When National Frozen Foods Corp., a national processor of frozen vegetables since 1912 that processes more than 400 million lbs. of product annually, was looking to meet higher compliance standards while increasing the speed of packaging, they found a solution in a tubular conveyor system capable of providing an extremely reliable conveyance, automated cleaning of the system without having to take it apart, according to Mark Koreis, superintendent processing/packaging, at the Moses Lake, Wash., plant.
The plant previously conveyed frozen peas, corn, lima beans, diced carrots and legumes using a pneumatic conveyor to move product to bulk packaging areas, Koreis says. But this was less than ideal for their application. “Our previous pneumatic conveyor system generated a lot of heat, which is not good for frozen product, so we had to inject cool air into the system,” he says. “Also, sanitation of the system presented challenges.”