SAKUMA BROS. FARMS

Project Description

Client: Sakuma Bros. Farms
Location: Burlington, Washington
Surface Area: 31,600 sq. ft.
Owner: Sakuma Bros. Farms

From Field to Package in the Same Day

IQF Process ensures Product Freshness

Sakuma Brothers specializes in the processing of premium small fruit. Based on Fisher’s success building its fresh processing facility, Sakuma turned to the firm for its expertise in freezers to build its new flash-frozen processing plant.

Fisher designed the concrete tilt-up building with a separate facility where the berries would be cleaned, sorted, inspected and for some, immersed in a nitrogen bath before being flash-frozen in an IQF (individually quick frozen) tunnel.

Fisher carefully coordinated the installation of the tunnel with the tunnel manufacturer, Cloudy Britton, to ensure that the conveyor lines from the tunnel and main plant fit properly. Fisher also constructed a 3,000 sq. ft. freezer on site, eliminating the costs associated with freezing products at a remote location and transporting them back for procesing. The new processing facility includes an employee area, testing lab, boardroom, process viewing platform and multiple door systems to keep dust and debris out.

Today, Sakuma can process and package up to 100,000 pounds of berries per shift for a variety of customers, including Japanese companies and Cascadian Farms, an organic producer and division of General Mills.