brüel International Successfully Installs Purpose-Designed, Automated Washing Plant
29 March 2007 10:59
brüel international, the Danish-based worldwide leader in washing technologies for the food and box pool industries, has successfully completed the installation of a purpose-designed, automated washing plant for the one of the largest apple-growing cooperatives in Italy.
The Juval co-operative has 283 members who together grow nearly 45,000t of apples every year for consumption across Europe. Prior to packing the apples are stored in large plastic (1120mm x 1120mm x 760mm) fruit containers, and, as a result of constantly increasing demands for quality and hygiene and new EU legislation (EU VO 852/2004), which came into effect last year, Juval took the decision to invest in a state-of-the-art fully-automated container-washing system.
Due to the heavy soiling of the fruit containers, particularly with sand and mould, the project presented brüel with real technical challenges in achieving a demanding washing performance specification. However, as a result of the success of the Juval project, brüel has already secured further orders for similar equipment and believes that this type of container washing solution will also be of interest to producers of vegetables and other types of fruit world-wide.
FULLY-AUTOMATED CONTAINER-WASHING SYSTEM
The new washer system has a capacity of 85 containers per hour and includes an 180° tipping device on the in-feed to the system, ensuring that the containers are fully emptied of any debris before they enter the washer. The washer also incorporates brüel's screw filtration system and a specially-designed rotary, moveable spray system with a jet operating pressure of 11bar to 12bar, to ensure all contaminants are removed.
As a quality-conscious producer, Juval is a member of the VIP and VOG associations. VIP is the association of fruit and vegetable co-operative societies in the area of Val Venosta, 20km south of the Austro-Italian border. With more than 2,000 sunshine hours a year, the valley is an outstanding area for the production of apples and the association consists of ten co-operatives with almost 2,000 individual producers. VOG is the biggest marketing organisation for apples in Europe. It is an association of 26 fruit co-operatives in South Tyrol.
A project team from VIP, VOG and brüel worked closely together to develop the optimum solution, and Juval is delighted with the washing results. "The cleanliness of the containers as well as the economic efficiency of the machine has fully met, if not exceeded, our expectations. Thanks to our cooperation with brüel, we have achieved a competitive advantage over our competitors in the market," said Juval's chairman, Luis Alber, and director, Peter Stricker, in a joint statement.
CUSTOMISED WASHING PLANTS
Nearly all fresh produce, food and beverage companies rely heavily on reusable plastic containers and these can be a big potential weakness in the food hygiene chain. brüel's technologists have studied the crate washing process for more than 20 years, and have installed washing plants in more than 700 food and beverage factories and box pool operations worldwide offering individually tailored solutions.
Very often, crates in use collect a complex combination of soiling and contamination which may include dust, fats, proteins, albumen, a variety of unwanted micro-organisms, traffic film and much more. Labels may also be present which require removal.
For more information on this company:
bruel - Crate Washers, Tray Washers, Basket Washers and Handling Equipment
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