Baking & Snack - March 2023 - 26

BENESTAR BRANDS
veyors coming off the three fryers can be
rearranged so any fryer can feed any of
the packaging lines for different bag
sizes and seasoning needs.
The packaging department
measures out
Top: After exiting
the fryer, pork rinds
are sprayed with
oil to assist with
seasoning adhesion.
Bottom: Pellets
are separated
into batches in a
conveyor on their
way to the fryer.
features two mezzanine areas
where TNA VFFS systems
scale finished product into
individual bags. Each packaging
line also features seasoning
systems that offer tight control
over seasoning application. On
the bulk packaging line, finished
pork rinds travel up to the mezzanine
level before falling down a
spiral chute into the cases where a scale
to the appropriate weight. A
3M-Matic case sealer closes the cases, which are then
sent through metal detection before being palletized.
The VFFS machines include metal detection as a feature,
which Benestar tests each day by sending metallic balls
through the system to see if the machine will detect it.
Quality is tested on the floor and a Pak-Vac leak detector
is on the floor to test the seal of the bags. Bags are
submerged into pressurized water to check for any leaks.
With the flexibility built into the conveyor system
and packaging lines, the facility can produce all of Evans
Food Groups' products, more than 250 SKUs. The baggers
specifically can bag anywhere from 1-oz to 18-oz
bags for pork rinds and, on the tortilla chip side of the
operation, up to 24-oz bags.
Finished product is stored either in the onsite
30,000-square-foot warehouse or at the offsite warehouse
space recently purchased to handle overflow.
Most of the orders Benestar Brands delivers to customers'
distribution sites or stores, but some are picked up
by the customers themselves.
Safety and quality come first
In addition to capital investments to improve employee
and food safety and product quality, Benestar sees the
value of operational practices to continually improve safety
from the employee and product perspective as well as
product quality. The company leaves nothing to chance.
At the City of Industry plant, each shift performs
bi-weekly safety walks where the team identifies opportunities
to improve employee and food safety.
Each opportunity for improved safety is assigned to
a team member to take ownership of and address. A
weekly food safey and quality meeting is held between
Benestar Brands' four facilities where opportunities
and best practices can be shared.
The facility in City of Industry is SQF level 3 as well
as inspected by the US Department of Agriculture and
Food & Drug Administration. The plant is in compliance
with HACCP and the Food Safety Modernization
Act. During the facility's SQF audit, the plant was
scored at 99.
The sanitation team cleans the equipment every night,
and if equipment isn't used right away the next day, it is
kept under wraps to prevent cross contamination. The
facility works with two allergens - dairy and wheat -
26 Baking & Snack March 2023 / www.bakingbusiness.com
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Baking & Snack - March 2023

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