Quality, innovation, continuous improvement…at SPCA these things are everyone’s responsibility.

All SPCA employees are part of a program of initiatives aimed at achieving new and better levels of quality, from taste, to nutritional value, packaging and even advertising and promotions. These initiatives may begin with anyone in the SPCA organisation – but their aim is always to provide a better experience for our customers.

Product quality begins the best raw materials. SPCA works closely with growers in defining critical parameters for making sure our stringent are consistently met, while constantly seeking ways to ‘raise the bar’ for taste, nutritional value and consistency.

In our processing plants, SPCA has been at the forefront of developing electronic imaging and sorting systems which evaluate our fruits and vegetables for appearance, flavour, aroma and texture. In addition, with the aim of developing more flavoursome and nutritious products, we have become widely recognized as leaders in the field of food science and technology.

SPCA packaging is designed to preserve the freshness, nutrient levels, and taste of the healthy foods we produce.

From orchard to shelf, SPCA Quality Policies and Programs assure the safety, consistency and compliance of our products to meet the high standards of our consumers.

PLASTIC FANTASTIC

The beginning of the 2008 peach season saw the start-up of the new 1Kg Plastic Line at Shepparton. This world class filling line will allow SPCA to continue its dominance in the resealable fridge-pack segment of the industry. Building on the experience from the 1Kg Lines at Mooroopna and Moratella, Spain, the new line is highly automated and has higher capacity than any previous plastic fridge-pack line.

The new line incorporates the first use of fully automated rotary pocket filling that can automatically adjust fill weights to meet product specifications. The filler/capper is user friendly with self diagnostics to help trouble-shooting. The accumulator is a new design that’s “pressure-less” to help maintain jar integrity with hot juice/syrup.

When designing the line the team looked to make it as “green” as possible. The new retorts are much more energy and water efficient than previous units. Along with lower emissions, it’s the most energy efficient boiler in the factory and is reducing gas usage as well. The boiler is now carrying almost the entire steam load of the factory, while (3) boilers are no longer needed. In previous years, all 5 boilers would be operating.

Another “green” aspect is the hot water recovery system on the new retorts. The retorts were designed to recover the hot water used to “cook” the jars instead of dumping that water to the drain after each cycle. Any excess hot water is filtered and pumped back to provide hot water for the boilers. The new system will save an estimated 150,000 litres of water every day of operation. Other “green” benefits are the temperature and pressured controlled cooling towers which constantly optimise fan and pump speeds depending on the weather and processing requirements.