Storage of Potatoes in Pallet Boxes for Chip Manufacture

Excerpts from the report Introduction: Potato chip companies now attempt to obtain potatoes that can be processed at once into light-colored chips, without reconditioning the potatoes at the chip plant. Storage temperatures much below 50° F. result in excessive accumulation of reducing-sugars in potatoes and consequent undesirable dark-colored chips. Although raising the temperature to 70° to 80° for 1 to 4 weeks following cool storage may restore the potatoes to the desired condition, this process is costly and uncertain. High real-estate values at many of the chip plant locations make extensive reconditioning facilities too costly there. Moreover, a certain amount of risk is involved in reconditioning potatoes. Sometimes this process cannot be accomplished at all or within a reasonable length of time. By the time the processor has determined this, the potatoes have become almost worthless for other uses because of sprouting, shriveling, and decay. Potatoes stored at 50° F. or higher soon begin to sprout and unless used shortly after sprouting begins, excessive loss of weight results. Zukel was probably the first to demonstrate that the foliar application of maleic hydrazide (MH) would inhibit potato sprouting at moderate temperatures. Following this discovery many investigators gave attention to this problem. Results of many studies show that application 4 to 6 weeks before harvest at the rate of 2 to 3 pounds of the active ingredient per acre was apparently best. Patterson and others obtained beneficial effects on the specific gravity and color of potato chips from the use of maleic hydrazide, but in general other workers have not obtained these effects. This report deals with a study of pilot-plant size to test the commercial feasibility of storing potatoes in 1-ton pallet boxes that could be handled with forklift equipment, at temperatures high enough to insure good chip color and yield by using foliar applications of MH to prevent excessive sprouting during long storage.