Colour sorting boosts yields
when it comes to increasing yields from dried ingredients, but UK
firm Radix says that its unique equipment can help manufacturers to
significantly boost turnover, as Simon Pitman found out at
this week's FI-CEE show.
The machinery costs €70,000 to €140,000, but managing director Milan Fuchs says that manufacturers can recoup their investment within the space of a season - or two to three months.
So what is this technology? The Autosort MC series is equipment developed by Radix to help manufacturers of any dried foods, such as biscuits, vegetables, herbs to sort out colour defects. In a world where food colour inconsistency can render an ingredient worthless, this can prove vital to suppliers.
The equipment relies on high resolution camera technology that sorts ingredients according to a preprogrammed colour spectrum. As Fuchs explains, light-weight ingredients such as dried vegetables are "puffed", whereas heavier ingredients - like those used for biscuits and other snacks - are "blasted". This occurs as the camera scans all the ingredients running along the chute, in turn rejecting any discolourations.The equipment can be programmed to suit any colouration requirements and can simultaneously use two, three or four parts of the spectrum.
"The process is extremely fast and is invaluable to dry food ingredients suppliers wishing to up the quality," said Fuchs. "Obviously it primarily sorts discoloured ingredients, but it can also reject other foreign bodies such as insects.
"Until now we have been supplying the western European market with this equipment. However, as more manufacturing is shifted to this region and the issue of quality becomes increasingly significant there, so we are looking to supply manufacturers with this type of equipment. In doing that we are targeting the larger firms in markets such as Hungary and Poland, as SMEs in this region rarely have the resources for this kind of investment."
However, to dispell the attitude that manufacturers often find it hard to justify investment in this kind of technology, Fuchs is keen to stress that the investment can pay dividends fast."We supplied one manufacturer of dried chives with this equipment and the improvement in the company's product meant that they were able to increase the price they charged to their customers by 20 per cent." .
