Potato producer proves higher yields and lower energy usage with food's steam peelers by TOMRA

Lamb Weston / Meijer is an important actor in the global potato industry. Their mission ‘Wellbeing through Potatoes’ and their customer-centric business strategy gave them access to large food chains, quick service restaurants, and retailers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  

The Lamb Weston / Meijer's history started with the first harvest of potatoes from the Dutch clay soil in the 1920s, on Kees Meijer Sr's family farm.

In the 1950s, on the other side of the world, F. Gilbert 'Gib' Lamb invented the Water Gun Knife to cut fries - the first of various innovations that made them the well-known global businesses they are today. 

In 1994, these two companies merged to form Lamb Weston / Meijer. 

Lamb Weston / Meijer use a wide range of potato varieties - Innovator, Lady Anna, Markies, Bintje, Fontane, Ivory Russet, and the Russet Burbank, in all presentations, from straight cut fries to their famous Crisscuts®, Twisters®, Potato Dippers, wedges, sliced, diced, and mashed potatoes or hash browns. 

The company uses the best steam peeling equipment and optical sorters to provide their customers with the product of top-quality.  

TOMRA Steam Peelers

Since 2003, Lamb Weston / Meijer installed 11 TOMRA Steam Peelers in their 7 processing facilities worldwide, which process 255 tons of potatoes every hour.  The earliest line is still operating today, although the equipment has been evolved and updated with the time.

The peel loss rate is dependent on the variety of potato and the time of the year it is harvested, but average levels are at 0.5% - 2.0%, which is impressive for Lamb Weston / Meijer.

Being committed to sustainability, Lamb Weston / Meijer has been collecting data on their environmental impact since 2011. 

With TOMRA Eco Steam Peelers, their steam energy usage was reduced, which enabled the company's sustainable operation goals. 

The water usage was reduced by 4.7%, energy usage decreased by 4.4%, and in 2019, they diverted 89% of their waste from landfill sites. 

According to Rick Verhage, Process Engineer for Grading & Peeling within Engineering Services at Lamb Weston / Meijer, they monitor their energy use to stay informed of their progress and consumption, and the Eco Peeler from TOMRA is the best solution to complete this.  

To be secure that their lines are meeting the necessary output for a stable supply for their clients, Lamb Weston / Meijer subscribes to TOMRA Care at their Wisbech and Broekhuizenvorst plants. 

TOMRA Care helps them to keep the downtime to a minimum with pre scheduled maintenance appointments, supported by TOMRA Field Service Engineers, to match their business and machine needs.

According to Verhage, the TOMRA team helps them to identify new growth opportunities. Open communication between both parties are key in improving the processes.

Lamb Weston / Meijer can bring up questions or areas they want to improve on, and TOMRA investigates and helps uncover possibilities.  This is why they have confidence and trust in TOMRA Steam Peeling equipment. 

TOMRA Food is a producer of sensor-based sorting machines and integrated post-harvest equipment for the food industry. The company uses one of the world’s most advanced grading, sorting, peeling and analytical technology.

Their main goal is to help their customers to improve returns, gain operational efficiencies, minimise food waste, ensure quality and a safe food supply with sustainable technologies. 

Their solutions are installed at food growers, packers and processors around the world. This allows businesses to maximise productivity and recovery rates, while reducing food waste and developing the overall quality of the produce.

To learn more about TOMRA Food, follow the link.