Site Planning
Installation & Commissioning
Automatic & Eco-friendly
Client Name： K***Y
Country： Japan
Region： Nagano Prefecture – Famous highland vegetable production area in Japan, core base for lettuce, celery, chives, coriander and other leafy vegetables
Core Products： Ready-to-eat lettuce, cleaned celery, coriander salad packs, cut chives, Japanese mustard spinach, spinach
Equipment Configuration： Hadof customized multi-layer bubble + ultrasonic + vibration draining combined vegetable washing line (compatible with ice water cooling and ozone sterilization system)
Commissioning Time： Q1 2024
Known as the "Roof of Japan", Nagano Prefecture features high altitude and large temperature difference between day and night, producing tender, crisp and sweet leafy vegetables. K***Y (Japan Agricultural Cooperative) is a union of 132 local farmers, supplying 70% of high-end supermarket leafy vegetables in major cities like Tokyo and Osaka. With the surging demand for "no-wash cleaned vegetables" in Japan, the traditional manual cleaning model has become the biggest obstacle to quality upgrading:
High Damage Rate of Leafy Vegetables： Delicate leaves such as lettuce and coriander have a 15% damage rate after manual rubbing, resulting in poor shelf appearance and huge losses.
Sediment & Pesticide Residue： Chives and celery have many root gaps, and manual scrubbing cannot completely remove hidden sediment. A high-end supermarket in Tokyo once suspended cooperation due to a chives residue incident.
Microbial Exceedance Risk： Japan has extremely strict coliform testing for raw vegetables. Traditional cleaning requires a lot of manual root cutting and yellow leaf removal, leading to high secondary pollution risk.
Labor Shortage from Aging Population： The average age of members is 68, and the younger generation is unwilling to engage in cold and wet cleaning work, with a 40% labor gap in peak seasons.
The customer's requirements were clear: after cleaning, it must meet the "no-wash" standard, leaf integrity over 95%, and adapt to Japan's strict food safety regulations and limited workshop space.
After comparing washing equipment from Germany and South Korea, the customer finally chose our company. Our advantage lies in deep process adaptation for leafy vegetable diversity, not general-purpose machines.
Solutions: Four Customized Designs for Japanese Highland Leafy Vegetables
1. "Bubble + Ultrasonic" Dual Flexible Cleaning, 99% Leaf Integrity
For lettuce/coriander: Adopts micro-nano bubble cleaning with 0.1mm diameter bubbles. The gentle impact force generated during bursting penetrates leaf folds to remove insect eggs and impurities with zero damage. Tests show lettuce leaf integrity reaches 99.2%.
For celery/chives: Equipped with ultrasonic auxiliary module at the root section. The cavitation effect penetrates root gaps to completely remove hidden sediment, leaving roots white and clean without any residue.
2. Integrated Vibration Draining + Ice Water Cooling
Vibration draining screen is configured at the end of cleaning. High-frequency low-amplitude vibration quickly removes surface water without damaging leaves by centrifugal dehydration. The ice water circulation system (constant water temperature 2-5℃) completes pre-cooling during cleaning, inhibiting bacterial growth and extending shelf life by 3 days.
3. Ozone + UV Combined Sterilization, No Coliform Detected
To meet Japan's strict microbial standards, an ozone generator is integrated into the cleaning circulating water with a 99.99% sterilization rate; a UV tunnel is added at the discharge port for secondary surface sterilization. Tested by Nagano Prefectural Institute of Public Health, no coliform or salmonella was detected, meeting the highest standard of Japanese raw vegetables.
4. Modular Quick-Disassembly Design for Multi-variety Switching
Japanese supermarkets have more than 20 kinds of leafy vegetables. The production line adopts drawer-type quick-disassembly filters and adjustable-angle spray arms. Switching from lettuce to chives only takes 8 minutes, and daily capacity increased from 2 tons (single variety) to 6 tons (mixed varieties).
One year after commissioning, K***Y JA has achieved a complete transformation.
Capacity & Market Breakthrough
Daily Capacity: Increased from 3 tons (manual line limited by aging labor) to 7 tons (automatic line), delivery punctuality rate rose from 70% to 99%.
Channel Upgrade: Cleaned lettuce and coriander entered high-end channels such as Tokyo Imperial Hotel and Takashimaya Department Store with "No-Wash · Ready-to-Eat" labels, priced 50% higher than ordinary vegetables and in short supply. In 2024, cold chain exports to Singapore and Hong Kong increased by 200%.
Significant Economic Benefits
ROI: The chairman of the cooperative calculated: "We needed 45 part-time workers before, now only 3 people for the whole line. Annual labor cost savings exceed 80 million yen. Combined with water and energy saving, the equipment investment will be recovered in less than 20 months."
Loss Reduction: Leafy vegetable damage rate reduced from 15% to 1.5%, saving over 20 million yen annually.
Social Benefits
Attracting Young People: The automatic production line changed the impression that "cleaning = hard labor". Five young members have returned to operate the equipment, with an average age of 32, injecting new vitality into the aging rural area.
"Hadof's equipment made us old farmers feel the power of technology for the first time – lettuce is as fresh as just picked from the field, but clean enough to eat directly. Now Tokyo customers say Nagano vegetables are 'breathing cleaned vegetables'. This is the technology we want."
—— K***Y, Chairman of Agricultural Cooperative
