Conveying and blending solutions for fresh produce

Health trends have led to a resurgence of the back-to-basics eating approach and for those in the business of fresh produce, it’s good news. Demand for fresh produce is being driven by a range of factors and industry research shows millennials and Gen Z’s are now opting for ‘healthier eating choices’ over supplements.

For this category of consumers — health is defined by fresh produce — and they spend a greater portion of their grocery dollars on it than older generations. But with their greater purchasing power, also comes greater expectations. These purchasers expect their produce to be fresh and high-quality, and that it will be made available in interesting, convenient and sustainable formats.    

In the coming years, the global fresh fruits and vegetable market is expected to experience healthy growth. Choosing the right equipment — and the right process — for your unique fresh produce application will be critical to achieving success, and profitability.

If you have a new fresh produce project, or are interested in optimising your existing production process, working with an industry expert is the quickest and easiest way to gain access to years of food industry experience, and market leading solutions.

The best equipment solutions for fresh produce, fruits, vegetables and salad will be gentle, smart and dependable. Heat and Control offers a range of fresh produce equipment solutions that can manage challenges such as contamination, product flow, environmental conditions, delicate handling, accuracy, high volume and changes in product format and size.

Conveying solutions

The FastBack® range of horizontal motion conveyors are the industry benchmark for conveying fragile fresh produce such as cauliflower or broccoli. FastBack conveyors are unique in their ability to virtually eliminate product breakage by gently sliding the product along the pan, instead of bouncing it.

The FastBack brand is famous for its patented ability to gently transport products by cycling through a slow-forward and fast-back horizontal motion, which neither damages the product nor disturbs the coatings. This is ideal for ‘hard-to-handle’ applications such as fresh produce, and these conveyors also provide the industry’s fastest product travel rates, while maximising product distribution efficiency.

The FastBack G3 series is widely used by processors of other ‘hard-to-handle’ products in the food industry. These processors choose FastBack for its ability to reliably convey their hard-to-handle products while also being energy efficient, quiet and versatile, with a 5-year drive train warranty. Processors of fresh produce have the option of a 260E-G3 or 90E drive base, which will be dependent on your application, and the required pan size/type.

A key benefit of the G3 series for fresh produce applications — is the water-proof design of the drive base — that offers a higher benchmark for sanitary conveying products prone to dirt, stone, pesticides and insects. Stainless-steel drives are completely enclosed and have a fan-cooled motor package external to the drive, to protect against dust and water spray.

The Fastback Revolution® Proportional Gate 3.0 is a proportional distribution system which features unique cylindrical outlets — that rotate to divert a proportional portion of product — so the main product supply continues to flow as it allocates amounts to individual weigher/bagmaker stations.

This prevents downstream stations from being "starved" and means they don’t need to wait for product. The patented design of this system has a range of advantages which make it the premier gate in the industry — allowing it to gently divert product without a single pinch point — and significantly reducing typical product breakage during processing.

Blending systems

FastBack Blending Systems offer processors the most economical and accurate means of delivering product blends to multiple scales, in a variety of environments. Most fresh produce products behave differently when conveyed and blended, but FastBack Blending Systems give operators the ability to calibrate each component stream for a constant product stream flow.

Achieving balanced blends of fresh produce is a complex task which requires synchronisation of various technologies in your operation. This synchronisation facilitates consistent component streams, meters components with dependable accuracy, and conveys blended components without segregation, while allowing operators complete and intuitive control over the entire process.

FastBack Blending Systems weigh only the final metered product stream of each component, instead of bulky hoppers associated with loss-in-weight systems. This allows the use of high-resolution load cells for precise measurement. Hermetically sealed stainless steel load cells are tough enough for the most demanding environments and simple sanitation quick-disconnect weight trays and wipe-and-go sanitation minimises cleaning time and maximises production time.