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75,000 TONS PER YEAR AND GROWING

APGG's Shelling Plant processes approximately 60,000-73,000 farmer stock tons of peanuts annually, operating ten months each year.

This new plant construction has allowed APGG to address requirements that have entered the U.S. peanut market over the past decade.  Whether it is the changes in cultivars, market demands, health and sanitation issues, or quantum leaps in technology, all points have been addressed.

Beginning with the 45-acre site, food safety, ergonomics, and efficiencies have been foremost in the design.  The location of the plant on a mainline railroad and next door to cold storage facilities leads to timely handling and good protection of the quality.

The formation of APGG allowed the peanut growers to operate as a collective unit, resulting in streamlined information flow and improved understanding of growing and processing methods.  APGG continues to evolve to meet the needs of the member growers and ultimately provide a premium quality product on an extremely consistent basis to its customers.
 

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	TRACEABILITY STARTS WITH ATTENTION TO SMALL DETAILS   As you can see in these photos, our facilities are well maintained and preserved. By paying attention to small details, we foster a work environment that results in a high level of pride in the products processed at our facility and in an attitude that is shared throughout our entire organization..

PHYSICAL FEATURES 0F APGG's SHELLING PLANT

1. The entire shelling plant floor is 4 feet above ground with no ramps for access, primarily an insect and rodent control feature.  No truck slips to hold water, and air curtains installed at all rollup doors guard against flying insects. 
    
2. All processing equipment is 8 feet above the plant floor, built on a solid-steel mezzanine with capped tubing for easy cleaning.  Even the handrails are a new design.  The processing area has more working room around each piece of operating equipment than in any other plant.
    
3. The air filtration system is second to none ever before designed for a peanut shelling facility.  There are no cyclone dust collectors in this plant.  All air is filtered through (3) 350 horsepower fan bag houses.  Air washes are installed to further clean product as it is conveyed from one process to another in all areas of operation.  This system eliminates about 40% of the electrical conduit normally needed in a plant of this type.  Electrical conduit is difficult to keep clean and the air system thereby eliminates potential insect harborages.  Less individual aspiration fans on equipment also means a quieter, cleaner plant. 
    
4. The farmer stock cleaning system within the plant is also unlike any other in the industry. The new cleaning concept is built around better aspiration, LMC Roca stoners, LMC gravity separators, and increased stick removal.  This system has been a joint development between LMC's research in both the peanut and almond industries.
    
5. The new shelling system is a completely new LMC design.  The screening decks are larger, aspiration systems more efficient, (and the most exciting aspect) it includes plenty of Marc gravity separators and Roca stoners.  In times past, shelling capacity was limited by the capacity of the gravity separators.  As a result, the gravities were often overloaded and performance slipped.  In this new design, the shellers will limit capacity, thereby preventing overloading of the gravity separators and stoners, a must for consistent quality.
    
6. The entire plant electrical system will be controlled by Programmable Logic Controllers(PLC's).  This computerized electrical system allows us to program specific safeguards into our processes.  With touch-screen controls, the entire plant is started with the touch of one finger to the computer screen.  The PLC's allow machines to start in sequence automatically, never bringing up another motor, until the first motor has reached adequate RPM speed.  This system allows for energy savings each and every day that the plant runs.
    
7. The entire shelling plant building including the cleaning, shelling, sizing, sorting, packaging, and finished good storage is under one roof. The air filtration system allows us to have no partition walls between processes.
    
8. The plant is equipped with a Safeline Metal Detector to identify any non-ferrous metals that might make their way into product, and magnets to identify any others.  The plant also uses Sataki Color Sorters to identify damage and foreign material in 100% of the product.  All product is sized before it passes through the color sorters, adding consistency to the process.
   
9. The new plant design separates the LSK ("Loose Shelled Kernels")early in the operation, and processes them separately.  LSK normally contain alot of the foreign material (FM) normally found in peanuts, and separating LSK early in the system allows the plant to focus on this concentration of FM more adequately.
    
10. The plant utilizes two automatic samplers.  One sampler obtains peanuts for USDA Federal State Inspection Service (FSIS) to grade each lot, and the other obtains a sample in the identical way, used for our Inhouse Foreign Material Evaluation.  Each sampler retrieves approximately 1.2 pounds each time the scale dumps, which is 18-19 times per 2,270 pound tote bag.  Inhouse FM Limits are set for each grade of shelled peanuts we produce.  This automatic sampling system allows our controls to be measured on a much more consistent basis than most plants, and has allowed us to continually tighten our specifications.
     
11. We enlisted the assistance of J.Leek Associates to help develop our GMP's, SOP's, Food Safety Plan, HACCP, and product evaluation procedures and limits prior to plant startup.  We also had LMC perform inhouse training for operators during the first two weeks of plant production.             

 
NEW WAREHOUSE IMPROVEMENTS

Some warehouse improvements have been used at the new facility.  One warehouse is equipped with a LMC sand separator and in-floor vetilation.

NEW DRYING IMPROVEMENTS

The peanut drying at the new facility is performed with single jet dryers.  Additionally, both semi drying trailers and 21' peanut drying trailers have been designed with 40% perforated floor openings, rather than the 23% perforated floor openings used in the past.  This design change increases air flow, and reduces the heat necessary to dry the product.