Cashew processing technology in Vietnam is changing day by day and has really become an art...
The cashew industry expert told me that over 30 years ago, he saw that Vietnam's cashew processing technology was still the same. I think otherwise, our cashew processing technology is changing day by day, especially from 2010 until now. To demonstrate this, let's try to find out:
About the material purchasing organization
From a country specializing in exporting raw cashew nuts, from the 1980s to 1995 we started to stop exporting raw materials and now each year we import 1.7 - 1.8 million tons of raw materials from abroad. outside. That forces Vietnamese processors to change their technology to suit new circumstances, because often imported materials are more difficult to control for quality than the ones we buy from the country. In the storage of raw materials, too, in the past, loading and unloading workers had to climb trees hard, now that work has been mechanized, the warehouse is invested more methodically.
Seed treatment before splitting
In the past, more than 90% of factories applied the solution, or so-called oil-shaft technology, which caused environmental pollution and fire, but today, on the contrary, over 90% of factories use this technology. more environmentally friendly. Many localities and management agencies have banned factories from applying oil colander technology.
Hard shell cutting
In the past, factories used manual cutting machines with low productivity (productivity was only 35 kg/working day for row B), now we are using automatic grain cutting machines with high productivity, ensuring hygiene. Environmental, cutting specifications such as tank ratio, oil contamination are sometimes better than manual cutting.
Drying kernels
Most factories have not paid attention to improving this stage, but there have also been some pioneering factories applying dynamic drying method to shorten drying time, high product quality, and overcome cross-contamination in production. . In the past, the kiln was only used to dry kernels, today it is also used to restore moisture.
Silk Peeling
This is a stage that used to take a lot of labor because we organized the peeling by hand (one for each person to shave each grain), now we use a silk peeling machine. The tank rate is higher than manual peeling but the yield is very high. Each silk peeling machine now peels 1.2 tons per day with a success rate of 85-95%, obviously a lot has changed compared to manual peeling, which is only 7 to 8 kg/work. motion.
Classify
There are two issues that need to be discussed here when comparing manual classifiers with colorimeters. A good worker at this stage can divide about 120 kg/day, and using a color shot machine, it only takes two labors, we can size tens of tons/day (of course we still need labor). to check and remove defective products after passing through the color machine).
Fumigation
Most of the factories before and now are still fumigated with Phosphin, which is quite unsafe for workers' health. There are also some large factories that apply Eco2 fumigation method quite effectively.
Packaging, marking
This stage requires little labor, so factories pay little attention to improvement. Most factories pack goods in 25lb or 50lb plastic bags for the market outside China, while the Chinese market still uses tin boxes.
Thus, we see that cashew processing technology in Vietnam today has made a leap forward compared to our technology in the period before the 1990s in the following contents.
One is the increase in labor productivity by nearly 20 times
Reason:
Because we have succeeded in moving from manual production to partial automatic mechanization.
Innovating technology to connect better between stages, equipment is also better.
The training of human resources in factories is also done better than before.
The second is cleaner production, more environmentally friendly.
In the past, seed treatment with oil colander often pollutes the environment due to emissions from cashew oil to the environment (Co2, phenol, flour and is also very flammable), now it is processed by autoclaving without any waste. exhaust fumes, only waste water. Wastewater was also available in the past, wastewater treatment technology is not difficult, and the cost is low.
In other stages, because the connections use a lot of machines, workers are less hard-working and work in a cleaner environment.
Labor protection equipment is also paid more attention by businesses than before.
Third is better social responsibility.
Policies for employees are paid more attention by business owners than before, such as social insurance, health insurance, occupational accident insurance, and protection. More expenses for employees such as medical examination and treatment fees, toxic fees, meals, due diligence, year-end bonuses and unexpected bonuses... Enterprises no longer send goods to people or to re-education camps do as before, so minimize cross-contamination of microorganisms, molds and harmful substances. Most of the exporting enterprises have ISO, HACCP and even BRC certificates, while in the past, this number of enterprises could only be counted on the fingers.
This result is achieved because we have mobilized investment factories as under Vinacas's KCO7 project. In which, the main credit is from processing enterprises and mechanical enterprises.
Fourth, the processing process is shortened, increasing the turnover of capital.
Currently, in some enterprises, the processing process still takes 14 days, including sizing raw seeds, steaming one day, separating one day, drying and dehumidifying two days, peeling silk color one day, grading one day. , fumigation 5 days, discharge 2 days, packing 1 day. Meanwhile, there are factories that have successfully applied the process of cashew 8.0 even cashew 4.0, which is very beneficial because we save capital, labor and minimize cross-contamination in processing. What I want to say here is that in processing we are on the right track and have made great strides, that is the pride of Vietnamese people who do the same thing as us.
The art of cashew processing in Vietnam
Some say it's difficult to do anything, just cut the seeds, dry the kernels, peel the silk, sort, pack and that's it. But Dr. Stefano Mussari said cashew processing is an art. Ashock, a broker from India, also believes that cashew processing in Vietnam is an art. So what is going on?
In theory, art includes literature, music, painting, sculpture, cinema, architecture, etc. Each art form has its own specific language such as literary language, which is iconography and painting. is color lines, music is light sound. So what is the language of processing technology? Maybe cashew processing also uses images of certain signs and symbols, or even has its own rules of the game, to express the feelings of the processor and business person to their customers.
When consumers eat pure Vietnamese cashews (cashew nuts are grown, cared for, collected, preserved and processed according to a safe process of Vietnamese people), we have conveyed to consumers the idea of love. Vietnamese culture in the most complete, concise and vivid way, demonstrating our responsibility to the consumer community.