Issue 3 2019

processing and packaging
53
at a European level and have
helped throughout the company’s
expansion into Portugal, the UK
and most recently into Italy.”
Commenting on the collaboration,
Pieter De Backere, co-CEO at
d’Arta, said: “Some time ago
we were given a demonstration
of the prototype SORTEX FA2
and its capabilities exceeded our
expectations. This resulted in
us ordering two of these optical
sorters for a packaging line in our
facility in Portugal.”
The hygienically-designed
SORTEX F range has the ability
to accurately detect even subtle
colour defects, extraneous matter
and foreign materials in frozen
fruit and vegetables. The SORTEX
FA2 is able to handle processing
capacities of up to 14 tonnes per
hour.
“Our good experience with the
SORTEX range led us once again
to turn to Bühler when we needed
a sorter with more processing
capacity at our Yorkshire Greens
facility,” continued De Backere.
The process
During the annual harvest, peas
arrive already shelled at the
Yorkshire Greens facility. They go
through a series of washing and
cleaning processes before being
blanched and then move through
an individual quick freezing
(IQF) process to rapidly bring
their core temperature down to
-20°C. The frozen peas are then
spread out across a vibratory
tray for presentation to an optical
sorting machine to remove any
out-of-specification product.
The accepted peas are placed
into large tote boxes and stored
in a freezer until the harvest is
completed.
The totes then come out of
the freezer and are sent to the
packing hall. Here they are
presented to another optical
sorter to remove any missed
out-of-specification product
and any other material which
may have found its way into the
batches between the first sorting
operation and packing.
Higher capacity solution
Because the IQF line at Yorkshire
Greens is capable of producing
15 tonnes of product per hour, a
correspondingly higher capacity
sorting solution was needed.
Bühler was already in the process
of developing such a solution for
the frozen product sector when
it was approached by Yorkshire
Greens for a solution.
David McCambridge, Applications
Specialist at Bühler, explains
further: “Yorkshire Greens needed
a solution before the start of the
next pea harvest so when they
heard that we were developing
a higher capacity sorter they
expressed an interest in helping
with the development process.
“Yorkshire Greens installed
our prototype machine in the
processing hall and then went
on to help us test and validate it.
D’Arta shipped frozen products
of varying qualities to the site to
see how the optical sorter coped
with a wide variety of different
www.foodmagazine.eu.com issue three 2019