Tropicana of Ft. Pierce had a plant tour and I went!
Cold Storage Tank buildings hold 76 separate 1,000,000 gallon tanks. Fresh squeezed, never frozen, not from concentrate, orange juice. It's all collected during the harvest season and stored till bottling all throughout the year. They have a massive 'daily tank' which they fill to bottle from.
The Fort Pierce Tropicana bottling plant tour.
After going to a 'wrestling match' two weeks ago, I received an invitation to see the Tropicana bottling plant. Unfortunately cameras and recording devices are not allowed on property, so i cant show you the massive bottle filling machines. This overhead system of pulleys and spinning bottle washing machines from Germany, and Italy carry hundreds of bottles per minute through the filling station. Faster than a speeding bullet the bottles are filled, the caps installed and then the finished OJ is carried to another machine where it is packed and heat shrunk, then stacked onto pallets. It was incredible. The entire operation was very impressive and we got to drink some Orange Juice!
It was a super efficient operation with every part of the Orange utilized. Plus the city landfill is next-door to the plant and Tropicana buys the overflow methane gas from the landfill to burn for power creating their own electricity. There is a huge lake on property which collects rain water for use in the cooling plant. It seems they have everything they need except the Oranges. Fortunately Florida has plenty of Oranges!
It was a super efficient operation with every part of the Orange utilized. Plus the city landfill is next-door to the plant and Tropicana buys the overflow methane gas from the landfill to burn for power creating their own electricity. There is a huge lake on property which collects rain water for use in the cooling plant. It seems they have everything they need except the Oranges. Fortunately Florida has plenty of Oranges!
I think I'll drink some OJ now.... -Skip
