LEGUMBRES SELECTAS SIERRA NEVADA, a Spanish company, based in Granada, specializes in producing, processing, and marketing superior quality pulses. It is the Spanish market leader and is one of the top 5 companies on the European market in processing lentils, beans, and its own-production chickpeas. The company has found the Nimbus BSI+ by TOMRA to be the solution to the issues specific to grading pulses. This technology has achieved improved quality and food safety, a ten-fold increase in its production capacity, and a much more automated, controlled, and efficient process for its staff.

TOMRA Food has launched its Arabic language website, providing a dynamic online platform for its Arabic-speaking customers.

The new responsive website, tomra.com/ar-eg/sorting/food, offers visitors insights into TOMRA’s product innovations, latest news and event updates for audiences across the Middle East.

This guest article is an expert opinion from Cindy van Rijswick, Senior Fresh Produce Specialist from RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness

Processing organic vegetables, once a niche specialty, is now big business. However, while crops grown without pesticides are regarded by consumers as exceptionally natural and safe, they bring processing lines additional complications and risks.    

The search for quality

Damien Renard, director of the EARL de Tremonvillers, has been collecting Quality certifications for 25 years: QUALITAIR, GRASP - GlobalG.A.P., HVE Level 3. Industrial customers make it, in some cases, a sine qua non condition for referencing. These quality labels also bring meaning to Damien's profession by validating or challenging his processes during the audit phases before certification.

Today, TOMRA Food, a global provider of sensors, equipment and digital solutions for the food supply chain, joined over 200 forward-thinking companies as the newest project member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).  

The Swiss company Kentaur AG, a specialist in cereals processing, has been using a TOMRA 3C optical sorting system to sort puffed grain for a year now. This has resulted in a significant optimization of output: the TOMRA sorter ensures high sorting performance and accuracy and helps Kentaur meet the strictest requirements for food safety and quality. The investment has paid off - since the new system was introduced, there have been very few issues with the puffed grain end products.

Imagine that vegetable farmers could suddenly multiply their yields per acre. Or that the vegetable-growing season continued with ideal climatic conditions forever. Or that local soil quality and climate didn't matter. Or that there was no need to use pesticides because rodents and insects were nowhere to be seen. Or that large volumes of vegetables could be grown and processed on the edge of urban areas, slashing the time and expense of transporting produce to retail outlets. Growers and processors would be busy all year round in a predictably manageable way.

The free-to-download publication identifies how vegetable processors will be affected by changing market demands

Food demand is changing in ways that will bring vegetable processors more business. Retail sales of vegetables, boosted recently by home-cooking during COVID-19 lockdowns, are expected to keep on rising for reasons unrelated to the pandemic. One sales-driver is stronger demand from established markets, where food preferences and diets are shifting. Another sales-driver is increasing demand from emerging markets, where millions more people are starting to earn and consume more.