At Borton & Sons, Inc. in Yakima, WA, the ongoing quest for cleanliness and food safety is taking the form of a new 1,000,000-square foot plant in Union Gap.
The new structure will replace the grower’s current facility, which is 60 years old, and open in 2019. Included in the new facility are two state-of-the-art packing lines, two cold storage areas, a laboratory, and other space for the long-running family company, which has been growing apples, cherries, and pears since 1912.
“A big part of building this new plant is to have a facility and machinery that’s easy to clean,” said Jeremy Leavitt, food safety and compliance director for Borton & Sons. Given the current plant runs 20 hours a day, there is little time for cleaning and sanitizing.
The new packing lines will be stainless steel and use ozone as a sanitizer. The centralized sanitation system by Birko Corporation, headquartered in Henderson, CO, will cost about $100,000 and provide “a better clean in less time, with less chemicals, and less labor,” Leavitt said.
The new building has two other selling points: a high-tech lab for testing pathogens and automation. The lab will allow the grower to detect and identify threats, which can then be addressed.
“You’ll know where your problem areas are,” Leavitt said, so the sanitation team’s response can be targeted and swift.
The second point, automation, will affect both safety and the industry’s chronic shortage of workers. Since chemicals are mixed by machine, not people, workers are protected.
Further, the new equipment will also significantly reduce Borton & Son’s labor force from around 1,000 to 300 or 400 workers.
This is an excerpt from the most recent Produce Blueprints quarterly journal. Click here to read the full article.
