Why Tallow & Fries Chose to Stay No-PEF

Why Tallow & Fries Chose to Stay No-PEF: A Look at Pulsed Electric Field Technology in French Fry Production

At Tallow & Fries, we built our company around a simple idea: frozen French fries should taste exceptional and feel good to eat. That means potatoes, pure beef tallow, and a pinch of seasoning—nothing more. No seed oils. No additives. No unnecessary steps that distance the product from the potato itself.

When we designed and constructed our new production line, we examined every major technology used by the industry. One kept coming up in conversations with equipment suppliers and journals: Pulsed Electric Field, or PEF. It is now deployed across the vast majority of large-scale french fry manufacturers. We evaluated it thoroughly, including the practical question of fitting it into our own line. What we learned shaped a clear decision. Tallow & Fries is a No-PEF frozen fry. Here’s why—and what PEF actually does.

What PEF Technology Is and How It Works

Pulsed Electric Field treatment applies short, high-voltage electric pulses to whole potatoes while they are typically submerged in water. The pulses create temporary or permanent pores in the cell membranes—a process called electroporation. This releases the potato’s natural internal pressure (turgor), softening the tissue almost instantly and with virtually no heating. Temperature rises are usually less than 0.4°C. The entire treatment lasts only seconds.

The technology has moved far beyond laboratory curiosity. The first industrial PEF systems for french fries were installed around 2010–2012. Since then, suppliers such as Elea and Pulsemaster have placed hundreds of units worldwide, with individual systems capable of handling from a few tons up to 100 tons of potatoes per hour. Major processors—Agristo, Ecofrost, facilities associated with McCain, and many others—use it routinely across Europe, North America, Australia, and beyond. Industry voices now commonly describe PEF as the standard or near-standard pre-treatment for high-volume french fry lines. Source: Pulsed Electric Fields in the Potato Industry, Kevin Hill et al, Springer Nature, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-70586-2_9

Why Large Manufacturers Embrace PEF

The benefits that drive adoption are concrete and well-documented in both commercial practice and peer-reviewed studies.

Cutting and yield. Softened potatoes cut more cleanly and with less force. Breakage and feathering drop dramatically—often from industry baselines of 2.5–11% down to under 1% or a few percent. Fries come out longer and more uniform. Starch loss into process water falls by roughly 10% on average. The combined effect delivers yield gains typically in the 1–4% range. Complex or specialty cuts become easier and less wasteful – think waffle cuts (We’re unlikely to have a waffle cut fry introduced in the near term unfortunately). Cutting blades also last longer. These are significant improvements financially and operationally. Sustained yield improvements flow right through to the bottom line. 

Resource efficiency and cost. PEF replaces traditional thermal pre-heaters that hold potatoes at elevated temperatures for extended periods. Energy use drops by up to 90%, often to just 0.3–1.5 kWh per ton of potatoes. Water consumption falls sharply as well. Treatment is continuous and fast, eliminating long residence times and the hygiene headaches that come with warm, starch-laden water. Payback periods of 6–18 months are frequently reported on large lines through energy, water, yield, and oil savings. Source: Impact of pulsed electric field (PEF) pretreatment on process performance of industrial French fries production, T. Fauster et al, Science Direct, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260877418301845

Oil uptake and finished product quality. Smoother cut surfaces and altered tissue structure usually reduce oil absorption during frying by around 10%. This lowers fat content in the final fry, extends frying oil life, and can improve texture—crisper exterior, better internal structure. Color is often more uniform. Some research shows improved leaching of reducing sugars and amino acids, which can support lower acrylamide formation when combined with milder frying conditions.

Biological and process hygiene. Because the potatoes themselves are not heated, process water stays cleaner—fewer microorganisms and less free starch. This is one of the practical advantages that first caught our attention during evaluation. In broader food applications, higher-intensity PEF can inactivate vegetative microbes, though bacterial spores remain more resistant than under thermal processes.

These gains are real for continuous, high-throughput operations running many tons per hour.

Our Evaluation: What Surprised Us and What Gave Us Pause

We approached PEF with genuine openness. We studied the literature, spoke with suppliers, and examined how the equipment would integrate into the line we were building. Initial interest centered on the potential reduction in biological and hygiene issues in process water. Cleaner water streams and fewer microbial challenges looked attractive. The potential yield improvements were also very enticing, not to mention, the potential to introduce a new fry cut. 

Then the practical numbers arrived. For a system matched to our relatively modest production capacity, the power requirement was in the low double digit kW range requiring additional electrical connections. Alongside the capital cost of the equipment itself, it represented a significant investment for a small line. Floor space was another real constraint. When we modeled the projected savings against these costs and the physical footprint, the economics no longer favored installation at our current scale. For the smallest PEF unit available, our line should be producing at least 2x it’s nameplate capacity, if not 3x, which pointed towards a potential installation during our future line 2 expansion, not now.  

We also dug into the health, nutrition, and food-quality research. The studies available to date are not negative - I would say there's some positives here - but there are gaps in knowledge. PEF is non-thermal at the intensities used for potato tissue. Research indicates that starch inside the tuber largely retains its native properties under typical industrial conditions. Nutrient retention is generally favorable compared with traditional heating, and the lower oil uptake in the finished product is a clear compositional benefit. Some work even notes possible advantages in certain bioactive compounds. SOURCE: Understanding the Properties of Starch in Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum var. Agria) after Being Treated with Pulsed Electric Field Processing, Setya BM Abduh et al, 2019, NIH https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6560427/

Yet detailed, long-term human studies focused specifically on chronic consumption of PEF-treated potato products remain limited. Questions about subtle metabolic responses in plant tissue, possible low-level electrode interactions (metal ion release under some conditions), full metabolomic shifts, and extended nutritional outcomes still have relatively few comprehensive answers. The potato cuts we have worked with will often break with enough compression force. PEF processed potato cuts on the other hand, will safely bend under the same force. While nothing we encountered raised red flags, the unknowns felt meaningful for a brand that’s being built on transparency and minimal processing. SOURCE: The application of PEF technology in food processing and human nutrition, Nowosad, Karoline et al, Springer Nature link, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13197-020-04512-4

If our operations were substantially larger, we would have continued the evaluation more aggressively. At greater scale the operational efficiency and biological upsides become more compelling and the capital outlay easier to absorb. For us, cost, space, and the preference for keeping production as natural and straightforward as possible outweighed the benefits. 

Keeping It Natural: Our Brand Decision

We chose not to install PEF. Tallow & Fries remains a No-PEF frozen fry. Our potatoes move through a simpler process before they are cut and fried in pure beef tallow. That choice aligns with everything we set out to create: recognizable ingredients, no seed oils, and a production approach that stays close to the potato itself. 

PEF is an effective industrial tool. It delivers measurable improvements in yield, resource use, cutting performance, and product consistency for the companies that run large continuous lines. We respect the engineering and the commercial logic behind its widespread adoption. At the same time, we believe there is room—and value—in a different path. For a brand focused on simplicity, flavor, and minimal processing, staying No-PEF felt like the right course. 

We will keep watching the research. New data on long-term nutritional effects, refined electrode materials, or more compact lower-power systems could change the equation for producers of our size. Until then, our fries will continue to be made without pulsed electric fields. 

If you care about how your food is made, we invite you to look at the full picture—the impressive efficiencies PEF brings to large-scale manufacturing, the remaining questions around long-term effects, and the deliberate choice some of us make to keep things simpler.

At Tallow & Fries, that choice is clear: No seed oils. No additives. And No-PEF.