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The Rural Voice, 2004-09, Page 32biggest market in the world.) Most of those beans come from HDC, as well as 4,000 tonnes of dark kidney beans, that come from HDC with even large lima beans being purchased through Hensall, though they may originate elsewhere. It means Dickinson spends a lot of time with HDC, sometimes flying to Canada and back in the same day. The company receives containers of HDC's cleaned and graded beans packed in two -tonne totes by Hensall Global Logistics. The beans are elevated into the plant where the first process is blanching to soften the beans. "If we didn't blanch when we got to the canning stage they would be very firm and very unpleasant." The blanching process differs on whether the beans come from Ontario or Manitoba. Ontario beans are blanched for 35 minutes compared to 25 minutes for Manitoba beans. Ontario (and Michigan) beans always process firmer, he says. Mud balls can be a real problem if they get into the blancher because they break down and dirty the water meaning the water must be emptied, the blancher refilled and the heating process started over again. "Thankfully, Hensall gets them out." From the blancher the beans go over "riffle plates" which make sure that no stones make it into the can. The beans then go on a belt where electronic sorting equipment and metal detectors protect the product safety. There is no manual inspection in the process any more. The beans drop into a hopper which feeds the filling machine which deposits the correct amount of beans in each can then adds the tomato -based sauce. It's important that there not be too many cracked seed coats or split beans because there will be too much starch in the sauce and instead of a nice clean sauce there will be a sludge, Dickinson says. "You want a nice clear sauce that you can actually see the beans through." The canning system process from 600-2600 cans a minute, Dickinson says. Cans are then cooked, either through modern cooking towers or through rotary cookers. The process is designed to sterilize the contents dL4MB1L1N •GRAIN HANDLING • GRAIN STORAGE • GRAIN DRYING MADE IN ONTARIO MAITLAND VALLEY ma Agri Systems Ltd. LUCKNOW, ON 519-529-3820 28 THE RURAL VOICE by heating right to the centre of the can. The cans then go to the labeling machine. The speed of the canning process makes quality control essential because you can't afford to be shutting down the line to solve problems, he said. The concept of "every day low pricing" has driven price deflation, and caused consolidation of the retail sector. In Britain Tesco is the largest food retailer with 20 per cent of the national market with Sainsbury and Asda with 17 per cent each but Asda was recently acquired by Wal-Mart and its aggressive policies are driving the food industry in Britain. With only four or five major retailers there is intense competition for limited shelf space and food companies have had to try to make the most of limited space to sell their products. The good news for bean growers and bean processors is that beans continue to be hugely popular in Britain, Dickinson says. The biggest market is men between 45 and 64 and the next is women between 45- 64 but beans are eaten across the board by Brits. "People eat beans at breakfast time, atlunch, at tea -time and at supper," Dickinson says. The problem for a company like Premier is that canned beans become a commodity unless you add value by putting in mushrooms or tiny sausages to get higher prices. As a buyer, the world of beans has also changed, Dickinson says. In the past white beans were traded as a commodity with dealers, agents and paper traders all in the process. There was market volatility which allowed the middle -men to make profits though the original seller and the final buyer usually didn't benefit. "The grower had little or no knowledge of the destination of his beans," Dickinson says. "The canner had no knowledge of the prime producer. There was limited or nil traceability." Along came internet auctions, with the single purpose to drive down the price. "It's bad news," Dickinson says. "It's bad news for the grower because it drives the price like crazy."