Fruit and vegetables are, of course, not only essential to human beings. Animals, too, eat huge quantities of them. The volumes involved, however, often cause many zoos - like the Antwerp and Planckendael Zoos in Belgium -  headaches when it comes to labor intensity and efficiency.

That is why Antwerp Zoo reached out to Marcelissen Food Processing Machinery. The result? "Two Slitmaster 85 machines. Now staff spends six hours a day, instead of 16, cutting fruit and vegetables for the animals," says this Dutch company's Ryou Sawafuji.

Many people will never get to this it: At feeding time at the zoo, mountains of fruit and vegetables appear which all have to be processed into 'bite-sized' portions. At Antwerp and Planckendael Zoos, this was done, every day, by hand or using small-scale kitchen equipment.

"Because of our experience and reputation at the AAP Foundation [an animal protection organization in the Netherlands], who also use a Slitmaster slicer, the Antwerp Royal Society for Zoology Antwerp - which runs Antwerp Zoo - came to us when they decided to change things. They wanted a suitable large-scale kitchen slicer."

"In May 2022, after getting a short list of requirements, we delivered two customized Slitmaster 85 processing machines to both zoos. They have mobile undercarriages and standalone machine construction. You can thus, easily move these machines to the sinks for cleaning or the workshop for minor maintenance," explains Ryou.

This zoo project required a different approach to what Marcelissen usually does when supplying machines to the fruit and vegetable processing industry. "They process all kinds of fresh produce."

"That includes white and red cabbage, zucchini, apples, carrots, turnips, radish, parsnips, fennel, and cucumber. They can use the Slitmaster to quickly cut these into the desired slices," Ryou concludes.

For more information: Ryou Sawafuji Marcelissen  14 Blauwwater 5951 DB, Venlo, NL Tel: +31 (0) 774 752 002 Email: info@marcelissen.nl      Website: www.marcelissen.nl

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