Pre-prepared fruits and vegetables, an alternative of future

1.     What is the meaning of "Pre-prepared fruits and vegetables"? 

It is meant by "Pre-prepared fruits and vegetables" or “4th range” as the processing of fresh vegetables and fruits, cut and packaged for consumption. The product maintains its fresh natural properties, but with the difference that is already washed, sliced and packaged. It has an expiration date around 7-10 days. After this expiration date is not recommended for consumption. Vegetable are packaged in trays or special bags, after a rigorous studies of quality and selection. It is characterized by packing a peculiar way. Mix in the same package different types of vegetables or select them in a practical way for convenient consumer use.

The most frequently used product in "4th range" are:

-Lettuce,

-Carrot.

-Spinach.

-Fruit,

-Celery

-Leek

-Orange

-Apple

There is a growing need for processed products "4th range" in the market, in fact the study of good packaging design has emerged. So far it has used the traditional format of fresh produce packaging, but more specific containers that can combine multiple items into a single bin, bag or foodtainer without mixing flavors are demanded.

The most commonly used packages are:

-Bags.

-Foodtainers..

-Trays.

Bags are the packaging of greater acceptance for its low cost and presentation, because brings freshness sensation to the product. There is an increasingly interest in small vegetables, called mini vegetables, for its special attraction as its intense flavor. This type of vegetables are adapted to greenhouse conditions and it is obtained the same good qualities from them, which make them ideal as vegetables for "4th range". Among these vegetables we have baby spinach, small celeries, baby carrots, baby lettuces, etc ... According to domestic supply, the consumer is familiarizing little by little, although its presence in home refrigerators is slightly reduced.

"Fourth range" is booming but it came to Spain from the hand of Navarre group Vega Mayor pioneer in the marketing of these products, but needs consolidated, therefore, has taken an important step to fifth range products, already cooked. short expiry date and marketed refrigerated. This system "fifth range" works with fresh vegetables, but subjecting their products to a baking process and packing without dyes, damaged substance or preservatives, so that the expiration date is extended to two or three months.

The primary key of "4th range" is the quality of the raw material, second in not break the cold chain and finally consider the expiry date of the product.

Standard facilities of "4th range" for the development of its products comprise an area of approximately 6,500 m2 intended for reception of raw material, another area for semi-manual selection of the product and a third zone for washing, chopping, blending and packaging of the product. It always works with a cold chain from 1 to 4 ° C.

There are many companies that dedicate their products to "4th range". One of them is Verdifresh, very recent company in Spain has barely a year old. Its main product is the iceberg lettuce with other vegetables such as carrots, salad four seasons, parsley, onion strips, spinach. Its products are highly demanded by Mercadona. Another company in Spain is Primaflor where their products in raw material is spread over the area of Granada and Almeria with growing surface around 2000 ha. The most processed products in this company are:

1-Iceberg lettuce.

2-Sprouts.

3-Cherry tomato.

4-Watermelon.

5.-Radish.

6-Asparagus.

7-Onion.

8-Garlic.

9-Celery.

Products "fourth range" must receive a series of processes from collection in the field to reach the consumer.

These processes include:

a) harvesting of the raw material.

b) Selection and cleaned c) processing.

d) Packaging trays, bags and foodtainers.

e) Labeling.

f) Storage at low temperatures.

g) Sale and distribution.

The vegetables are harvested once it reaches its optimum maturity or collected with the degree of maturity required by the manufacturer. Once the vegetables are harvested, they are pre-cooled to not lose its quality. The cleaning phase is performed with chlorinated water to decrease microbial attack. Subsequently cut with a specialized machinery and packaged in different containers either plastic bag or trays in modified atmosphere with a gas mixture which consist of decreasing oxygen concentration in the air and increase the concentration of another gas. Finally the container is maintained at a temperature of cooling to prevent the growth of microorganisms.

