Losses in Potato Chips During Processing - A Case Study

Material and economic balance of a potato processing plant in Northern India i.e. Pepsi Foods Ltd., Channo, Distt. Sangrur was examined. The data for material balance at various stages during processing was obtained and analysed. Two types of processing losses occuring in the plant are - raw material losses and finished product losses. Raw material losses include peeling loss (5%), trim & pare loss (2.52%). slicer fines loss (2.59%), blanching loss (1.75%) and moisture loss (69.69%). Finished product losses occur in the form of brown chips (2.52%), finished product wastage during processing (2.02%) and finished product wastage during packaging (0.38%). Material gains include salt (1.6%) and oil (9.9%). Output of finished product is 25%. Capacity utilization was 23.41% in 1994 and increased to 54.91% in 1995 and 55.54% in 1996 (Jan-June). The economic balance of the plant showed an increase in profit from Rs. 4581000 to Rs. 6359000 during the period of study.