Numerous types of food processing machinery and beverage processing equipment are used in food processing plants. Some of the pieces of equipment used for food processing are slicers, shredders, and pumps. Peelers, which are used to peel fruits and vegetables, are another type of food processing machinery. Can-seaming machines used for closing and sealing cans are another type of equipment. Metal detectors are often considered another variation of food processing equipment used in the industry.
Food processing machinery may be made up of equipment that seals and fastens cans and jars. One such piece is called a screw capper device. These devices fasten bottle caps on beverages or other containers.
Tray wrapping machines are used in food processing plants. This equipment mainly wraps plastic cling wrap neatly around food items. Most of these machines are used with another piece of equipment called an extruder or coiling tunnel, which helps feed the wrap through the machine.
Industrial food processing machines, such as meat and poultry dicers, are used for heavy volume cutting and dicing. These are often utilized for dicing small pieces of meat for items such as canned stew and soups. Safety regulations and other policies meant to prevent the risk of cross contamination mean that dicing machines for meat must be kept separate from those intended for poultry or seafood.
Industrial sized can openers are a type of food processing machinery used in almost all food processing plants. Can crushers are one type of equipment that can minimize the space of discarded aluminum cans. Can ejectors are another type of food processing machinery.
Juice extractors are a common piece of food processing equipment used to extract the juice of fruit, which may be used for fruit juices. Vegetable extractors are a variation on this type of machine used for vegetables. To separate the pulp from certain fruits or vegetables, a juice or vegetable press may be used in food processing plants.
Many miscellaneous pieces of food processing equipment are used in everyday production and manufacturing. One such machine is the lettuce shredder, which is used for packaging salads or vegetable blends. Potato chip slicers will slice potatoes evenly and to the right consistency before they are packaged in bags. Whole peanuts will be fed through a machine known as a peanut butter mill, which is used for production of peanut butter.