be integrated into one processing line.

How does your equipment minimize product waste and reduce bruising and damage?

Our machines are customized to the kind of produce it has to process. Carrots for instance are not very vulnerable and they can work with ‘rougher’ machines than onions. We also make sure that in our processing lines drop heights are reduced to a minimum, so the drop won’t damage the product. Our equipment minimizes product waste by handling the product very carefully.

What are some of the most common demands you get from clients regarding capacities, speed, and accuracy?

The most common demands from clients are onion, potato, and carrot lines with a capacity range from 10 to 50 tons per hour. We rarely get any special demands regarding the speed of the machines. Our machines have to be capable to do the requested amount of tons per hour. The demand we get regarding accuracy often lays between 90 and 98%. This depends on the capacity of the processing line.

Why should we consider pre-cleaning so important?

Pre-cleaning is important because when you pre-clean your produce it will be ready for packaging or the next processing steps like cutting, peeling, etc. When you pre-clean produce most dirt will be washed off. When you pre-clean before the washing machine, the washing machine is capable to wash the produce better. This results in perfectly washed produce, which will look better in the stores. For a finishing touch, you can also use our polisher.

Automation and reduced labor requirements are other two important aspects. How do you incorporate the newer technologies into your equipment?

We’ve made lines that are almost completely automatic. With these machines, the labor requirements are reduced to a minimum. For example, we have the box stacker, which can stack boxes automatically up to three boxes in height. The boxes are then transported to a place where a forklift can take them away. By using the box stacker you provide a logistic advantage by reducing forklift movements. Another example is our storage hopper. By storing product in a storage hopper instead of boxes, you can dramatically reduce your forklift movements.

How do you see the future advancements of these types of equipment and the market demand for them?

With more and more advancements and bigger companies investing in the farming industry there will be a bright future I think. Our technology makes sure that farmers, retailers, and investors can handle more produce. The demand for bigger and faster vegetable processing lines will go up. Vegetable processing machines will have to be bigger and faster to supply that demand.