TOMRA Food shares advice to help vegetable processors during COVID-19 crisis

TOMRA Food, designer and manufacturer of sensor-based sorting machines and integrated post-harvest solutions for the food industry, is reaching out to vegetable processors worldwide to help them tackle the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company launches an information campaign and shares online advice to explain production managers, plant managers, process engineers and quality managers how the latest, state-of-the-art sorting technologies can help solve the operational issues that have been caused or exacerbated by the economic impact of the pandemic.

Now, due to the current situation, people are cooking more frequently at home, and accordingly, the retail demand for vegetables of all types - fresh, frozen and canned - has significantly increased. Demand quickly outstripped supply when lockdowns began, and vegetable sales in many places are still above 2019 levels by about 30-35%.

For fresh produce industry, this is a big difference. Therefore, many processors are facing pressures to improve productivity and increase throughput. However, processors face a number of problems if to rush down products along the line very fast, which can compromise product quality. In another challenge, international travel bans have blocked access to seasonal workers, and COVID-19 reports about outbreaks at food processing plants dissuaded locals from doing such work. These issues have worsened long-standing difficulties recruiting and retaining labor. The third challenge related to the manual performing of line tasks, which requires introducing of social distancing measures and workers providing with personal protective equipment, which in turn adds the inconvenience and expense.

However, there are proven solutions to these challenges - optical sorting and steam peeling machines, combined with remotely supported startup and remote technical support by TOMRA Food.

Ashley Hunter, Senior Vice President and Head of TOMRA Food Sorting, said, “Today’s sophisticated sorting machines can reduce dependence on manual labor, maximize line capacity, and process large volumes of vegetables, around-the-clock if necessary, while assuring food safety and quality. In these trying times, it is now more important than ever that vegetable processors are aware of these capabilities.”

Some sorters, such as TOMRA’s Sentinel II, are located on the receiving side of the processing line. These pre-sorters prevent large foreign objects from getting to the line. Other sorters, such as the TOMRA 5B, are positioned downstream, where they can perform a variety of tasks: to detect weeds, to remove even the smallest fragments of foreign materials and to identify bruising or discoloring on the vegetable skin.

Another, important advantage of these machines is the ability to acquire, analyze, and act quickly on data of production lines that are connected and remotely controllable.

Users of these machines also benefit from remote online support through TOMRA Services as the company has fully staffed helpdesk in multiple countries and a global Field Service team of engineers.

TOMRA Food is member of the TOMRA Group. Today it provides technology-led solutions that enable the circular economy with advanced collection and sorting systems that optimize resource recovery and minimize waste in the food, recycling and mining industries.

For more information about TOMRA, please see their website.