The potato products line, station by station.

A potato products line, most often making frozen french fries and wedges, turns raw potatoes into par-fried, frozen and packed product held in cold storage until it is shipped. Potatoes arrive from storage, are washed and destoned, and go to the peeler. Large fry plants commonly use steam peelers, which remove a thin, even layer from irregular tubers and keep peel loss low. Peeled potatoes are inspected and trimmed to remove defects that would show in the finished fry. The slicer, usually a hydraulic cutting system on large lines, pumps potatoes in water through a knife grid to cut straight, crinkle or other fry shapes, while mechanical cutters make wedges and specialty cuts. Cut strips are then graded to remove slivers and short pieces, and optical sorters remove strips with defects. Strips are blanched to inactivate enzymes, even out colour and reduce sugars, and may be dried before frying. The fryer par-fries the strips for a short time, setting the outside and giving the texture customers expect when the fries are finished in an oven or fryer. Oil management, temperature control and fines removal matter for quality, and frying conditions are part of how plants limit acrylamide. After frying, excess oil is removed and the fries are pre-cooled. The blast freezer, often a tunnel or fluidised-bed freezer, freezes the fries individually so they stay separate and free-flowing. Freezing speed protects texture and prevents clumping. Packing follows. Multihead weighers portion frozen fries into target weights and vertical form-fill-seal machines make retail or food service bags. Weighers and baggers must work reliably with hard, cold product and avoid ice build-up. Case packers then load bags into shipping cases, which are palletised and wrapped. The line ends in the cold store. Cold-store racking holds pallets densely in frozen conditions, with rotation rules so the oldest stock ships first. Because frozen space is expensive to build and run, racking density and handling equipment are part of the line's economics.