CASE STUDY

Given the growing demand for cut, readyto-eat salads in Mexican supermarkets, a salad wholesaler recently decided to join the fresh-cut sector. The decision turned out to be a fruitful one with a new processing line now implemented and plans for further expansion underway.

Based in the Queretaro region, the wholesaler’s original processing activities only involved packaging entire heads of lettuce to be sold in supermarkets. As the demand for ready-to-eat, cut and washed salads continued to grow over the past few years, the company decided to establish its own processing department.

With the help of KRONEN’s local representatives, it has now implemented a processing line capable of processing up to 700 kg of lettuce leaves per hour.

The salad processing line covers all stages of processing, from preparation at the trimming table to cutting into strips and squares using the GS 10-2 belt cutting machine; gentle yet thorough washing in a GEWA 3800 V ECO washing machine; right through to spinning the lettuce in two KS-100 PLUS spin-dryers; as well as finally packaging the salads with the UP 350 packaging machine from the KRONEN partner GKS.

As a result of the support received by KRONEN, the company was able to begin its production activities and fulfil the multitude of orders already received before the start of production.

A further spin-dryer has already been added to the line to add spinach to the company’s product range, and the company now has plans for an expansion of its production capacities.

KRONEN www.kronen.eu