Helping a European customer achieve high-capacity, hygienic fine grinding for spices and food ingredients

1. Market Background

In Italy and across Europe, industries such as spice processing, herbal products, compound seasonings and bakery premixes are placing increasing emphasis on grinding consistency and hygienic design.
Many small and medium factories still rely on older or small-capacity mills, which often suffer from insufficient throughput, unstable fineness, long cleaning times and high cross-contamination risk.
These issues make it difficult to support a production model with multiple SKUs, small batches and frequent product changeovers.

To upgrade its production line, the Italian customer wanted a food-grade 304 stainless steel universal grinder with an integrated operation platform that could cover 800–2000 kg/h capacity while remaining easy to operate and clean for a wide variety of materials.

2. Customer Profile & Application

The Italian customer is mainly engaged in:

• Grinding and processing of various spices (pepper, chili, herbal spices, etc.);

• Contract manufacturing of compound seasonings and premix blends;

• Fine grinding of basic ingredients such as grains, sugar and salt.

Typical application scenarios include:

• Multi-shift continuous production, requiring high throughput and stable running;

• Frequent changeover between different formulas, demanding simple structure and easy cleaning;

• Serving retail and foodservice clients, where powder fineness and hygiene are critical.

The core goal was to ensure stable fine grinding while reducing manual workload and cleaning time, and to minimize material residue and cross-contamination between different products.

3. Our Solution (Product Package & Key Specifications)

Based on the customer’s capacity requirements and plant layout, we supplied a complete set of:

JB-80 Universal Grinder with Operation Platform (Food-Grade 304 Stainless Steel)

• Model: JB-80 universal grinder

• Main material: All product-contact parts are made of 304 stainless steel, meeting food-grade requirements;

• Capacity range: approx. 800–2000 kg/h, depending on material properties and target fineness;

• Suitable materials: Spices, herbal materials, seasonings, grains, sugar, salt and other dry ingredients;

• Structural features:

  • Simple, compact design with key components easy to dismantle and reassemble for cleaning;

  • Smooth internal transitions in the grinding chamber to reduce product build-up and residue;

  • Integrated operation platform for safe and convenient feeding, inspection and maintenance, reducing the need for bending or climbing.

Key Technical Data (Excerpt)

The machine was fully assembled, test-run with material at our factory, then carefully protected and packaged according to export standards before shipment to Italy.

4. Customer Feedback

After installation and commissioning, the customer reported several improvements during trial production:

• More consistent powder fineness
  Spices and seasoning blends now reach a more uniform particle size, which improves downstream mixing and packaging stability.

• Shorter cleaning and changeover time
  Thanks to the simple structure and easy-to-open design, cleaning the grinding chamber and related parts between different products is noticeably faster.

• Safer and more ergonomic operation
  The operation platform allows operators to feed and inspect the machine at a comfortable height, reducing bending, ladder use and related safety risks.

The customer has indicated that future equipment upgrades on other product lines will reference the same JB-80 configuration to gradually replace older, small-capacity mills.

5. Conclusion

This JB-80 universal grinder in 304 stainless steel with integrated operation platform, exported to Italy, has helped the customer upgrade in three key areas:

• Achieving stable, fine grinding for a wide range of materials at 800–2000 kg/h throughput;

• Reducing cleaning and cross-contamination risk through food-grade construction and a simple, low-residue design;

• Improving on-site safety and efficiency with a user-friendly operation platform.

For other spice, seasoning and food ingredient processors handling multiple products with frequent changeovers, this kind of “food-grade universal grinder + ergonomic platform” configuration is also a strong option when planning capacity expansion or process upgrades.