No Touch Packing Here We Come

16 February: Days to Harvest 3-4

Well, it is getting down to the wire now. Michael is currently flat out working on bringing our no-touch packline for the beans together so we can start harvesting asap.

I am not sure if I wrote much about it in a previous blog, but Michael has pioneered a world first in the sense of our fresh beans will never be touched by human hands from seeding through to you opening the pack and cooking them. With all the food safety issues occurring around the world, this was important to us.

Here’s a quick overview of what will happen when we start harvesting. The borlotti plants get harvested by Big Red (see prev post) and they get shelled in the field. The beans go into a bin by themselves. As the bin fills, the beans are taking to our brand new packhouse where they are chilled to help hold their goodness and help with shelf life. When they get packed, they go through a wash process, they go through a sorting/grading process using an optical (camera) sorter. They then go up an elevator and go through a weighing head with multiple outlets, which puts the beans into 300g punnets. They punnets then get sealed with a breathable film, which helps ensure they stay fresh in your fridge for two weeks. The film also protects the beans if you decide to freeze them.

Some of these processes are done in different countries for frozen beans, for canned beans and for dried beans. But as far as our research shows, no one is doing it for fresh beans.

Jina