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Taco Bell employees: how, exactly, is the lettuce shredded and stored?
A friend recently sang the praises of Taco Bell's lettuce shreds. Rather unbelievably. Swore it came out different than what I was taking a knife to at home.
What're Taco Bell lettuce shredders like? Is it stored in any peculiar fashion?
I suspect imagination at work on his part, but...
Wow a question that I can answer with absolute certainty. I worked many years for a large produce company that supplied Taco Bell, McDonald's and other companies. Now I consult for restaurant chains, and processors.
The following is a basic overview of the system. The specs for product will vary among customers, and processors. The machinery utilized to process the lettuce can vary a bit in layout, make of machinery, and method of operation, but functionally they are all the same. I could provide huge amounts of detail about each step in the process but then I'd literally be writing a book.
Most Taco Bell's recieve their produce in a ready to use fashion. Lettuce and diced tomatoes are the primary items they get. They are supplied by various fresh cut produce companies around the country. There are about 6-8 large processors who supply the Taco Bell system.
The lettuce comes in cases that have 4 or 6, 5 lb bags of lettuce. The bags are made of special films that allow a certain desired rate of cellular respiration to extend the shelf life of the product and to maintian the taste.
The lettuce itself is cored, stripped of the outer leaves that are damaged, then it is cut and washed.
The lettuce is then shredded in a cutter that utilizes cross cut blades. The washing is done in a flume system usually about 150 feet long and mechanically agitated to remove dirt, foriegn material, etc. The flume water is 36 degrees, and the entire processing facility is no warmer than 40.
The wash water has a bacterial kill agent in it. Most processors use a product by eco-lab called Tsunami, which kills bacteria, and breaks down into water and carbon dioxide, since Tsunami is basically hydrogen peroxide. Some old fashioned plants use chlorine, but this is being phased out, due to the residual taste, quality, and potential health issues. There are some new bacterial kill agents being tried, such as ozone and ultraviolet light.
After washing, the product is dried in a centrifuge type dryer. There are many variations on the type of dryer used, but the purpose of using a dryer is the same. The purpose of drying is to remove all the excess water, without causing damge to the lettuce. If you spin it too fast or for too long, the lettuce will "bruise" which is caused by the cell walls breaking, and releasing the cellular fluids into the lettuce.
Once it is spun dry, the lettuce travels into a vertical or horizontal form-fill-seal machine, fancy way of saying bagging machine. The form-fill-seal machine makes the bags, weighs the lettuce to within 2 grams, and then seals the bag. Remeber the bagger makes the bags with films that allow the correct respiration, which by the way differs for different products, or even lettuce blends.
After bagging the lettuce passes through a very sensitive metal detector. After that it is put into cases, palletized, then shipped to Taco Bell distribuiton centers. All of this is done under refrigeration. The distribution centers ship it to the stores.
The shelf life of the bagged lettuce is generally 11 days after being processed in the plants. Raw lettuce has to be processed within 72 hours of being cut in the fields, and there exists an entire system for this.
There are some processors who have started to core and remove leaves in the growing fields. This allows more efficient shipping as you don't load the trucks with product that will end up as waste. It is also better for the fields, as the waste products are left on the ground and enrich the soil.
Raw lettuce is packed in large cardboard or plastic bins, both of which a reused, and they hold about 800 lbs of lettuce, and measure 6 foot by 6 foot and are 5 feet high. A cardboard bin can be used up to 20 times, and they get shipped back to fields after the processors empty them.
Inside the bin is a heavy gauge plastic bag, once again of a type to control the respiration of the product. The bags are flushed with an inert gas, (usually nitrogen), before being sealed, to help protect the taste and to prevent bacterial growth. The bins weigh about 800 lbs, and are cooled to under 38 degrees within 4 hours of being cut, and prior to being trucked to the processors.
Some processors are in California which is an easy transport, but there are large plants in Dallas, Atlanta, New Jersey, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Raliegh, South Florida, and Denver which is a longer transport. The trucks are refrigerated as well. Sorry almost forgot a large plant in Tennesee and one in Kansas City.
Lastly this is a similar process to that used to make bagged salads and produces cuts you by in a grocery store. The large processors typically make the retail products and the ones used in restaurants. Some restauants do cut their own produce but they number less than 1/2 of 1% of the Taco Bell's. Some stores are franchised and about 40% are company owned, all the company owned stores use the processed products. The use of products in the stores is dictated by the purchasing arm of the corporate Taco Bell orginization. Storage in the store after the bags are opened varies in the stores depending on management. However processors will recommend keeping the unused product in the original bag, and twist sealing it, to utilize the films in the bags to keep shelf life and taste up to standards.
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