Product: the Chips
1. Potatoes are received in a big hopper.
2. All process is assured by a cleaning and feeding system.
3. Potatoes fall in a whirl of a abrasive peeling system and cut in a million of potatoes' slices.
4. They are washed and plunge in a pure sunflower oil at 180°C.
5. At the end chips are salted and ready to be wrapped in "our original transparent pack".
Environment and sustainable development
Characteristics of sunflower oil
Amica Chips The chips are fried in sunflower oil, a light oil and perfect for frying.
The characteristics of sunflower oil are:
it has a high smoke point (the smoke point is the temperature at which the first partial decomposition of triglycerides into free fatty acids and glycerol occurs; subsequently on increasing the temperature and continuing the cooking phase, then comes the decomposition of glycerol into acrolein, which is a toxic compound)
it contains more than 80% mono and polyunsaturated fatty acid such as linoleic acid, very useful for our body which is unable to synthesise it. It is also used by our body to produce energy for the cell membranes and the haemoglobin synthesis
it contains no trans fatty acids, which are health hazard as they increase the risk of cardiovascular problems.
Pollution - Environmental Protection
Pollution is one of the major problems of our times and also a one of the main causes of many diseases. In a increasingly polluted world, Amica Chips attempts to protect the environment using specific strategies such as the purification of waste water and recycling of production waste to produce enough electricity to cover a good part of out company's energy needs.
All wash and waste waters are channelled through the company's water treatment plant, and their level of purification allows them to be released into the environment with zero polluting impact.
Even the fumes from the fryers are conveyed into large incinerators-combustors that use heat to pulverise impurities and guarantee excellent quality of emissions.
Ecology and Environment
In the 90s, Amica Chips made some important decisions concerning ecology and the environment, installing control equipment in the company which aim to safeguard the environment in accordance with all the environmental policies that promote sustainable development.
Since 1990 an incinerator has been operating to burn the output fumes and also remove all odours to ensure that what is discharged into the atmosphere is well below all legal parameters.
Since 1998 they have also been using an advanced wastewater treatment plant, by means of which the cleaned residual water is discharge into surface waters used to irrigate the fields.
Since 2000 the factory has been using an anaerobic digester that utilises waste products to produce a bio-gas which is then converted into energy: an example of clean energy that is then used by the company.
