Produce machinery specialist Belgian Electronic Sorting Technology (BEST) has announced the development of a brand new berry sorting machine that it says is the 'perfect answer' to the needs of berry processors for the fresh and immediate quick freeze (IQF).
The new state-of-the-art sorter, the Primus Gemini, builds on the success of the BEST Primus sorter in the fresh blueberry industry, combining the latest optical components in an improved mechanical set-up.
'Conventionally, fresh blueberries needed to be sorted on two separate machines, one to take out the discoloured products, the other for soft berry detection,' the group said in a news release. 'Because of this double sorting step, the berry was dropped down the sorters twice, resulting in a higher risk of bruising.
'Another disadvantage was the fact that often one machine was used for both detection steps, resulting in a higher false reject load and the machine not being able to handle all defects, when the incoming product was machine picked and thus had a higher amount of defects,' the group added.
However, BEST revealed that the new Primus Gemini sorter allows the blueberry farmer to first sort berries by colour, reject the off-spec products and, further on, inspect the blueberries again and remove the structural defects using laser technology.
'Both sorting steps are integrated into one single sorter,' the group noted. 'This allows the processors to limit the risk of damaging and separating both reject streams, which can now be used for different purposes, where before they were frequently lost.'
A more accurate sorting machine cuts the need for increased labour during the picking process, BEST explained, while the Primus Gemini boasts gentle handling, a simple graphical user interface, and the ability to sort other products such as cherries, cranberries and IQF raspberries.
