Bright future for citrus thanks to citrus wash-line

During transport or extended storage of citrus, the danger of fungus is always looming. Polishing the oranges and mandarins by hand is time-consuming, while a quick wash yields a faster and better result. Since mid-April, P. Looije Verpakkingen has had a citrus wash-line. It’s located in the Netherlands rather than in production areas (like South Africa or South America), Piet Looije explains, because the quality deteriorates as the time after harvest increases, making washing necessary.

“We use a fully automatic installation for washing citrus like oranges, limes, lemons and Minneolas,” Piet goes on to say. “By washing the citrus, further fungus damage can be prevented.” When the fruit is fed into the washing machine, it’s sorted by the client’s various requirements. Rotten citrus is immediately separated from the rest, but it’s also possible to sort by skin damage, for instance. “The fruit is misted and thoroughly washed with brushes, after which it is immediately dried. With a UV lamp, the damaged areas are located that are invisible to the naked eye,” Piet explains.

There’s still a lot of manual labour involved. In addition, there are various sizes within citrus, which means the machine’s capacity can vary a lot. Of course for limes, different figures apply than for navels. “Also, not unimportant, the workflow is automated, which doesn’t just make for quality and speed, but also better working conditions for our employees.”

“For us it’s not so much about the speed, but about quality. With the machine, the quality of the citrus improves. And the idea was that the fruit shouldn’t get more expensive with the washing machine.” Deploying a citrus wash-line profitably is a challenge. The machine at P. Looije Verpakkingen was previously used by a company that washed organic citrus with it. This niche turned out too small, however, for various reasons. “The opportunity arose, so we seized it. We can wash the fruit for multiple clients, making the machine profitable sooner.”

Another advantage of outsourcing washing of the fruit is that the fungus dust that flies up, doesn’t remain in the warehouse. The citrus wash-line was especially developed for this fruit, but Piet doesn’t rule out that other fruit will be tested in future. “For now we are focusing on citrus. That’s what the machine is for. But time will tell if we can wash other fruit with this machine as well.”

More information:
Piet Looije
P. Looije Verpakkingen B.V.
Honderdland 177
2676 LT Maasdijk
+31 (0)174 - 523 202
piet@looijeagf.nl
www.looijeagf.nl