After an erratic growing season, potato processors have had to deal with variable potato quality. However, this did not result in large-scale disapproval from parties. The average processing efficiency can even be called particularly high. The reason for this may perhaps be found in one of the most famous snack-related inventions of the last decades: the air fryer. The rise of the popular meal delivery service Thuisbezorgd also plays a role.
Not many people know it, but the air fryer is a traditional Dutch device, invented in 2005 by Fred van der Weij from Almere. He sold the patent to Philips, after which more than 900 million copies were sold. That number is still growing. Especially in the United States, the device is immensely popular among people who pay attention to healthy food but still want to fry. According to market research, more than 40% of all Americans now have an air fryer at home.
Coating the solution
If you put a standard fries in the air fryer, it will most likely end in a weak disappointment. You miss the crispy bite that frying adds to the potato sticks. Chip manufacturers have the solution for this. They coat (also called battering) the fries. This way they are not only crispy, they also have a firmer structure and the fries retain the heat for longer.
Coated fries are not only used for air fryers. Many fast food chains have now also embraced the technology. The rise of home delivery meals - especially during and after the corona pandemic - has made a coating on fries an indispensable part of the industry. Fries are at their best freshly fried. If you have to drive it halfway through the city, the firmness and taste will be long gone before it is consumed. Coated chips are slightly firmer on the outside, even when they cool.
Secret weapon
It is difficult to say how many fries are coated, but that volume is now significant. Potato processors do not throw around figures. The technology is not new. Lamb Weston is his own say inventor of the chip coating, which was invented about thirty years ago. This 'stealth' coating extended the crispiness lifespan by about fifteen minutes. That name (stealth = hidden) was deliberately chosen as the layer is almost invisible. It is made by the starch potato industry.
"Coatings have become an indispensable part of the industry," says Eric van Oorschot. He is innovation manager at the Dutch Kiremko, which produces machines for the French fry industry worldwide. Around the turn of the century, Van Oorschot, who is a potato grower himself, saw the development of coating technology, the use of which has exploded in the last five years. "First of all: you cannot produce A-quality fries from a bad potato. Coating or not," says Van Oorschot. "It is not the egg of Columbus. The process was devised to give fries a taste. Fast food chains soon discovered that potato sticks with an invisible starch layer (clear coating) remained crispy much longer. The so-called 'holding time' increased to 10 minutes ."
Check for salt
All major European manufacturers now also use these coatings. Not just fast food fries. Also for products that are in the supermarket or that are supplied to the food service chain. Van Oorschot: "Restaurants have discovered coated fries and no longer want anything else. This also applies to consumers with an air fryer. This device fries less aggressively than the deep fryer does. With a coating you get a comparable product. Because the coating also contains salt. The fries do not need to be salted afterwards. This allows you to reduce and control salt consumption. Consumers are increasingly attaching importance to this."
Back to the 2023 potato harvest. An estimated 350.000 tons were harvested, with the necessary ifs and buts in terms of quality. Coatings don't make the difference, but they do help. Van Oorschot and his colleagues also see the emergence of optical sorting technology as an important improvement in the processing process. Before the potato is cut, the factory uses hyperspectral cameras to assess whether the underwater weight is sufficient. The traditional salt bath to remove 'glass potatoes' is supplemented with these new techniques. Another game changer is the use of PEF (pulse electric field) technology. This gives the fries a smoother surface, meaning they lose less starch and absorb less fat.
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Returns go in all directions
With all technological developments, you expect the processing efficiency to show an upward trend over time. However, this is not noticeable in practice. Figures from trade organization Vavi showed rising returns at the end of 2023, which are now falling slightly. The five-year average is just 54%. If you compare the figures from 2009, the return at the time was 2% more.
What the monthly reported percentage does not show is the quality of the tons supplied. We can assume that the potato quality at factories has decreased on average between 2009 and 2024, but that at the same time the processing yield has remained the same and sometimes even increased. This is where the profit for the factories lies, or so Vavi also thinks. Yet that claim is also questionable. When the industry ran almost entirely on Bintje thirty years ago, the return was 50% to 55%. This has improved with the arrival of varieties such as Innovator and Fontane. The dry matter content (underwater weight) has also increased with the new varieties.
Residual products
A potato factory never only produces fries. "Almost every producer now has a line for rösti and similar products," says Van Oorschot. That's where the residual products go. The consumption of puree has remained the same, but that of rösti and hashbrowns has increased. Manufacturers are cleverly responding to this. Potato waste that is not suitable for consumption goes to the animal feed industry (such as steam peels and chips) or serves as raw material for fermentation.
"The chip production lines are now running at 90% to 95% efficiency," says Van Oorschot. "There is still development, but it concerns small improvements. Increasing production capacity is mainly done by installing more lines." If factories want to make a big step, this must be based on potato quality and not processing. “A potato tuber in the shape of a brick would be ideal, but nature doesn't like straight lines,” he laughs. "Turns in the shape of a submarine – as you see on Lady Anna, for example" is the most efficient at the moment. The thickness of the peel also has an influence. In North America, the Russet Burbank variety succeeds in growing the ideal potato with a high yield and a good yield, but it is unsuitable for European conditions."