FROZEN FRENCH FRIES PRODUCTION IN ATAKEY PATATES
The production in the plant is realized with advanced technology machines with a raw material processing capacity of approximately 30 tons per hour. 20% potato consumption of Turkey is produced in the Atakey Patates plant. Our primary goal in frozen french fries production is to preserve our products for a long time without losing their freshness with the shock method. In addition, the product is ready in a short time (3 minutes) and the most important point in all stages is to produce a product suitable for food safety accompanied by hygiene and sanitation principles.
PRODUCTION PROCESSES
PREWASH
With the prewash process, the dust, stone, soil, vegetative component, grass and foreign substances in the potato are removed.
PEEL SEPARATION AND WASHING
The potato comes to the peel separation section after the steam peeler in the closed system with the help of an elevator after the steam peeler. Remaining peel residues in the potato are removed with the help of water with the help of a rotary system. The free shell and free starch remaining on the tuber surface are removed with water nozzles. After going through the washing process 2 times, removing the defect in the tubers separated from the peel passes to the selection/pruning process.
SIZING
The tubers that have been sorted are sized according to the diameters without being sent to the cutting process and sent to the cutting line.
SIZING AND SLIVER REMOVING
In this section, very small and very thin pieces (splinter/sliver) is separated after the potato is cut. In the sizing section, slices that are sieved in 3 stages in sieve diameters are removed as waste. In splinter separation, parts that are thinner than half of a potato sized to four pieces of the same size from the cylinders with a certain distance between them are qualified as splinter and the amount that should be in the product is adjusted here.
BLANCHING
The purpose of blanching is to prevent oxidation in the product by providing enzyme inactivation, to improve its color by adjusting the sugar ratio in the product, to reduce the fat absorption rate by creating a thin layer on the surface, to reduce the time of cooking and frying the product and to give a good structure to the final product.
EQUILIBRIUM BELT
It is the process that loses a certain amount of moisture in drying and is recognized for equal and balanced distribution of moisture in its structure. During this time, the internal moisture spreads out and the product is balanced so that the the product is less likely to swell in fryer.
FRYER
The potatoes are fried by passing through heated oil in a short time with the help of band. The temperature of the frying oil is usually between 170-180°C. The specified temperature is the temperature range in which the product will not be caramelized but will receive min. oil. The aim is to gain the desired inner and outer texture properties by increasing the dry matter, to provide the desired frying color and to reduce the cooking time, and to give the oil extra taste/flavor to the final product.
INDIVIDUAL QUICK FREEZING (IQF)
IQF (Individual Quick Freezing) is an advanced system and application in frozen food technology. With this method, food products are frozen one by one in a very short time at -40°C. This process is carried out by freezing the water in the products and thus ensuring that the food products have a long life without additives. In order to prevent the loss of nutrients during application, the nutrients should be realized without cracking the cell membrane. This requires nutrients to transition to -5°C heat very quickly. With shocking, the activity of all microorganisms and enzymes slows down and stops. Freezing is a very natural form of storage, the only difference of this method from a household freezer is that it can shock the product temperature down to -42°C. Since the freezing process takes place slowly in household freezers, it causes nutritional loss in products by cracking the cell membrane of foods. Deep freezing is a method that does not contain any additives. Since they are shocked and frozen at -40°C with the IQF method and stored at -18°C, it is not possible for the microorganisms that cause decay in frozen foods to reproduce and as a result, the products to deteriorate and their nutritional values to be lost. It is important that there is no risk to human health and that the loss in color and nutritional value is minimal, as we can store the product in its original form by causing the least change in appearance and texture.
STEAM PEELING
In the peeling process, very high pressure steam is applied to the potato and the peel is separated from the potato by softening the peel. The high steam pressure causes the water of the surface tissue of the potato to decompose and cook, thus softening and separating from the tissue under the shell. After steam treatment, the pressure in the steampees is quickly removed. The purpose is to effectively peel the potatoes with minimal peel loss.
PRUNING (SELECTION)
Here, it is ensured that the parts with peel defects, damaged or diseased potatoes are removed. Some tubers are cut with the help of a blade and the visible defects in the potato are largely separated.
HYDRO CUTTING
The sized potatoes are taken to the blades with the help of pressurized water in a closed system. With the pressure of the water, the french fries of the desired size are cut with special blades. Cutting with the help of pressure is important for the surface to be smooth and to maintain its structure after cooking.
SORTING AND DEFECT REMOVING
Thanks to this equipment, the defect (shell, defect, etc.) on the sized potato surface is separated and sent to the ADR (Automatic Defect Remover) machine. It detects the defects and foreign substances defined in the Sorter machine program with its cameras, determines the time that the selected slice will pass in the band, and then reduces it to another band with the help of air nozzles and sends it to ADR. Good slices are sent to the blanching unit with the help of band. The defective potatoes are sent to ADR section again for removal of the defective parts as waste by cutting them with the help of blades after determining the duration of the defective slices times defined in the program. Good slices are sent to the blanching unit with the help of band. This unit is a special section and is located in a factory other than Atakey in Turkey.
DRYER
Potatoes are dried in certain proportions by taking free moisture with gradual hot air outlet after boiling in closed system. In other words, the moisture content is reduced and the dry matter content is increased. The aim is to provide a good external structure in the final product.
COATING
After the balancing process, it is passed through a liquid coating, which belongs only to Burger King and contains potato starch by weight, and sent to the frying process. Thanks to its BK-specific formula in the coating process, the final product retains its crunchiness for a long time after frying and gains a brighter appearance with the help of the starch in it.
DEOILING
It is the removal of surplus oil on the fingers with the help of free oil vibration.
PACKAGING
The product coming out of the freezer is packed by sizing in two stages with special sieves. The necessary information determined by the BK on the package and the data in accordance with the relevant legislation are printed with the coding device. The packaged product is automatically packaged by passing through the metal detector and weighing control.