Modern production tools

Modern production tools enable conservation and standardisation to be performed under optimal conditions…

2 SELF-CONTAINED SITES FOR INCREASED FLEXIBILITY

PERLIM has 2 self-contained sites, situated 2km apart in Corrèze (19), 15 km west of Brive: St-Aulaire, St-Laurent

The Saint-Aulaire site houses the commercial and administrative offices for the two apple and nut associations, but also a storage centre with 50 AC rooms, as well as a packing and pre-packing room for the consumer units (sleeve packs, etc.), relating to the apples and finally the quality control lab.

The Saint-Laurent site combines a storage unit (50 AC rooms), as well as a new packing unit that incorporates the electronic sorting of the category for standardisation.
This new sorting drum is one of the first to be used in France.

In addition to reducing standardisation errors and the tediousness of the work, this technology allows for greater flexibility:

In high season, the production capacity reaches more than 300 t/day, when the 2 sites are operating together (from November to May)

STANDARDISATION

Standardisation consists of sorting the fruit from one batch, by category, grade and colour.
For the GOLDEN DELICIOUS, standardisation is carried out as follows :

• Category (1, 1b, 2 industry)
• Grade (10 French market grades plus export)
• Colour (4 basic colours plus pink side)

All criteria mixed together, this results in producing a hundred or so types of product, sorted automatically by electron camera.
Added to this are the different types of packaging: trays 1 row, 2 rows, bushels, sleeve packs, crates… in manufacturer’s brands or private brands.

PERLIM has more than 150 listed “golden delicious products” (outside the notion of batch quality).

Reduce standardisation risks and errors

The producer’s payment, being largely based on the appearance of the batch of fruit (absence or not of flaws on the outer skin) that it brings to the cooperative to be “standardised”, the classification by category in accordance with European regulations in force (from first-rate to category 2) assumes a key aspect in terms of equity between producers.
This standardisation should not be called into question.

Nevertheless, PERLIM integrates more and more gustatory and sanitary criteria when calculating the payment of its producers, in relation to customer specifications.

Consideration of these criteria is embodied in the quality control lab procedure.