Simply entering a supermarket reveals how complex the food industry can be. Nowadays, most products don’t appear fresh as they come directly from the fields, the sea, or the farm; instead, they go through a sequence of preparation, cleaning, or preservation to make them more appealing and easily consumable.
This is what is known as food processing: techniques and manipulations that modify, to varying degrees, the natural conditions of a food item to make it more attractive.
Obviously, in the current context, there are different processing methods, as well as a wide range of machinery options used in the industry. Choosing one or the other will depend on the specific objectives sought with these types of tasks.
In the food industry, these machines that assist in the protocols of preparation and preservation of raw materials are becoming increasingly common within the production chain.
Facilities designed for cutting broccoli, devices that automatically wash potatoes, peelers… There are many options that food engineering has made available to companies, allowing them to carry out these tasks with greater efficiency, speed, and safety.
As we have mentioned, any change in the state of a vegetable or fruit can be considered as processing of that raw material. Of course, in this regard, there are different levels of intervention. Hence, the market also distinguishes between processed and ultra-processed foods, the latter requiring more intervention and deviating from the most natural consumption of products.
Processed foods, such as pre-cut broccoli or preserved cooked potatoes, for example, are useful both for the hospitality sector and for end-users at home.
Ultimately, the goal is to streamline certain steps that need to be taken in the kitchen, such as cleaning fruits and vegetables and removing inedible parts.
There are many food processors available at present, offering different results to producers. In the industry, there is also the possibility of choosing a combined food processor, which, in a single setup, offers various different tasks on a type of product: reception, preparation, washing, pre-frying, and packaging, for example.
These are the main types of processing used in the food industry today:
Cutting is perhaps the most basic type of processing. It’s so fundamental that many people don’t see it as a product manipulation process, as it’s essential in any recipe or preparation.
However, from a technical standpoint, cutting is a process done to foods to make them more easily consumable. For example, the inedible part of the broccoli stalk is removed so that only the usable part reaches supermarket shelves.
Nowadays, the agri-food sector requires very precise and specific cutting techniques to satisfy end-users and simultaneously meet Sustainable Development Goals.
In this regard, new technologies have become a key element. Aitenet’s cutting machines have vision and artificial intelligence systems to analyze the product individually and adjust the cutting depending on its size, shape, and other characteristics.
Washing is also one of the most common processing methods in the industry. It is used to remove dirt, eliminate insects, and prepare fruits or vegetables for packaging and presentation that is much more appealing to end customers.
Washing can be done on both fruits and delicate vegetables like lettuce. Current machinery allows procedures to be adapted to the nature of each vegetable to ensure that washing does not harm them.
Industrial peelers allow the removal of inedible outer parts of fruits and vegetables in large quantities in a short time. This way, they can be bagged and prepared for consumption or use in restaurants, eliminating a task that consumes time and complicates dish preparation.
There are machines designed to peel potatoes with an abrasive system or to remove the skin from onions. Generally, this is the first step in a more complex processing protocol, such as the preparation of frozen french fries or ultra-frozen chopped onions.
For the production of juices, purees, or jams, it is necessary to grind large quantities of produce. In these cases, it is best to have specialized machinery capable of removing all skins, bones, and inedible parts, leaving only the pulp or desired parts of the raw material.
Grinding is also usually part of a more complex processing scheme, which can lead to canned products, cartons, or glass jars, ready for direct consumption.
All these possibilities demonstrate that food processing is a key system in the food industry: end customers and restaurant professionals increasingly demand greater convenience when cooking, and a food processor is essential to serve them the best products, ready for use.
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