2. HARVEST OF RAW MATERIAL.

The raw material is harvested when the optimal conditions are reached maturity. Collection and selection of the raw material is very important to obtain an attractive and high quality product for distribution in the market. To obtain high quality products is required to grow more specific varieties with few controls and certain growing conditions.

The collection can be mechanical or manual. In both cases, care must be taken to not to damage the product during the process.

When the collection is mechanical, varieties planted must be resistant to this type of gathering that brings major injury problems of the fruit or vegetable with rupture of the surface and therefore, incorporation of foreign objects such as stones, remains of other plants, etc. Another problem is that mechanical harvesting is collected without selecting the type of maturity of the product, so many of them are not suitable for processing in "4th range".

3. SELECTION AND CLEANED.

The handling of the product must be done in a careful manner to avoid possible damage and once made the collection, another point to consider is transportation, which must be done quickly in order to avoid becoming contaminated. For the cleaning process perfect condition and hygiene of the utensils as well as the condition of cleaned machinery is required.

In selecting the products are deposited in cylindrical tapes they move and rotate, so they separate from each other depending on the size of each one through grooves of different sizes on which they fall.

Product dirty such with ground, moulds, bacteria... are removed by the washing process. Products such as lettuce and spinach require special designs for washing. For vegetables like carrots, leek, etc washing is carried out by rotating cylindrical tunnel formed by metal plates or mesh.

Washing and disinfecting products "4th range" is performed with cold water at a temperature of 3-4 ° C. It is recommended to use about 8-10 liters of water per kg of product processed. The water used should be checked periodically to know if it is suitable or not, therefore, plants water facilities are reviewed for possible deterioration. For disinfection sodium hypochlorite is used at a concentration of 100 to 150 ppm.

During the drying process product "4th range", produced excess moisture is removed by washing to avoid the appearance of microorganisms that usually appear when the products have not undergone proper drying. If we subject the product to a drying too quickly you could also damage the material to be dried, so it must be done in a controlled manner.

4. PROCESSING.

The cut of the product to fourth range is very important, often performed in various ways depending on the product. It is usually cut in cubes, slices, segments, strips, etc. The cut should be done quickly and in one fell swoop and avoiding the hit of the material as it would cause product damage and left with a bad presentation. The fourth range cutting machine is capable of cutting a figure of 12 tons per hour with good precision cutting, so it is capable of high technology.

5. PACKAGING PRODUCTS "FOURTH GRADE".

The sale of these products "convenience" is necessarily done in containers such as bags, trays covered with plastic film and tubs. It is packaged in modified atmosphere with gas mixture decreases the concentration of oxygen in the air and increasing the concentration of another gas. The modified atmosphere packaging of fresh and minimally processed (EAM) provides sufficient concentration of O and CO in the container in order to be progressively reduced respiration rate products without actually induce damages. Subsequently the packaging temperature is decreased to increase the life of fresh processed product.

6. LABELLING.

The labeling is printed in bags, in containers or rigid plastic trays. The label announced that the product should be kept cold, label also incorporates therein a small reading reports about the ingredients making up the package.

7. STORAGE AT LOW TEMPERATURES.

The cooling products "4th range" is based on the use of controlled atmosphere that regulates environmental conditions, adapting to the temperature required in each product. Usually a refrigeration temperature of 2 to 5 ° C is required. Refrigeration is a technology allowing us to achieve optimum temperature to prolong the lifetime of a product. During storage at low temperatures of products "4th range", the temperature is reduced to decrease the enzyme activity and microbial growth.

8. DISTRIBUTION AND SALE.

The growth of these companies is increasingly noticeable so many of them require the expand facilities and incorporate machinery with latest technologies. To do this, increase the cold surface to keep products, and innovate their cutting machinery equipment with high capacity and speed in order to reach several tons in the shortest time possible, as well as the four joint teams packaging, weighing and labeling.

The transport of products "4th range" has an important role, since it allows quickly their distribution throughout the Spanish geography, and other foreign countries like UK, France (importers). The distribution requires greater product freshness demand of consumers are willing to pay a price for a good quality.

More information:

www.infoagro.com