Must-see solutions for sorting, grading, processing, and post-harvest at Fruit Attraction

TOMRA Food will spotlight its sorting, grading, processing, and post-harvest solutions at the Fruit Attraction international trade fair in Madrid next month (IFEMA MADRID, 3-5 October). A team of TOMRA Food’s experts will be on hand to discuss the company’s new European hub in Valencia, Spain, which opened this month, and the direct-to-market approach now being taken by TOMRA Food in Latin America. 

TOMRA will give live demonstrations on its stand of Spectrim, Inspectra2 and UltraView, the industry-leading optical sorting and grading platforms. One side of TOMRA Food’s exhibition stand will also dedicate displays to the TOMRA 5X and TOMRA 5A sorters, and TOMRA’s Service solutions.

TOMRA’s stand will also highlight its close relationship with European integrated business partner ICOEL, which designs and manufactures fruit handling, processing and packaging equipment. TOMRA and ICOEL machinery are often used by the same processing and packing plants, particularly in Europe. 

As a meeting point for professionals from both the fruit and vegetable sectors, Fruit Attraction attracts more than 90,000 visitors from 135 countries. 

Getting closer to customers in Europe and Latin America  

TOMRA’s new hub in Valencia will strengthen the company's support of European fresh fruit packers. These new premises, which include machine demonstrations and customer training facilities, will increase the European presence of TOMRA Food – the brand which also includes the businesses formerly known as Compac and BBC Technologies. 

Roberto Ricci, Roberto Ricci, recently appointed as Regional Director EMEA at TOMRA Fresh Food, part of TOMRA Food, commented: “At the same time as giving the Spectrim demonstrations at Fruit Attraction, we will be informing citrus packhouses across Europe how we can help them satisfy customers’ product specifications, meet export standards, solve the problems associated with labor shortages, and futureproof themselves in an era of digital transformation. In California alone, TOMRA typically installs up to 200 new lanes at citrus packhouses annually. With our increased presence in Europe, we are well-positioned to increase the number of our installations here.” 

TOMRA’s strategy to interact more directly with existing and potential customers can also be seen in Latin America. Here, in March 2023, TOMRA Food moved from an indirect, third-party approach to customers to a direct approach. 

Roberto Ricci said: “At TOMRA Food, our ambition is to be best-in-class for our industry, increasing revenues through organic growth. Opening our new hub in Spain and expanding our hub in Chile is an important part of this. Our customers in these regions tell us they want to deal directly with TOMRA, and we are recruiting more than 50 people to strengthen the many ways we support them.”      

Solutions under the spotlight 

Spectrim is the world’s most powerful fresh produce optical grading platform, powered by machine learning and powerful imaging. Spectrim is often coupled with Inspectra², a non-invasive solution for internal grading, and UltraView which provides ultimate detection of defects located in the stem bowl and tip area of fruit. These solutions sort and grade major and minor defects, including surface blemishes, insect damage, misshapen fruit, and abrasions. And because sorting parameters can be configured to differing defect levels, Spectrim ensures the right fruit goes into the right box. 

The TOMRA 5X’s advanced X-ray sensor inspects materials on food lines with unprecedented clarity. By detecting high-density materials, this is the best machine for removing foreign materials such as glass, stones, dense plastics, and metals. The TOMRA 5X is great for pit detection and finding internal insect damage by seeing the internal structure of food products. For more complex tasks, this sorter employs Artificial Intelligence.

The TOMRA 5A is a premium bulk sorting and size grader that is very popular with potato processors and great for other food products. This heavy-duty, high-capacity, high-performance machine sorts out a wide range of foreign materials, with a removal rate greater than 98%, and detects and ejects products that are misshapen or spoiled by rot, mold, or discoloration.

TOMRA Services helps food processors and packhouses get the most from their machinery by calibrating solutions, training users, and providing the proper support at the right time, sometimes in person and remotely. This is made possible by TOMRA’s global network of highly trained field service experts backed up by application experts and technical support teams.