Fevita Hungary is one of the country’s largest frozen food producers and a global exporter, with 200 employees processing more than 32,000tn of vegetables every year.
Established in 1967, the company has a 22% market share domestically and has built a network of customers across 20 markets including Germany, Israel, and Japan.
Fevita’s high-profile customers include international supermarket chains Lidl, Aldi, and Tesco, as well as Hungarian retailers Spar, Co-op, and CBA. The company is expanding into more markets every year, so it is becoming increasingly important that its products meet strict food safety and quality standards.
Fevita prides itself on high-quality and locally sourced produce, continuously improving its processing and dedication to customer satisfaction.
Peeling solution at full capacity
Project engineer at Fevita Hungary Peter Hegyi says: “We have been processing high-quality vegetables and fruits for 50 years and have firmly established ourselves as a leading brand.
“It’s very important for our business that we efficiently process the fresh produce arriving onto our production line, such as sweetcorn, peas, beans, carrots, parsnips and potatoes. Processing could mean anything from analysing and removing defects to peeling, cleaning and dicing.
“Our ambition is to become a global exporter to hundreds of markets and to do that we knew we needed to increase our capacity. The processing line was running smoothly but had reached its full capacity just as we saw rising demand for carrots and many of our other products.
“To achieve our objectives, we looked for a long-term investment with a partner organization that could provide us with a modern and reliable sorting solution, which all led us to TOMRA Sorting Food.”
Developing the correct solution with a trusted partner
Fevita’s previous peeling machine processed 8tn of produce an hour. However, approximately 20% of this was being discarded as waste.
Hegyi continues: “We already owned two of TOMRA’s optical sorting machines elsewhere in our production line and we hoped the company could provide us with more efficient peeling technology.
“We worked closely with the people at TOMRA to design the correct solution for our business, enabling us to produce an improved and more consistent product for our customers.”
The team from TOMRA partnered with Fevita to understand the safety, quality, and performance requirements for their process. The Odyssey steam peeling solution that was developed provided the customer with a fully-enclosed unit with shorter processing time and faster peeling, as well as a single-touch panel to easily control the line. This solution has enabled the processing line to increase capacity to 8tn an hour to 12tn an hour, performing more efficiently and improving the quality of the finished product.
Better for business and the environment
The trusted solution that Fevita has now installed has brought other benefits such as reducing water usage.
Hegyi adds: “We are the first company in Hungary to own the advanced Odyssey steam peeling technology, making us more ‘green’ as a business and helping us stand out from our
competitors.”
Fevita’s partnership with TOMRA has also seen the company receive high-quality customer care, including training for its technical staff and access to TOMRA Care which provides 24-hour customer service and troubleshooting.
Hegyi concludes: “We have been in contact with TOMRA’s engineers, who help us with best practice, spare parts and problem solving. There has always been a high-quality and reliable service from very helpful staff.
“We are absolutely satisfied with the new equipment and the assistance from TOMRA’s team. This technology will provide real value for the future of our company, allowing us to grow and compete in a global market on a scale that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”
