Potato farmers are encountering an ever-increasing spectrum of hazardous foreign material in their fields making effective sorting a critical element of the processing line, writes TOMRA’s Jeffry Steemans in a recent article.

Undetected foreign material such as glass not only carries a potentially fatal risk to the end consumer, it triggers a breakdown in trust which can have an irreparable impact on a brand’s reputation – something which, in the digital age, has become increasingly difficult to repair.

Product recalls: Something No Business Can Afford

Product recalls set in motion a domino effect that negatively impacts every single stage of the food supply chain. They are costly in terms of business, brand and the environment – unnecessary stoppages in production result in increased energy consumption while recalled products have nowhere to go further contributing to waste in landfills. When things go wrong, a product recall can be truly devastating for a potato manufacturer in terms of financial loss and status meaning that automated sorting is not just good for business, it’s vital.

Manual sorting: Ineffective and Unavailable

While foreign materials pose a significant threat to the quality and safety of a product, manual labor also opens up the potential for human error which can result in other objects making their way into the food stream. Within the context of food safety, the limitations of manual sorting are clear however sociological factors such as rural depopulation and an increasingly educated workforce mean that farmers no longer have the same access to labor as they once did. As the demand for food continues to rise in line with a growing global population, optical sorting is no longer seen as ‘optional’ but, rather, as the industry benchmark for maintaining operational efficiency, product quality, and food safety.

Improving Productivity, Quality, and Value

From whole potatoes to French fries, chips, crisps and specialty potato products, TOMRA’s potato sorters offer the removal of foreign materials such as stones, plastics, wood, and glass.

According to Steemans, TOMRA’s potato sorting solutions can detect and reject product defects based on biological characteristics, shape and size, structure, color, and density while recovery sorting ensures no good product goes to waste. Furthermore, LED illumination and multispectral cameras facilitate the identification of very small foreign materials and contaminants, as well as abnormal solanine (greening)/chlorophyll content which can be time-consuming to inspect and remove.