One of the ways for food processors to reduce food waste lies in acquiring the right cutting equipment. While this may require a tangible investment in suitable technology these need to weighed up against the intangible losses such as reduced yield in production, poor product quality, shorter shell life and higher energy consumption due to the use of older, less efficient technology. A low-quality slicer or dicer may come cheap, but it will add more to the operating costs for the following reasons: ? Poor cutting quality creates more fines and wastage, so more raw materials will be needed. ? A poor cutting process can crush products and damage cell structures which will result in part of the product turning into juices which can have the effect of greatly reducing product shelf life. ? A wrongly adjusted cutter will create an irregular cut product (shape) which can make it difficult for unforming packing, chilling, or freezing. Uneven sizes or thicknesses will cause some portions to be over-frozen, while certain parts would be insufficiently chilled. ? Higher energy consumption is something every company wants to avoid, especially with the ever-increasing energy costs. For example, in drying a product, inconsistent size or thickness of the cut product will affect the drying process, making quality control a difficult task. An unnecessary amount of energy may be used to process the oversized product or processors will face the issue of product deterioration due to incomplete drying. ? A poor cut size will create a tearing effect. This will produce more fines/wastage after the dying process, resulting in loss in yield.
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