Vegetables
Vegetable processing is a major industry in many regions of the world. Converting the harvest into a more valuable commodity is key to economic development. Volta’s expertise and competence covers all aspect of vegetable processing;
- Field harvesters
- Intake belts
- Perforated washing elevators
- Finished fresh cut, cooked, or frozen package lines
We have product handling hot tomatoes, pickled vegetables and chips or French fries out of the oven. Many plants process in short seasons. Breakdowns and the ensuing maintenance can be avoided by choosing Volta.
Cut mixed vegetables
Consumers are demanding that advanced preparatory work on food be done in factories. Vegetables are not just washed and cut but often mixed into ready to eat salads or packed as assortments for recipes. Belts used for this process must handle raw materials with different shapes, chemical content, stickiness, and rates of deterioration. The elevators in this factory were difficult to clean. Flights were tearing off, thereby reducing the throughput, exposing fabric on the belt edges and inside the flights where vegetable juices and water was absorbed. Our replacement belts are easy to clean, impervious to vegetable juices and bi-products and the cleats with NO Fabric, will not detach or absorb juices ensuring long, hygienic service.
Perforated drainage belts
Washing operations for vegetable processing plants begin with intake belts washing off field soil and continue with washing/rinsing prior to and after peeling. The baths in which these washes and rinses are processed cannot prevent the exchange of the water after each loading. Subsequently, batches are exposed to some pre-used water. Not until the final stages is there more care taken in cleansing the fruit. It is essential to the later stages that the first washes are as free as possible from pathogenic contamination and that the belts do not retain more than a bare minimum of this bacterial condition. Volta homogeneous belts can be perforated with custom-made designs. The belts are strong and offer good drainage and the perforation edges are clean and do not absorb contamination.
Tomato processing
A common breakdown of the plastics used in conveyor belts is derived from the damage caused by chemical exposure. Typically, this chemical exposure comes from cleaning operations used by the plant. There is a group of food products that contain naturally corrosive acids. Traces of this acid leach out during processing or are added in pickled solutions. Conventional belts are attacked and quickly develop micro-fissures which in turn harbor pathogens which weakens the belt causing breakdowns. Volta has developed a line of materials that resists this degradation making our processing line belts the top performing belt in vegetable handling, especially where cooking and pulping is involved. The tomato processing industry is a huge industry which is based on seasonal work where belt failures during production is costly and not tolerated.
Potato processing solutions
The fourth most important food crop worldwide is potatoes. 60% of the processing is handled in the most industrialized countries. Similar processes are used in different climates for other root crops such as cassava and yams, but the potato is cultivated on every continent. Corporate owned potato processing relies on extremely high throughput. Crop varieties and standardized processes for mass-production have been developed. This uniformity must still cope with varying levels of sugars and starches while addressing consumer concerns about the use of healthy oils. Corporations, having a heightened duty of care to the public, cannot compromise on hygiene and Volta provides a new standard of efficiency and accountability.
