El Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico – Empaque Don Jorge (El Original) opened its doors today and will soon begin packing Crespo Organic Ataulfos from El Grupo Crespo’s Nayarit orchards. EDJI is the hometown packhouse of El Grupo Crespo & RCF Distributors and is Latin America’s largest hydrothemal packhouse and home to El Grupo Crespo’s three proprietary brands; Crespo Organic, RCF and the Mango King, which is the company’s specialty mango brand (named after and honoring the late Alan Alvarez, aka- the Mango King.
EDJI, originally built by Roberto Crespo Fitch in the early 1970’s, and totally modernized by the Crespo siblings several years ago, will alleviate significant mango pressure on the industry as a whole. As the largest hydrothermal Mexican mango packhouse, packing over 15 of the most coveted brands on the US/Canadian markets, instant relief in filling a pipeline that has been more empty than full, will be felt by all.
This season starts with increased square footage, 155,000+ SF now configured for a total of 10 packing lines, packing over 15 different labels for growers across Mexico and for some of the largest conventional US mango importers. Two dedicated full-time packing lines accommodates the Crespo Organic brand, including a specialty SKU line devoted fully to company’s numerous package SKU’s like the Net Bags and A Case for Consumers. Additionally, there is a separate processing and packing section dedicated solely to non-hot water treated and Canadian exports. (Organic & Conventional.)
This modern packhouse, revamped and modernized now includes 11 stainless steel hydro-thermic tanks allowing over 64,000 KG of fresh mangoes to be USDA hot water treated simultaneously, while state-of-the-art cooling equipment cools the processed fruit rapidly in the seven cold rooms as well as pre- and post-cooling facilities.
All the high-tech, efficient, and worker-friendly stainless-steel machines – washers, sorters, polishers, conveyers, and packing lines are splayed out across the vast space, ready for the heavy volume of mangoes coming and the Summer Mango Mania to commence. Anticipated delays to the start of the Nayarit round fruit gives the packhouse a little more time to get ready for processing at full capacity- around 16-18 truckloads per day. (Just shy of 1 million pounds of mangoes per day!)
The entire mango packing process is extremely complex, it all happens in 72 hours, with over 18 hours allocated to post-pack cooling. EDJI is one of today’s most efficient and quality-driven packhouses packing for North America. Head to Under The Mango Tree for all the current facts & figures.
