Key Technology has introduced a new sorting system for fresh-cut apples, the VERYX digital sorter.
Using Key Technology’s Iso-Flo shakers and rotary sizing and grading systems, the sorter removes stems, seeds calyx, core parts, blemished apple parts and foreign material, the sorter automates inspection, improving quality, increasing yield and reducing labor needs, according to a news release.
“Our expertise in both digital sorting and product handling enables us to design highly innovative and effective integrated systems to solve persistent food processing challenges,” Karel Van Velthoven, advanced inspection systems product marketing manager, said in the release. “Until now, fresh-cut apple processors around the world have typically relied on manual inspection to achieve their quality objectives.”
The VERYX sorter leads to “massive product recovery,” according to the release, if placed after apple cutters. A typical system uses people who inspected apples halves or wedges but the post-sliced segments are smaller.
The system sorts peeled and un-peeled apples, was well as pears, can sort a variety of shapes, including cubes and strips, according to the release. Key Technology can design lines that will process up to 33,000 pounds of apples an hour.
Different apple and pear varieties, and shapes of the fresh-cut fruit, can be programmed and switched within seconds, according to Key Technologies.
The company’s Information Analytics software can be incorporated on the line, giving processors access to data that can be used to optimize the process, according to the release.
The company is based in Walla Walla, Wash., and has other U.S. locations in Redmond, Ore., and Sacramento, Calif., as well as locations in Europe and Australia.
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