Lutosa frozen French fries and cut products facility
The workshop described below is one of the most modern and efficient of its type in the world, distinguished by its rigorous hygiene standards and extremely high level of automation.
Reception of raw material - Control - Sorting - Washing - Stone removal
Upon arrival, the potatoes go first to the agronomy department for inspection. From there they go to the sorting centre, where they are calibrated and sorted into the required quality and size for each specific type of product (fries, flakes, specialities). Lastly they are thoroughly rinsed with water and any stones present are removed.
1) Peeling - Washing - 1st laser optical sorting
The potatoes are steam peeled (the peeler lifts the skin from the potato, which is then removed with a brush), before being washed in water. The discarded potato skins are used for livestock feed. The next phase is optical laser sorting, which consists of inspecting the peeled potatoes to remove any with subcutaneous defects or any foreign bodies such as pieces of wood, potato tops, etc. An optical sorter equipped with cameras, backed by a laser system, does this automatically. Damaged potatoes and/or suspect objects are expelled using compressed air.
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- Cutting and calibrating
- 2nd optical sorting
- Blanching
- Drying and homogenisation
- Cooking and fat removal
- Cooling and freezing
- 3rd optical inspection and final calibration
2) Cutting - Calibrating
The potatoes are either cut into shape for fries using canon cutters (powerful pumps that force the potatoes at high speed through a grille in which the mesh size can be varied in line with the required thickness) or sliced or diced using rotating cutters (for Sauté Potatoes, Rissole Potatoes, etc.). After this they are calibrated by thickness and length: fries of the incorrect thickness or length are removed.
3) 2nd optical sorting
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- 2nd optical sorting of French fries
The fries and the sliced or diced potatoes are inspected by cameras that can trigger the removal of any product with suspicious blemishes (black spots). The faulty product is immediately ejected using compressed air.
4) Blanching
Blanching is carried out under a stream of hot water injected with steam in order to:
- Deactivate the enzymes;
- Modify the structure by partially gelling the starch;
- Standardise the colour by extracting the reducing sugars.
5) Drying - Homogenisation
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- Homogenisation
The potatoes are then dried in a flow of hot dry air in order to limit fat absorption and make the product crispier. The subsequent rest period is designed to homogenise consistency and remove the remaining moisture from the product.
6) Coating - Flavouring
This phase is optional: the cut potatoes are immersed in a solution of spiced or unspiced starch to produce items like Spicy Wedges or coated French fries.
7) Cooking - Fat removal
The fries are cooked in vegetable oil - non-hydrogenated and GMO-free - for between 60 and 90 seconds at a temperature of 160-170°C; the fat is then removed using hot air or hot water.
8) Cooling - Freezing
The fries go through successive cooling tunnels to bring them to a temperature of 0°C. They then go through a freezer tunnel at-40°C to cool them to a temperature of -18°C.
9) 3rd optical laser inspection - Final calibration - Weighing
Before being packaged, the product is checked and calibrated one last time to ensure that it conforms to specifications. It is then weighed prior to packaging.
10) Packaging
- Weighing the chips
Packaging is fully automated.
Each of the packing lines is equipped with:
- A built-in scale.
- An automatic bagging machine.
- A metal detector.
- A device for detecting poorly sealed bags.
- An automatic boxing system.
- A weight checker (bags and boxes).
- An High Definition inkjet marker.
Each line is capable of packing the whole range of weights (from 400 g to 5 kg). The fries are packaged into polyethylene bags and automatically placed in recyclable cardboard boxes.
11) Palletisation - Hooping - Labelling
The pallets are then formed, hooped and labelled, so that they can be traced automatically by scanning the individual bar code on each pallet.
12) Storage of finished products
The pallets of finished products are kept in cold stores at a temperature of -20°C.
