Lettuce growers adopt Tomra sorters

Source：TOMRA Sorting Solutions Release Date：2014-02-26 337

Food & Beverage

Combined capabilities of FLUO laser and Advanced Foreign Material Detector favour vegetable growers

The latest sorting technologies from TOMRA are gaining interest from a number of lettuce growers in the United States, the company said. The FLUO laser technology is a patented sorter of lettuce based on its chlorophyll content, and the Advanced Foreign Material Detector identifies defects and foreign materials. Both are features in the company’s Genius belt sorters which include cameras and options for lasers, and Nimbus free-fall, double-sided laser sorters.

Sales manager for Americas and Oceania, Karel Strubbe said that the new sorting technology was developed in cooperation with the University of Brussels, and provides a black-and-white contrast between good lettuce – which is high in chlorophyll – and inferior produce or foreign objects, containing lower amounts of the pigment or none at all.

Mr Strubbe said, “The technology is effective enough to detect small chlorophyll-containing areas – such as parts of leaves between products – and defective elements, including stones, plastic, glass, wood, metal and rotten spots. It therefore offers American lettuce growers and processors very high detection efficiency and extremely low false reject rates.”

The FLUO technology is also applicable to other vegetables containing chlorophyll, such as peas, green beans and spinach.

The Advanced Foreign Material Detector (AFMD) identifies defects and objects that are difficult to distinguish, as a result of the products’ similar structure or colour characteristics. These are sorted on product-specific features and with an optical configuration not limited to one application.

The AFMD is changing the way baby leaf processors operate, according to Mr Strubbe. He said lettuce sorting organisations are able to add radicchio or frisée lettuce into their mixes before they enter the sorting unit. “Prior to the AFMD’s optical technology being introduced, US processors had to mix these elements in after sorting, running the risk they still contained imperfections,” he said. With this technology, processors can sort every kind of baby mix and identify defects, including presence of mould.

TOMRA creates sensor-based technologies for sorting, peeling and process analytics. It has four strong brands: TITECH for recycling, TOMRA Sorting Mining for mining, ODENBERG for food and BEST for food and Specialty Products.

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