Have you ever thought about all the steps blueberries undergo to reach their firmness, sweetness and juiciness before arriving at your tables? We’re pretty sure you have! To ensure the highest quality of our fresh blueberries from field to processing, there’s indeed a key phase that goes on inside our processing plants: The freezing process.

“We are extremely careful that the highest food safety standards are met once our berries reach our processing facility,” says production manager Miguel Luna Victoria. “The maximum amount of time that this process should take is two hours and a half- from the harvesting phase to load up, transport and reception at the process plant.”

Upon arrival at the processing facility berries are received and taken to rapid cooling. Since berries arrive at 25-27 ºC still breathing and transpiring, they are taken to 8 ºC (46 ºF) for up to 24 hours. Then they continue their process by entering rapid cooling tunnels at 1ºC. This helps the ripening process in order to keep our blueberries fresh and at the same time guarantees the best flavor quality.

In case you haven’t heard, “freezing is one of the oldest and most widely used methods of food preservation, which allows preservation of taste, texture and nutritional value in foods better than any other method.” (Delgado and Sun, 2000)

Inside the process plant every employee uses protective equipment such as special jackets, masks, helmets, gloves and boots. All the working system to produce the best blueberries is alive, including the phase of sorting and grading which enables an inspection of the surface of the fruit to detect even the smallest defects.

“I really enjoy working in the processing area and learning from every step,” says Miguel. “There’s so much happening and I really enjoy the dynamism in my day to day!”