TOMRA Sorting Food product manager Roel Molenaers said: "INTERPOM | PRIMEURS remains the leading trade fair for the potato, fruit and vegetable sector in Europe and we are very glad to present here once again our different food sorting machines and peeling solutions.
"This year we are thrilled to present more than four new sorting solutions: Falcon, Halo, Blizzard and a new size grader for washed potatoes.
"Next to that, we will highlight important improvements to existing and proven solutions in the potato and vegetable industry."
The new cost-effective pre-sorter for the fresh cut industry, the Falcon, removes unwanted material brought into the production line from the field, including droppings, rodents, bugs, plastic, wood, soil clumps and stones.Molenaers added: "Through the Falcon we get rid of most defects at an early stage to ensure that the sorters further down the processing line can work at a higher efficiency rate and can assure a final product with an outstanding high quality."
TOMRA's new lettuce sorting machine complies with all stringent sanitary requirements of the fresh cut industry. Given the compact design of the sorter, it is easy to integrate into production and can simply be added to existing processing lines. It's open design facilitates the machine's maintenance and sanitation.
Molenaers added: "Thanks to the Falcon and its pre-sorting focus, the washing water remains much cleaner for a longer time. This results in huge savings for our customer."
TOMRA Sorting will give visitors to Interpom, a sneak preview of a new size grader for washed potatoes. The revolutionary grader has been designed to sort washed potatoes by length, width and a combination of both. The grader delivers a high-throughput grading to sort the whole crop of washed potatoes, up to 45,000kg/h.
TOMRA offers the grader as a standalone size grader or after quality sorting by its own sorting machines, like the Halo or Titan. The operation is simple and effective: whole potatoes arrive already in monolayer from the roller dryer, Halo, Titan or Sentinel. At this point the product stream does not contain any foreign material or waste. A shaker will align all the potatoes lengthways and transfer them onto a high-speed laned conveyor, where the imaging module inspects and classifies the potatoes by size.
The company will also exhibit the new user interface of the Halo sorter.
Molenaers said: "We are now proud to offer our customers a revolutionary intuitive touch screen.
"The new user interface provides operators with a confidence that if they can work with one TOMRA sorting machine they will be able to work them all. The customer is now really in charge of the sorter."
TOMRA will also showcase the Blizzard, a cost-effective optical sorting solution for the individually quick frozen vegetable and fruit market (IQF). The Blizzard offers a small footprint, can comfortably replace older generation sorters and easily fits into existing processing lines.
Processors of unwashed potatoes will get their money by getting introduced to TOMRA's Field Potato Sorter (FPS). This sensor-based food sorter removes soil clods, stones and foreign material. It is a high-volume, high-capacity and robust potato sorting machine for growers and packers that is built to last. The FPS machine is ideal for difficult lifting and variable crop conditions.
TOMRA will be displaying its steam peeling solutions. TOMRA's steam peelers have a unique design to peel root vegetables faster and more efficiently. Lines processing between 1,000kg/h to 50,000kg/h can benefit from the steam peeling approach, resulting in savings of raw material and energy. TOMRA's steam peelers can be used on a variety of root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, red beets, celeriac, swedes, peppers and chillies.
Molenaers stated: "There is no doubt that the potato, fruit and vegetable industry will benefit from TOMRA's sorting and peeling solutions. TOMRA shows once more to be the leading provider for the potato and vegetable industry. We are looking forward to meeting you at our stand place 110 to introduce you to our latest innovations and to discuss your specific food sorting challenge."
