Frey Farms, a commercial grower and shipper of fresh produce throughout the Midwest and Southeast, opened a cold-pressed processing center on one of its farms in Poseyville, Ind., according to areadevelopment.com.
The new 70,000 -q.-ft. facility is designed to produce large-batch quantities of cold-pressed juice and puree ingredients. The new facility will add a number of jobs to the Southern Indiana region.
The Poseyville juicery will now be the company's central location for processing 6,000 gal. of cold-pressed, unpasteurized watermelon juice a day. The company anticipates more than 300 tons of Frey Farms watermelons coming through the facility each week during the season, to expand opportunities in the foodservice industry, the online report said.
Each watermelon undergoes a proprietary process using minimal processing techniques to cold extract the juice and chill it to near freezing temperatures in minutes. Frey Farms says it's now applying a successful and effective vertical integration. The Poseyville facility completes all stages of production in-house.
"With the opening of the processing facility, we're able to closely monitor the use of raw materials and ensure the watermelons used for juicing are fresh, leading to superior quality for our existing retail partnerships and new customer opportunities," says Sarah Frey, CEO of Frey Farms and founder of Tsamma Watermelon Juice.
