Company  |  Product  |  Unit operations  |  Manufacture  |  Issues and values  |  Making use  |  Resources  | 

Unit operations in food manufacture

About the company

Evesham Foods started life in the 1940s as Richmond Sausage Company. It was later bought by the Lever group as part of Walls and, at that time, manufactured sausages, sausage rolls, pasties and pork pies.

Evesham foods have been part of the Northern Foods group since 1988. 93% of its products are made for Marks and Spencer (it is one of their dedicated factories) and 7% for Pork Farms. The company is expanding with major new product launches. It employs nearly 400 people which expanded to approximately 600 by December 2000 because Evesham produces fifteen product lines associated with winter party foods. Evesham is situated in a rural community, people care about the company they work for and the products they produce. Many have worked for Evesham for a long time and have considerable experience in making the products there.

Evesham Food's main areas of expertise are:

Puff pastry

Specialist pastries

Top quality pastry fillings

Quality, flexibility and value

back to top

About the product

Puff Pastry Steak and Kidney Pie
Evesham Foods is famous for its puff pastry and specialist pastries. Some products they make are produced in high volume by mainly automated processes. Other specialist products are made in lower volumes on flexible production lines, for example regional pies such as Butchers' style Scottish beef pies, Teviot pies, Devonshire pies.

Evesham Foods manufacture puff pastry Steak and Kidney Pies sold by Marks and Spencer. These are round pies filled with prime cuts of steak and kidney with rich gravy. These are sold as ready to bake pies in the chilled section.

 

The Pastry
The Steak and Kidney Pie is made using the Fritsch Pastry line. This is a fully automated batch laminating line for specialist rolls, pastries, party foods and puff pie pastry lids. They use it to produce French and Scottish methods pastries, to produce pastry pins or decorative lids. It gives a consistent crisp texture.

 

The Filling
Getting the right quality meat for the pie filling is very important. Evesham was the first company to supply beef to Marks and Spencer with full traceability back to the farm. Maturation is used to enhance the eating quality. The people who prepare and cook the meat fillings are very experienced and skilled in this area.

back to top

About unit operations
A unit operation is a simple, specific, identifiable step, or stage, in the manufacture of a food product, egs. peeling, shredding, slicing, mixing, baking. Unit operations are grouped together to form the process, or system, by which the product will be manufactured. This represents a logical, sequential systematic. All food processing requires a combination of procedures to change raw materials into the final product. The combination and sequence of unit operations determines the final product.

Examples of groups of unit operations are:

storage of raw materials

sorting and grading

mixing/combining

heat transfer

packing and labelling

assembling, depositing

storing and despatch of products

storing and transporting raw materials	weighing, sorting and grading	cooking (heat transfer)

assembling	mixing and combining	depositing

A sequence of unit operations is usually presented in the form of a flow chart to show the production process from delivery of raw materials to distribution of the finished product.

On a production line, food materials pass through a number of processes in sequence. Ingredients are introduced into the line at appropriate points and processed by machines or humans in a variety of ways egs. cooking, shaping, drying, and chilling. The product is then finished, assembled and packaged. During processing, food is treated in such a way that its nature and properties change according to what is being produced.

These treatments may:

 

Method of processing	Unit operations	Examples
Ambient Temperature Processing	Handling raw materials	Preparation of raw materials - sorting, grading, cleaning, peeling, shelling,
	Size reduction	Trimming, slicing, chopping, grinding, pulping
	Mixing, blending and combining	egs mixing ingredients for bread or biscuit dough, mixing diced vegetables
	Forming	egs shaping foods - such as chocolate, sweets, pasta
	Separating	Separating foods - egs squeezing juice, filtering, pressing
	Fermenting	Lactic acid fermentation - egs yoghurt production, pickles, cottage cheese Alcohol fermentation - dough, drinks
Processing by Applying Heat	Heat processing using steam or water	Pasteurising- milk, juices, syrups, bottling Sterilising - canned foods, UHT cartons Extrusion - snack foods, breakfast cereals Blanching - frozen vegetable production Concentrating - tomato puree, jamming, sauces syrups
	Heat processing using hot air	Baking - biscuits, cakes, bread Roasting - nuts Sun drying - tomatoes, apricots Artificial drying - onion rings, pears, herbs
	Heating by irradiated energy	Thawing out, defrosting fish, meat, butter and other fats Drying - crispbreads
	Heat processing using hot oil	Shallow frying - burgers Deep frying - snack foods, chips, samosas, doughnuts
Processing by Removing Heat	Chilling	Used for fresh foods - meat, fish, dairy products Cook-chill dishes or meals
	Controlled Atmosphere Storage (CAP) Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP)	Fruit and vegetables, salads, pasta, meat
	Freezing	Fresh produce - meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, ice cream Ready prepared produce - pastry, sausages, breaded fish, 3 rolls Cooked produce - pies, pastries
	Freeze drying and freeze concentration	Coffee and fruit juices
Post-processing Operations	Food finishing	Coating in cereal crumbs - Scotch eggs Enrobing in batters - fish, mushrooms, vegetables
	Packaging food	Protecting food Promoting food
	Finished product handling	Ordering, moving and storing

back to top

About the manufacture

The production of Steak and Kidney Pie Filling
The following flow chart describes the unit operations for making the filling for a Puff Pastry Steak and Kidney Pie. This complex process is broken down into small steps, or unit operations. for each ingredient. The process starts with each ingredient arriving and being checked (intake), then stored, unpacked (de-boxed or de-bagged), prepared, cooked, blast chilled and stored ready for despatch.

The ingredients that you can follow step by step through the flow chart are: