Industrial size reduction equipment is crucial in the food industry, offering the precision needed to slice, dice, cut, granulate, and shred various food products.
This equipment ensures ingredients are consistently shaped and sized, enhancing uniformity and improving the efficiency of subsequent processing stages. Industry-leading equipment enables vegetable processors to produce popular cuts found in supermarkets and enjoyed in restaurant and fast-food meals.
Ready-to-Eat Vegetables and Fruit
Pre-cut vegetables and fruits have surged in popularity due to their convenience. These products simplify home cooking and meal prep, making it easier for consumers to maintain a healthy diet. A wide variety of pre-cut options are available, and consumers are willing to pay a premium for the convenience they offer.
Popular cuts are used in various vegetable products, such as salad mixes, coleslaw, stir-fry blends, soup mixes, oven-ready vegetable combinations, and vegetable noodles. Similarly, the demand for convenience extends to fruits, with options like fruit salad mixes, pre-cut melons, sliced pineapple, bananas, papaya, and apples becoming increasingly sought after.
Innovative Cutting Solutions
Both fresh and frozen vegetable processors are capturing this growing market with innovative cuts that integrate easily into meal kits.
For example, zucchinis and squash can be sliced into long, noodle-like strips, while beets and carrots can be shaped into playful bowties instead of conventional straight cuts. The best size reduction equipment delivers clean, precise cuts that minimise moisture release and extend the shelf life of products.
Additionally, this equipment helps processors increase their yields by repurposing previously discarded vegetable waste to create products such as juice or potato hash browns.
Understanding Produce Characteristics
Choosing the right equipment for vegetable and fruit processing hinges on understanding the characteristics of the produce. Some ingredients, like those with higher density or structural fragility, are best processed using belt-fed systems where cutting is synchronised with belt speed — ideal for slicing leafy vegetables. Others, which are less delicate, may be more suited to gravity feeding.
Key factors to consider include density, structural fragility, temperature, and flowability. These considerations ensure you select equipment that maximises efficiency and maintains product quality. With a solid understanding of produce characteristics, you can select the most suitable equipment for efficient and precise processing.
Urschel a global leader in size reduction
Urschel is widely recognised as a pioneer in food cutting technology, with their equipment used globally by food processors. In [insert region], Heat and Control exclusively represents Urschel, drawing on over 70 years of expertise in helping customers choose the right equipment.
If you’re interested in size reduction solutions for your fresh produce — we can arrange a free test cut of your product to identify the best Urschel machine for your production line.
Let’s review two of their most innovative solutions for fresh produce.
Slicers
Belt-Fed, Wheel Slicer: A belt-fed, wheel slicer delivers produce onto two high-speed feed belts that form a ‘V’-shaped trough. These belts are synchronised with a rotating slicing wheel to ensure consistent advancement of the product. Knives under tension, serving as spokes, support the wheel’s rim and are slightly twisted to create a uniform pitch from hub to rim.
The TranSlicer™ by Urschel exemplifies this type of machine, which is well-suited for slicing leafy vegetables such as romaine, iceberg, kale, radicchio, cabbage, spinach, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, honeydew, cantaloupe, and leek. Knife pitch helps pull the product through the wheel, ensuring precise slice thickness without crushing.
Slices are released into a sloped discharge chute to reduce speed before exiting the machine.
This slicer handles firm and leafy products up to certain diameters, ideal for elongated items that benefit from proper orientation, minimising waste. For example, slicing carrots into 4.8 mm flat slices can achieve capacities of 4,500 to 5,500 kg per hour, while cucumbers at the same thickness can reach 3,600 to 4,500 kg per hour.
Comminution Mincer/Slicer: In this type of slicer, produce is guided to a high-speed, rotating impeller within the cutting head. The impeller’s centrifugal force propels the produce outward past the cutting edges of a stationary reduction head.
These machines are used for dry, paste, and liquid size reduction applications, including purees for fruit juices and fruits and vegetables for baby food or soups. The Comitrol™ by Urschel is a great example of equipment suited for such applications.
For more information get in touch via info@heatandcontrol.com or www.heatandcontrol.com