A Deep Look into the Lays Chips Factory | How Fresh Potato Chips are made

A Deep Look into the Lays Chips Factory | How Fresh Potato Chips are made
Hello, and welcome to today's video. In this video, we will be taking a deep look into Lays Chips Factory, explaining how potato chips are made in the factory. But before we begin, make sure you subscribe to this channel and give this video a like. Let us proceed.
So, Lay's is a brand and the name of the company that founded the chip factory in the United States. The factory is also sometimes referred to as Frito-Lay, and this is so because both Lay's and Fritos are brands sold by the Frito-Lay company.

All the potatoes would come directly from the field. Some of them are stored, and some get shipped for processing the chips. Regarding the manufacturing process, when the potatoes arrive at the plant, they are always examined and tested for quality. A half dozen or so buckets will be randomly filled. Some of the potatoes are punched with holes in their cores in order to track them through the cooking process. These potatoes will be perfectly examined for blemishes and green edges. They will now weigh the pile of defective potatoes. During the weighing process, if the weight exceeds a company's preset allowance, it is highly possible for the entire truckload to be rejected.

The potatoes move along a conveyer belt to the various stages of manufacturing. These conveyor belts are powered by gentle vibrations to keep breakage to a minimum. After this is done, the potatoes will be loaded into a vertical helical screw conveyer. This makes stones fall to the bottom and pushes the potatoes up to a conveyer belt to the automatic peeling machine. After the peeling has been done, the potatoes will now undergo a complete washing process. By this, they'll get the starch off, rinse or soak the potatoes for about an hour. This process will help remove some of the starch from the surface and prevent the sugars from browning before the potatoes are processed.

After the washing process, the potatoes are now sent to a peeling machine using a professional electric potato peeler. This peeling machine makes quick work of all potato peeling needs with an incredible output capacity. The electrical components are always protected in a sealed box to ensure safe operation. The potatoes pass through a revolving presser that cuts them into paper-thin slices. There are straight blades that produce regular chips, while rippled blades produce ridged potato chips. The slices also fall into a second cold-water wash. This also helps remove the starch released when the potatoes are cut. Most manufacturers who market their chips as natural do not always wash the starch off the potatoes. There are times when the potatoes need to be chemically treated to enhance their color. This is where the process is done. The potato slices are immersed in a solution that has been adjusted for hardness, pH, and mineral content. Manufacturers treat potatoes with chemicals, including phosphoric acid, citric acid, hydrochloric acid, or calcium chloride. This helps in reducing the sugar level and the product's color. The bags are designed and printed, stored on rolls, and brought to the assembly line as necessary.
So, once the potatoes are peeled, they are now ready for cutting with a cutting machine. With this cutting machine, those potatoes will be cut with ease, no matter what shape of potato the factory wants to cut. This cutting machine will cut the potatoes effectively in half the size of a good chip.

During this packaging process, the potato chips are conveyed to a packaging machine with a scale. However, the preset weight of chips will initially be measured. Once it's measured, a metal detector checks the chips once again ore for any foreign matter. At times, some metal pieces could have come with the potatoes or been picked up in the frying process. So, this metal detector checks this very well. After that, the bags flow down from a roll, and a central processing unit code on the bag informs the machine how many chips should be released into the bag.

Also, the filling process needs to be accomplished without letting an overabundance of airflow into the bag. This helps prevent the chips from breaking. Although many manufacturers utilize nitrogen to fill the space in the bags, it isn't a bad strategy. The sealed bags are then conveyed to a collator and then hand-packed into cartons. Also, some companies pack potato chips in I-O cans of different sizes. After this, the chips flow down a chute into the cans. And then, the workers weigh each can and make all necessary and important adjustments or corrections.

Once the work is perfect, they now attach a top to the can. It's as simple as that.
Finally, you should understand that potato chips show no sign of declining in terms of popularity. However, the public's high demand for low-fat foods has put most manufacturers on a fast track to manufacture a reduced-calorie chip.

[texaswunderkind]

In 1st grade my class took a field trip to the local potato chip factory. It was the greatest day of my life.

[missk]

AND if you’re lucky, you’ll get at least 5-6 chips in your bag of air!

[Tinstared]

A man was applying for a job at "Lays". The interviewer had a half filled glass of water on his desk. He asked the man who was applying for a job "Do you see a half empty glass or a half full glass?". The man said I see a full glass! ". "Your hired" was the immediate reply.

[tomthomas]

My first job was working for a stationery company who had the Frito account. Fritos off the line every visit. At 77, this memory still drags me to the Frito rack every time!

[davidziemann]

I'm more amazed that humans actually invented that entire production line from scratch.

[Justnobody]

When growing up in south Alabama in the 60s, we all grew tons of potatoes that went to Lay's and Golden Flake.
All those fields and potato sheds where the field trucks would take the potatoes to be prepared for shipping are gone now and filled with suburban houses.
And thoes day you could buy a family size full bag of Lays chips for .59 cents.
Now you buy a bag of air for 6.99!
And I remember growing up the commercial slogan for Lay's chips was." BET YOU CAN'T JUST EAT ONE." Well, you can now. Because that's all that comes in a bag!!!

[lauloretto]

Having adhd is like: I’m going downstairs to get a sheet, “humm I have Lays, I’m going to eat”, “how are they made?”, video, video ends, my potatoes too and now I feel guilty because I totally diverted the focus of my day

[greenbeagle]

Potato chips are my kryptonite - can't have them in my house. And Lays is the absolute best. I love these types of videos to see how things are made/done.

[magnuswalker]

1972 found me starting my career as an engineering draughtsman in a Scottish company who made food machinery including chip/crisp plants, nice to see the up to date version and yet not a lot has changed in fifty years.

[DennisJohnsonDrummer]

I was once addicted to Lay's Bar-b-que potato chips. Scrumptous!

[georgeshotrodbarn]

I used to work for them in the truck shop and on my break i would go in the back door of the plant and get me a hat full of hot fresh chips right off the line, they were dam good.

[joey_bonin]

So, the oils got cheaper and the price went higher. That's my deep look at Lay's.

[FerretJohn]

Nitrogen is usually added into the bag before sealing to help keep the chips from going stale, as well as to turn the bag into a pillow so the chips don't get crushed during handling.

[Rem]

I am amazed by how much was skipped, how much was shown that wasnt what he was talking about at that time, and how little was actually shown.

[StoneColdMagic]

There’s a Lay’s factory right by our house. We drive past it all the time. On the days that they’re cooking the smell is divine.

Also, though I’ve never tried it, I’ve heard that if you have them fresh from the factory you’ll never want to eat store bought again.

[SadabahaarKhushbu]

Packet filled with 30% Chips and 70% Air😀😁😂

[HeathRobert-om]

really enjoyed the insights in this video, it's fascinating to see the process behind such a popular snack. but honestly, do we really need that many different flavors of Lays chips? i feel like the classic ones are already perfection and maybe all the options just overwhelm people. what do you guys think?

[ernestehrhart]

I worked for frito lay for 34 years. I was fierd for
fighting for you, my customers there was one hour of production with no salt. I wanted it destroyed. The company said no. So you got it. In 34 years I never had a product recall. There up to 7 recalls. It's a very drity place. Your food comes from.

[harrykuheim]

A Lays Chip bag freshly opened is the BEST

[luckpup]

I love when you can really taste the oil.