While a third of the world’s food is wasted, one in nine people do not have enough to eat. Thanks to support and equipment from HRS Heat Exchangers, a socially conscious Spanish food producer is aiming to redress the balance by turning Europe’s surplus fruit and vegetables into a nutritionally enriched, easy-to-digest and 100% natural foodstuff for people in need.
Nutripeople commissioned HRS to install a simple, cost-effective production line at its factory in Murcia. The first stage in the production process is the mixing line, where the fruit and vegetables are pre-heated and blended with proteins and vitamins to enrich their nutritional value. HRS supplied two tanks complete with mixers, a heating jacket and a high shear stirrer, as well as a series of pumps.
The product then passes through a homogeniser, also supplied by HRS, which exerts pressure of up to 200 bar, before being pasteurised at temperatures of up to 95°C via HRS’ R Series scraped surface heat exchangers. Finally, the finished products, which have a shelf life of two years without refrigeration, are filled into low-cost, environmentally friendly pouches, ready for distribution.
Thanks to equipment and support from HRS Heat Exchangers, Nutripeople can now produce 42 million pouches of its products each year, helping those in developing countries to avoid hunger and malnutrition.
“We have been delighted with HRS’ turnkey approach and their practical suggestions for keeping our production line as simple and efficient as possible. From the first enquiry to final commissioning took just seven months, and the line has been fully functional since October 2018, without any problems.”
Enrique Gómez Gómez, Founder of Nutripeople
“We are now providing Nutripeople with the equipment and technical expertise to develop even more products in their range. The project is truly inspirational and we are privileged to be a part of it.”
Francisco Hernández Ortiz, Food Business Development Director at HRS