Potato Products

Potatoes and potato products are a worldwide commodity with a relatively small number of major international food companies processing the potato into a number of finished products.
The United Nations FAO reports that the world production of potatoes in 2008 was 314 million tonne. The annual diet of an average global citizen in the first decade of the 21st century included about 33 kg (or 73 lb) of potato. However, the local importance of potato is extremely variable and rapidly changing. It remains an essential crop in Europe (especially eastern and central Europe); where per capita production is still the highest in the world, but the most rapid expansion over the past few decades has occurred in southern and eastern Asia. China is now the world's largest potato-producing country, and nearly a third of the world's potatoes are harvested in China and India. The geographic shift of potato production has been away from wealthier countries toward lower-income areas of the world, although the degree of this trend is ambiguous.

A potato product production line consists of machinery for the receipt, washing and peeling of raw potatoes, as well as for the slicing, sorting, blanching, frying, cooling and packaging. In addition, a production line also contains equipment for transportation between operations, water and sewage management, supporting structures, service platforms and the processing of waste.

Many types of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms exist on fresh, minimally processed, and fully processed potato products. Potatoes are processed into many products including frozen, dried, ready-to-eat, and minimally processed. The microbiological quality of finished potato products is influenced by the natural microflora, processing, handling, and human contact. The natural microflora of potatoes is influenced by soil and airborne inocula, agricultural practices, harvesting methods, and storage conditions.

Cleaning in a potato processing plant involves the removal of debris from large equipment and areas. Typically medium pressure washdown systems are used for foam application and rinsing. Soils vary dependant on the process and include starch and mineral deposits in the early stages of processing and carbonised and polymerised oils at and after the frying process.
Holchem have a range of caustic based products for foam and boil out cleaning specifically designed for the removal of polymerised sunflower oils.