Spanish organic pistachio producer chooses the TOMRA 5C and improves productivity by 5%.

Spain

Tuesday 16 July 2024

The Agri-Food Cooperative "SAT del Campo", dedicated to the cultivation of high quality organic pistachio nuts, relies on TOMRA Food sorting solutions. The TOMRA 5C allows it to adapt flexibly and quickly to the changing demands of its customers, to ensure the quality standards required by European markets and to optimize its results.

Globally, pistachios are the second most consumed nut. This market, according to the Mordor Intelligence report, has an annual growth rate for the next 5 years of almost 4.5%. Europe is today the second largest market for pistachios after the U.S. Its production and the high consumption of this group, make the market in this region present a continuous and rapid growth. Germany, Italy, Greece and Spain are the European players, both as importers and producers.

The Spanish pistachio market is on the rise and with good growth prospects. In terms of consumption, it has 20,000 metric tons in 2022 and 2023. In terms of production, it currently ranks fifth worldwide as an importer, being the third largest pistachio importer in Europe. And, in terms of production, although the area dedicated to pistachio in Spain has increased by 145% in the last five years, from 32,000 to 78,495 hectares, only 30% of the total is currently in production. This means that production will skyrocket in the next 5 years. The main reasons for growth in Spain are based on the high profitability of pistachio and its high resistance to drought. This has allowed Spain to climb positions in the international market. It is also a very profitable crop due to the high demand in the European Union not covered with product from this continent (Source: Study "Present and future of pistachio cultivation and processing, a business perspective", June 2024, Agróptimum).

But all that glitters is not gold. The nut market is undoubtedly a demanding market for processors. Not only do they have to meet the demanding specifications of their customers, but they also have to cope with a myriad of parameters in terms of food safety. They must reduce the risk posed by allergens when different nuts are unintentionally mixed and ensure that foreign material and shells are removed from the final product to guarantee its quality.

In this context, the figure of SAT del Campo stands out, an Agri-Food Cooperative of Castilla La Mancha, dedicated to the cultivation of high quality organic pistachio, founded in 2010 and located in Villacañas (Toledo). Specializing in the premium segment, it incorporated the TOMRA 5C optical sorter to adapt to the highest quality standards and be able to adapt flexibly and quickly to the demands of its customers.

David Pérez Pardo-Pimentel, general manager of the factory, explains the rapid evolution of the company: "We started in 2010 with 5 farmers with great enthusiasm and desire to innovate in the agricultural sector of Castilla La Mancha. After many changes and advances, in 2024 we have 75 farmer-members and more than 1,400 hectares of pistachio, 95% organic and 5% in conversion to organic. In 2025 we will also have a new pistachio processing plant to adapt production to the growth expectations of the pistachio farms of our farmer-members".

As David Pérez explains, this growth has led to important decisions being taken to lay the foundations for sustained growth. Firstly, obtaining IFS Food Certification and, secondly, incorporating TOMRA Food's pistachio grading solution. Both milestones have been a turning point in the trajectory of the company that meets the highest standards of quality and food safety.

"The needs of our cooperative increased exponentially due to the growing demand of our customers who are increasingly demanding in terms of quality and deadlines. This situation became even more evident when we obtained the IFS Food Certification, which sets high quality standards in processing and in the management of product traceability and food safety. IFS has been the key to penetrate new markets in the European Union that demand this high level of certification," says David Perez.

TOMRA Food's solution has enabled SAT del Campo to cope with the growth in its production while achieving its high quality standards: "In these 14 years, production has increased between 15% and 20% per year. Handling certain production volumes we had to invest in innovation and implement state-of-the-art machinery. So we decided to purchase the TOMRA 5C. It was the right decision," explains David Pérez.

As David Pérez assures us, the TOMRA 5C not only improves the quality of the end product, but also its productivity. "To date, we have improved the plant's productivity by 5%, although I am sure we can improve even more. We are getting to process 1,000 kg/h, even 2,000 kg/h, depending on the type of product, with a quality level adapted to our customers' specifications and a quantity that allows us to respond to market demand."

Try before you buy

"I am convinced of the advantages of optical sorting. The acquisition of the TOMRA 5C has improved the results of the SAT del Campo plant. Processing costs have been optimized and the disparity in pistachio sales prices in recent years has been cushioned, achieving a profitability in line with the estimates expected by the agricultural company," says David Pérez.

TOMRA Food has a wide experience in pistachio, both in the national and international markets. To facilitate the decision of its customers, it offers all kinds of facilities to test its solutions. This was the case with SAT del Campo: "I knew TOMRA Food since 2019 through Alejandro Palacios, former commercial manager and colleague at the University. In 2022, TOMRA Food invited us to carry out a demonstration with our pistachio at the facilities in Calpe (Alicante). The results were very promising, even exceeding our expectations in terms of the levels of false rejects that the machine had. After testing several machines with similar characteristics, the TOMRA 5C convinced us for its versatility and excellent results. Moreover, we have been able to verify these results with our end customers, so we are very satisfied with our decision," says David Perez.

TOMRA 5C, state-of-the-art sorting technology

SAT del Campo carries out the integral processing of pistachios. It starts with the "Peeling and Drying Phase". After cleaning the product by removing leaves and branches, we proceed to peeling, pre-drying, separation of empty pistachios (empty) and drying, to ensure that the moisture of cold pistachios is below 7% moisture. This stabilizes the pistachio within 24 hours of harvesting.

Next, the "Separation, calibration and classification phase" is carried out. After separating the closed pistachios from the open ones, they are calibrated by size.

"It is in this second phase that the TOMRA 5C comes into play. It accurately separates spotted pistachios from clean pistachios and sorts the kernels after the closed pistachio splitting process. It performs excellent discrimination of misshapen kernels, aborted kernels and hulls formed in the pistachio splitting process. This is where the TOMRA 5C shows its best results," continues David Perez.

Not surprisingly, the TOMRA 5C is used in a multitude of applications due to the efficiency of the combination of high-resolution laser and TOMRA Food's unique BSI+ technology, which allows objects to be analyzed not only for color and shape, but also for their biological characteristics. This allows you to find hard-to-see and almost invisible defects. Spectrum images obtained by the TOMRA 5C sorter identify their unique biometric characteristics.

"Without a doubt, the foreign material detection capability of the TOMRA 5C is spectacular. In this respect, it has no competition. And the truth is that the TOMRA 5C is still surprising us. The more we work, the more efficient we become in its operation and the more we find new possibilities for the equipment," adds David Pérez.

A satisfied customer: better quality, more productivity and an investment for the future.

"I recommend this equipment in terms of capacity, safety, ease of operation, warranty, and versatility of the equipment. In addition, there are many possibilities with the continuous development of optical sorting technology. On top of that, working with TOMRA Food is very easy. Apart from the training we have received, there is always a TOMRA technician available to help us improve," concludes David Pérez.

If you are interested in TOMRA technology, submit your inquiry today.