The Petrow Food Group, a UK-based supplier of food ingredients, has invested £850,000 in a high-tech nerve centre for its fruit processing line. The machine incorporates the latest technologies, including X-ray, flame unit, laser, throat metal detector and automatic packaging unit.
Throughout this, the group will be able to offer greatly enhanced levels of safety, quality and capacity. It will enable the company to deal with one of the most significant food-processing challenges – the identification and removal of stones, glass, metal and other foreign bodies.
The line for processing dates and other dried fruits was installed in Petrow’s Haverhill production facility in Suffolk in mid-September 2017. The brief was to twin improved speed and productivity with increased sensitivity and automation to enable Petrow customers to meet ever-more stringent demands from retailers and consumers for quality and food safety.
The sophisticated sorting technology is vital for maintaining quality standards, as not all harvesting and processing regimes at the origins go through the same quality and safety procedures.
Petrow Food Group Managing Director Ian Tatchell says: “This complete processing line assures outstanding ease and reliability of operation to throw open more opportunities for customers. Automation maximises production efficiency while advanced quality control offers the safety, quality and throughput to take performance and competitiveness to the highest levels.”
Mark Kirkley, Operations Director at Petrow Food Group, adds: “The new line has a maximum throughput of 1200 kilos, enabling us to respond quicker to larger volume orders from customers. Automation increases operational efficiency to meet and exceed customer expectations on safety, quality and legality at a time when such concerns are rising across all sectors of the food industry.”
The complete processing line boasts automatic unblocker and vibrating belts to smooth out clumps of dates or fruit. A macerator meanwhile removes pits before a flame unit rids the fruit of hairs. X-ray technology detects foreign bodies, specifically metal, ceramic and glass, while a throat metal detector optimises much higher sensitivity for the processing of bulk products.