Recent years have seen the development of a wide range of innovations in equipment design and manufacture for the fresh produce industry.

These include:

• Mechanized harvesting equipment
• Automated packing lines
• Equipment designed to measure and monitor the quality attributes of fresh produce, either in the field or packhouse e.g. the application of NIR (Near Infra Red) grading techniques that can sort every piece of fruit and vegetable on the packing line according to their internal quality characteristics
• Equipment that can measure, monitor and/or remove ethylene from storage facilities

These technologies confer a number of benefits to end-users such as better quality evaluation, increased productivity, reduced wastage and a reduction in operational costs.

CASE STUDY – Packhouse and storage equipment
We have worked with a number of companies supplying high-tech systems for sorting fresh produce according to their internal and external quality characteristics and for identifying defects, including rots. This led to the development of new applications for their technology e.g. detection of translucent rots in citrus.

Working with a supplier of air purification systems based on metal catalysts we helped develop a new application for their product –namely the removal of air borne spores from citrus stores. We were able to demonstrate their technology significantly reduced the potential spore inoculum in the headspace of stores and reduce potential cross contamination. This was reflected by improved pack out rates and reduced rejections by the food retailer.

CASE STUDY – Portable QC equipment
We collaborated with a start-up technology company to evaluate the performance of a portable prototype system for measuring ethylene levels in packhouses, cold stores and ripening rooms. The trials indicated their technology performed as well as a gas chromatograph, but was easier to use and more portable.

On behalf of a number of manufacturers and end-users we assessed a range of innovative technologies for the non-destructive determination of fruit quality, maturity and the assessment of the ripening stage of fruit. This led to the uptake of a portable hand-held device for determining ripening stage of fruit by UK ripening companies

We can provide the following services to growers, packers, ripeners, distribution centres and technology companies:

• Evaluate the performance of innovative equipment for any produce item
• Develop new applications for equipment