Page 14 - AMEFT Journal 2021-4

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Optical sorting for improved quality and food safety
Brand reputation is so important, yet in the confectionery business all it takes is one momentary slip in standards for this to be damaged and devalued. If just one batch of defec- tive products should reach the end of the production line - or worse still, a foreign material potentially harmful to health - the commercial repercussions can be catastrophic. This means that installing optical sorting machines on confectionery lines is crucial not only for product quality, but also to assure food safety.
Today’s sorting technologies achieve accuracy that manual sorting sim- ply cannot match. The optical sorting machines offered by industry-leader TOMRA Food can be relied upon to de- tect and eject foreign materials, cross- contamination, product clumping, and malformed products. And at the same time as looking over the production line like guardian angels, automated
14 AMEFT 4 2021
sorters also enhance product hy- giene, solve labor-related challenges, increase throughput, maximize yield, and gather data that can unlock fur- ther improvements in line efficiency.
Changing Demands
The sorting related threats matters more now than ever before because consumers’ demands are changing day by day. More people around the world are earning middle-class incomes and acquiring middle-class tastes. More are raising their expectations of food product quality. And fewer are pre- pared to tolerate product imperfec- tions without complaining about them on social media platforms, where com- ments and photos can quickly reach and influence large audiences.
Today’s confectionery market is also being changed by the need for sustain- ability. More people are now aware that it is crucial to reduce energy use and
greenhouse gas emissions and take bet- ter care of our planet’s limited resourc- es. Retailers and consumers want to see food manufacturers addressing these concerns by implementing sustainable business practices and taking active measures to minimize food waste.
For all of these reasons - and be- cause confectionery ingredients can be costly - sorters must remove un- wanted materials and imperfect prod- ucts without also throwing away good product. That’s why TOMRA’s sorters are designed, developed, and fine- tuned on-site to eject unwanted ma- terials with minimal product loss. To minimize food waste and maximize yield, TOMRA’s machines achieve an exceptionally low good-in-bad reject ratio - and any good product ejected from the line can be recuperated when rejected materials are double-checked by running them through a sorter for a second time.
(Source: TOMRA)
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