The solutions provided by sorting technologies are more necessary now than ever before.

In this blogpost, we interviewed our IQF vegetables expert Alejandro Palacios Valencia. We discussed 5 burning questions in the industry:

Could it be that social distancing brings people and businesses closer together?

The two main goals of vegetable processing, food safety and product quality, are sacrosanct – but the goalposts keep moving. When a different batch of leafy greens comes rolling down the line, processors often have to recalibrate their machines to detect different types of defects and achieve different quality grades. This complicates the day-to-day business of processing, but there can be no excuses: no matter how much or how often circumstances change on the processing line, product imperfections have to be detected and ejected.

The two main goals of vegetable processing, food safety and product quality, are sacrosanct – but the goalposts keep moving.

Each incoming truck load of carrots might vary in quality. Due to slightly different weather, soil or growing conditions, there might be more or fewer discolorations, or a sudden influx of foreign material. And because carrots are sold in varying quality grades and differing forms, product specifications often also need changing. This complicates the day-to-day business of vegetable processing, but there can be no excuses: no matter how much or how often circumstances change on the processing line, product imperfections must be detected and ejected.  

The two main goals of vegetable processing, food safety and product quality, are sacrosanct – but the goalposts keep moving.

Every incoming truck load of green beans might vary in quality. Due to slightly different weather, soil or growing conditions, there might be more or fewer discolorations, or a sudden influx of weeds or even insects. And because beans can be sold in varying quality grades and differing forms, product specifications also need changing. This complicates the day-to-day business of processing, but there can be no excuses: no matter how much or how often circumstances change on the processing line, product imperfections must be detected and ejected. 

So much depends on vegetable processors. Not least, product quality to protect retailers’ brand reputations and food safety to safeguard consumers’ health. But processing vegetables is rife with threats invisible to the human eye. Potentially harmful and sub-standard produce has to be identified and rejected from the processing line, yet defect-detection can be extraordinarily difficult.

With the demand for fresh, convenient and healthy food growing among consumers, leafy greens are the order of the day. From fresh cut to pre-washed and pre-packaged products, this is a rapidly growing market with significant potential.

In many markets, quality, taste and origin remain three of the biggest influences on consumer behaviour and purchasing decisions. In response to this, retailers continue to revise and upgrade their specifications, pushing fresh pack carrot producers to meet higher standards and food safety regulations than ever before.