The Herbert Oculus whole potato sorter from Key Technology will be on display at Interpom in Kortrijk Expo, Belgium, from November 27–29, 2022, together with a selection of other high-performance solutions for fresh and processed potatoes and vegetables.

Key helps processors and packers improve food safety, maximize product quality, raise yield, save labor costs, and increase line efficiency by offering cutting-edge optical sorters, specialized vibratory conveyors, and other process automation equipment. Key also offers world-class customer support.

“At Key, we have a long history as a trusted partner to potato processors worldwide, applying our deep industry expertise to deliver innovative and reliable solutions that address the most pressing production challenges of the day. With extreme weather hurting the quality and quantity of harvested crops, it’s become imperative that processors get as much good food as possible from farmers to consumers. We give food processors the tools they need to produce the quality products that consumers expect, despite fluctuations in the incoming product, all while maximizing yields and reducing operating costs. Our mission is to help feed the world safely while minimizing food waste,” Antoine van Bree, President, of Key Technology – EMEIA and Asia said.

For entire potatoes, Key’s Herbert Oculus digital sorters identify and exclude potatoes with infections and abnormalities as well as potatoes that don’t fit the desired length and breadth profile. Herbert Oculus transports the product across several rollers that give the color cameras a 360-degree view of every tuber so they can examine its size, shape, color, and surface texture.

Herbert Oculus achieves 20% more surface examination than conventional cascade sorters, increasing sort accuracy. Low drop points guarantee gentle handling, reducing damage to safeguard product quality.

The Only Vision System on the Market that Removes Flaws

The cutting-edge Veryx digital sorters from Key are perfect for wet and frozen potato goods, as well as a variety of vegetables and other products. They remove the defective product and foreign material (FM) to assure product quality while virtually reducing false rejects.

When using Sort-to-Grade software, Veryx classifies each surface flaw and, if relevant, strip length, and decides whether to accept or reject each one based on how the flaw will affect the product grade. This ensures that final product criteria are satisfied while also enhancing yields. The Key Discovery program from Veryx gathers, examines, and disseminates data to identify patterns and trends that enhance sorting and aid in the management of upstream and downstream operations.

The only vision system on the market that removes flaws from french fries to transform “poor” strips into “excellent” ones and immediately increase yield is Key’s ADR automatic defect removal system for potato strips.

The potato processing and packing lines use Iso-Flo®, Impulse®, Marathon®, and ZephyrTM vibratory, horizontal-motion, and belt conveyors to transfer, feed, align, grade, dewater, scalp, distribute, and handle other jobs, from receiving entire potatoes to feeding packaging equipment. To separate entire potatoes or potato products by length or diameter and remove select FM, mechanical equipment such as rotary size graders and other devices are used.