On-site Planning
Installation & Commissioning
Automated & Energy Efficient
Client Name: P****M Mushroom Processing Sp. z o.o.
Country: Republic of Poland
Region: Greater Poland Voivodeship – Europe's largest button mushroom production and processing base
Core Products: Frozen mushroom slices, canned sliced mushrooms, ready?to?eat mushroom salad ingredients, dehydrated mushroom slices
Equipment Configuration: Hadof custom high-speed mushroom slicing line (including automatic washing and grading system, low?damage slicing unit, online color sorting, and blanching/cooling module)
Commissioning Date: Q2 2021
Poland is Europe's largest mushroom producer. Modern mushroom farms in Greater Poland produce over 300,000 tons of button mushrooms annually, about 60% of which are exported. P****M Group is a leading mushroom processor in the region, supplying mainly Western European markets such as Germany, France, and the UK. With European retailers imposing stringent requirements on slice specifications and appearance consistency for ready?to?eat mushroom products, traditional manual slicing could no longer meet export standards.
Key challenges in mushroom slicing:
Fragile, easily damaged material: Mushrooms are tender, with high moisture content. Manual slicing easily crushes them or creates rough edges, severely affecting product appearance and causing rejection rates as high as 12% from high?end supermarkets.
Severe capacity shortage: During peak seasons, over 30 tons of fresh mushrooms must be processed daily. Manual slicing required more than 100 skilled workers in shifts, yet orders could still not be fulfilled, with delivery lead times of up to 40 days.
Inconsistent slice thickness: Manual slicing resulted in thickness deviations of ±2mm, leading to uneven cooking in canned or frozen products and high customer complaint rates.
Browning and hygiene issues: Sliced mushrooms quickly oxidize and brown when exposed to air. Multiple manual handling steps made microbial control difficult, failing to meet EU BRC and IFS certification requirements.
Hadof's team tailored a fully automatic mushroom slicing line for P****M Group, taking into account the tender texture, irregular shapes, and easy oxidation of mushrooms:
1. Flexible Feeding and Oriented Conveying System
A water?floated conveyor combined with soft pressure rollers uses water flow to naturally align mushrooms, reducing mechanical pressure. A vision system at the infeed automatically distinguishes mushroom size and orientation, ensuring the optimal cutting direction to minimize damage.
2. Low?Damage Rotary Slicing Unit
Extremely thin stainless steel circular blades with micro?serrated edges cut via high?speed rotation, avoiding the crushing effect of traditional shear?type slicing. Thickness is adjustable from 2mm to 10mm, with deviation controlled within ±0.3mm. The machine features an anti?stick coating and automatic air blowing to prevent slices from adhering to the blades, allowing continuous operation for 8 hours without cleaning stops.
3. Online Color Protection and Blanching Treatment
Immediately after slicing, mushrooms pass through a citric acid spray system to delay browning. They then go through a continuous blancher, where they are treated in 95?98°C hot water for 60?90 seconds to inactivate polyphenol oxidase, ensuring stable color after freezing or canning. Rapid cooling and vibratory dewatering remove surface moisture, preparing the product for subsequent packaging.
4. Intelligent Color Sorting and Metal Detection
A high?speed vision sorter automatically identifies and rejects browned slices, misshapen pieces, and foreign materials, achieving sorting accuracy of 99.6%. A metal detector at the end ensures product safety, meeting EU food standards. The entire line is constructed of fully enclosed stainless steel with no dead corners, supporting CIP in?place cleaning.
Client Testimonial: From Regional Processor to European Mushroom Slicing Leader
Since the new line was fully commissioned in 2021, P****M Group has achieved remarkable growth:
Capacity & Efficiency
Daily throughput: Increased from less than 12 tons with manual slicing to 40 tons per shift, reaching up to 65 tons per day, making the company one of Poland's largest mushroom slicing processors.
Labor optimization: The slicing workforce was reduced from 120 to 8 skilled technicians, cutting labor costs by over 90% and eliminating dependence on seasonal workers.
Quality & Market
Product qualification rate: Slice integrity increased from 78% to over 96%, thickness consistency reached 99%, crumb rate was controlled below 2%, and European customer rejection rates dropped from 12% to 0.8%.
Market expansion: Achieved BRC and IFS highest?level certifications, successfully entering the ready?to?eat salad and frozen vegetable supply chains of major European supermarket chains (e.g., Rewe, Albert Heijn) in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. Export volume grew 220% over three years.
Overall Benefits
Raw material utilization: Precision grading slicing and intelligent sorting increased overall utilization from 82% to 95%, saving over �500,000 annually in raw material costs.
Energy optimization: The line uses high?efficiency variable?frequency motors and a waste heat recovery system, reducing electricity consumption per unit output by 23% compared to traditional separate equipment, earning a green industry subsidy in Poland.
"Hadof's mushroom slicing line has truly enabled us to leap from traditional manual operations to European industrial standards. Now every slice reaches European consumers with precise thickness and perfect shape, making our products more competitive on high?end supermarket shelves. This was the right decision to reshape our core competitiveness."
—— P****M Mushroom Processing, Technical Director Mr. Nowak
