Tomra premiers sorters at Canadian event

GROWERS, packers and processors of fresh fruits and vegetables will find a Tomra solution for their sorting needs. The company can customise a system as its machines are fully modular and allow for feature permutations, according to vice president and sales manager, Diarmuid Meagher.

Tomra will showcase the Halo, the Primus Gemini optical and the Field Potato sorter, at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association Annual Convention and Trade Show, held from 2-4 April at the West Building at Vancouver Convention Centre.

The Halo is the latest advancement in sensor-based optical food sorting. It offers high performance sorting and grading, based on factors such as: detailed size, geometry and shape; subtle blemishes, colours and defects; damage; and foreign material. The machine gently handles food and counts high capacity, low maintenance, flexibility as well increased profitability, as its selling points. Further benefits include labour reductions of up to 80%, increases in throughput and yield as high as 25% and 4% respectively, a faster pack, low operational costs and improved product quality.

Applications for processors include skin or peeled potatoes, carrots, apricots and peaches, pear halves, tomatoes, green beans, citrus fruits - such as oranges and mandarins – as well as onions. Fresh and pack applications include: salad, small, large, russet, sweet and main crop potatoes; carrots and parsnips; pickles, cucumbers and gherkins; plus tomatoes.     

“The Primus Gemini sorts multiple fruit applications with defects such as discolorations, shrivelling, softness, hail and insect damage, plus foreign material, delivering a high quality end product, meeting modern consumer demands, and providing a very fast return on investment,” says Karel Strubbe sales manager, the Americas and Oceania, Tomra. “Offering high capacity and low maintenance, the machine provides flexibility and gentle handling. Easy to use and equipped with an intuitive graphical user interface, it delivers optimal product scrutiny through its multiple inspection zones.”

It is suitable for blueberries, cherries, cranberries, olives, raspberries, red berries and strawberries. Like the Halo, the product offers higher yield and throughput, reduced labour requirements, increased uniformity in colour and ripeness in packs, and the salvaging of traditionally uneconomic fruit.

The Field Potato Sorter (FPS) enables growers, processors and packer companies to lower labour and potato storage costs significantly, whilst raising product quality and yield. With a unique, patent-pending biometric signature identification (BSI) technology, the FPS provides a multi-spectral representation of the visible and near infrared (NIR) spectral zones, which allows it to analyse and identify organic characteristics and compositions of all objects. It can therefore distinguish dirt clodsNike Fingertrap Air Max