"Watermelons can be unloaded from the truck or the line can be fed with bins. After they have been brushed, weighed and priced, they are labelled and placed in bins or cardboard boxes according to their weight."
"This investment was done to cut down the processing costs of a product that has become rather poor nowadays. In addition, handling and moving has now been reduced so as to save more money and avoid the produce getting ruined. I can add that watermelons now look better, cleaner and shinier and we have reduced the risk of accidental hits."
"The processing area of traditional, mini and sliced watermelons is conditioned in order to preserve the freshness and to guarantee a longer shelf-life. For sliced watermelons we use seedless varieties as they have a longer shelf-life and are more suitable as seeds can sometime ruin the flesh during cutting."
"The cutting room complies with regulations. The products are immediately taken into cold storage units and delivered using suitable trucks. Watermelons are checked both along the line by expert personnel who tap on it to feel the vibration and hear the sound, and randomly with a refractometer to measure the brix level. Some are also tasted."
The melon line has been equipped with a new, more efficient washer-dryer that can process up to 80 tons a day automatically: it washes and dries melons and selects them according to either their weight or the brix level. It can also divide products into 12 different categories that are then packed according to the needs of the market.
"All of the melons we process are controlled with the NIR (Near Infrared) system, which enables us to reach the minimum sugar levels agreed with the client, which is actually pretty easy as the produce comes from the Umbria and Marche regions, which have great changes in temperatures," concludes Francesco Renzoni.
