The Manufacturing Process of Potato Chips - Assignment Example

Once this is done potatoes are ready for automatic peeling and are washed with cold water. 4. Slicing process involves passing potatoes through a revolving impaler/presser which cuts them into proper thin slices in accordance with the required thickness. Chips are cut in regular or ridged according to the blades used. 7. At this stage, slices pass through the air jets to get their excess water removed. During this process, slices are flown into 40-75 ft. oil filled troughs at the temperature of 350-375°F.

Paddling process pushes the slices along and salt is sprinkled at the rate of 1.75 lb of salt to each 100 lb of chips. As potatoes arrive daily at manufacturing plants, they are checked for quality and are stored at a constant temperature and are processed into chips. To improve the color of the final product, potatoes are also being treated chemically by some manufacturers. However, to prepare the chips, potatoes are fried into oil and are sprinkled with flake salt instead of crystal salt. 10.

After cooling and sorting chips are forwarded to the packaging machine where they are measured for their weight as well as a metal detector to check any metal piece that may have been included in the potatoes or being picked up during frying process. 11. A central processing unit code on the bags, which flow down from a roll, tells the machine how much chips should be released into the bag. A bag is formed, machines throw out the proper amount of chips into the bag and bags are sealed then. 12.

During this process, it is ensured that excess air is not filled into the bags due to gaps and is nitrogen is used by some manufactures in this regard. Sealed bags are collated and hand-packed into cartons. Tasting samples are made from each batch at the rate of once per hour. The overall tasting process involves checking the chips for salt, seasoning, moisture, color which is also compared to the charts to confirm acceptable chip colors and flavor.