Mashed potatoes are dried here, crushed and poured into glasses. We just need to remove the lid and pour boiling water over the finished dish.
The production of the Miloslavsky food processing plant is located in one of the southernmost districts of the Ryazan region. And potato flakes, which are also grown in Miloslavl lands, have been produced since 2011.
From field to counter
The decision to build a potato processing plant was made in 2007 by the management of the Kuntsevo commercial and industrial group. In three years, the construction of the plant and the installation of its equipment were completed in the working village of Miloslavskoye. And in January 2011, the team of the new enterprise launched the first line for the production of potato flakes. High-tech equipment made it possible to produce 550 kg of finished products per hour. And this despite the fact that all stages of potato processing - from its arrival from the field to packing in bags - take place practically without human intervention.
- Of course, we cannot talk about one hundred percent automation, - explains the chief technologist of the enterprise Mikhail Sarantsev. - There are people at each of the technological stages. But this is only 20 people employed on the line during the day.
The whole process of preparing flakes at the enterprise, as they say, is in the public domain. And we go through all its stages together with the technologist in about 20 minutes, during which, under the hum of a huge multi-meter machine, it turns out that special varieties of potatoes for the food processing plant are grown nearby - in the village of Chernava. And in addition to JSC Ryazan Potato, which is part of the production holding, it is supplied by other agricultural enterprises of our region, as well as farms of the Lipetsk, Tambov, Tula and Vladimir regions. To ensure that potatoes are available all year round, and the production of flakes does not stop for a day, the food processing plant has a potato storage with a capacity of 18000 tons.
So, a field-to-counter production process starts with the tubers entering the production line. First, the potatoes are washed and cleaned with steam, then they are peeled off in a special drum using special scraper brushes. After cleaning, the tubers go to the control area, where the workers of the food processing plant remove the waste from the line - potatoes that have an irregular shape or dark spots.
After that, the finished product is blanched and sent to the drum for grinding, and then, due to steam treatment, finally mashed potatoes are obtained. But that's not all. The puree mass ultimately goes to the drum dryer, turning into the thinnest, transparent sheet. Here it is, in the end, and is crushed into flakes to be packed in kraft bags or big bags.
By the way, at the drying stage, I managed to taste an almost finished product, "tearing off" a piece from a huge "potato leaf". As the technologist said, it turned out to be the purest potato, without any additives. It's like boiling puree in water and forgetting to salt it. The taste is the same.
Double
- Such production has a lot of advantages, - Mikhail Sarantsev continues his story. - Firstly, such a processing process allows you to reduce the qualitative and quantitative losses that would occur during storage of tubers. Thanks to automation, energy and labor costs are reduced, because potatoes do not need to be manually washed, peeled and boiled. The flakes themselves are stored longer, while not losing the biological value inherent in tuberous potatoes, and they take up less space in the warehouse.
As for the value of the cereal itself, it does not contain gluten, which makes the product safe for people who have problems with the tolerance of this protein. In addition, flavor enhancer - monosodium glutamate, as well as preservatives and artificial colors are not used in the production of flakes.
Such flakes, clean in all food parameters, are further used for the preparation of side dishes at public catering establishments. They can become raw materials for various food products - dumplings, potato cutlets, zraz, meatballs, pancakes, pies, casseroles and much more. Flakes are also needed for the production of pellets, chips and snacks.
In addition, they are used for instant products - mashed potatoes, glasses, mashed soups. At the food processing plant "Miloslavsky", by the way, 8 types of instant mashed potatoes are made of them with the addition of freeze-dried products. They are produced under the Kuntsevo trademark and can be found on supermarket shelves.
- In Russia, we sell 70% of potato flakes without additives and potato flakes with natural flavors and freeze-dried products. The rest goes abroad, - explains Alexey Yemelyanov, general director of Miloslavsky Food Factory. - Flakes are sent to Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Chile, China, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Israel, Serbia, Georgia and Uzbekistan. We are not going to stop there. Currently, the company is working on the implementation of a new investment project.
Namely, it is planned to double the productivity of the potato processing line - up to 1100 kg of potato flakes per hour, expand the range of products by starting the production of french fries and potato starch, and increase the volume of potato storage to 36000 tons.
It is clear that such changes will lead to an increase in exports. Its volume is planned to be doubled. But the main thing is that the implementation of the project will lead to the creation of new jobs in production, which means that not 100, but 150 people will work at the enterprise.
The products of the Miloslavsky Food Plant have received well-deserved recognition from consumers. The quality of the produced potato flakes has been repeatedly confirmed by victories in competitions. Among the awards are gold medals of the 13th and 15th Russian agro-industrial exhibitions "Golden Autumn", diplomas of the All-Russian competition of the program "One hundred best goods of Russia" in 2014 and 2018, as well as the sign "Ryazan quality", which the company received in 2016.