Miller Magazine Issue: 144 December 2021

67 COVER STORY MILLER / december 2021 products, and products contaminated with mycotoxins. One mycotoxin, aflatoxin, is a real concern: this naturally-occur- ring poison can contaminate corn kernels intended for use in foods for human consumption and for pets, can all-too-easily prove lethal for cats and dogs, and yet is extremely difficult to detect. Another challenge is that supply lags behind demand for many types of seeds and grains, but it can take years to plant more crops or enhance crop yields. This means processors must be more effective than ever at reducing food waste. It is no longer acceptable to use outdated sorting methods that discard large amounts of good product when rejecting bad products. Besides this, rejecting too much good-in-bad is throwing away potential income. Yet another challenge, certain to become more wide- spread in the near future, is the emergence of genetically modified crops. Though the sale of GM foods will become more commonplace, they are unlikely to be welcomed by all consumers and may even be restricted or banned by some food regulators. This makes it essential for processors to prevent non-GM foods from becoming cross-contaminated with GM foods. It is also important to prevent cross-contam- ination, resulting in products containing unintended ingredi- ents, such as soy, which are allergens. REASONS FOR OPTIMISM The good news is that all of these challenges - even the well-hidden threat posed by aflatoxin - can be met by using modern optical sorting machines. Industry-leader TOMRA Food offers a wide range of sorting solutions with various levels of sophistication to perform tasks of varying complexi- ty. These machines are precisely calibrated for specific food applications and highly effective for many types of seed and grain. TOMRA machines are currently in operation around the world, sorting seed and feed corn, dry beans, lentils, chickpeas, dry peas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pump- kin seeds, and roasted and unroasted coffee beans. As well as enhancing food safety and product quality, TOMRA’s sorters deliver other benefits. These machines can grade to specification, increase removal efficiency, minimize false rejects, reduce or eliminate the need for manual inter- vention, and reduce or eliminate dependence on manual labor. The last point is especially important in developing nations where processors have traditionally relied on peo- ple rather than machines for sorting: whereas manual sorting is subjective, imperfect, and especially vulnerable to error when workers are tired or bored, automated sorters can work for hour after hour with superior accuracy, consistent standards, and unflagging efficiency. What’s more, TOMRA’s machines are designed to be easy to keep clean, improve food hygiene, and be easily main- tained, reducing line downtime. And because TOMRA’s machine platforms are robust, and their optical sensors are optimally located, sorting performance remains stable even when working conditions are dusty or subject to tempera- ture extremes. Users find there is little or no degradation in sorting performance from the beginning of a shift to the end. WIDE-RANGING SORTING SOLUTIONS TOMRA’s sorters can inspect materials passing along the processing line according to their shape, color, structure, and biological characteristics. Which of these capabilities a ma- chine possesses depends upon its technical specification, which will incorporate one or more ways of ‘seeing’: x-ray, high-resolution cameras, lasers, near-infrared (NIR) optical sensors, and TOMRA’s unique Biometric Signature Identifi- cation technology. A variety of TOMRA machines are best-suited to seeds and grains: the Ixus Bulk, Zea, TOMRA 3C, and Nimbus BSI+, depending on the specific requirements. The Ixus Bulk employs the latest x-ray and imaging tech- nology to detect high-density foreign materials such as met- al, stones, glass, and plastics. The Zea, developed specifically for the seed corn industry, is an affordable sensor-based machine for sorting and grad- ing ear corn husk, defects, disease, and size. The TOMRA 3C combines high-resolution cameras with LED lighting plus laser or NIR units to remove foreign ma- terials and product defects. This affordable and compact machine needs very little floor space and is loved by op- erators for its intuitive TOMRA ACT user interface. It works by pouring infeed materials into a hopper, then sending the feed to fall onto a vibration plate, which is spread evenly on an infeed chute. The materials then fall further into a de- tection area, where they are inspected by a dual laser and double-sided high-resolution cameras. In a matter of milli- seconds, the intelligent inspection system rejects all defects. The acceptable product continues through the accept chute while the flaws are diverted via the reject chute. The TOMRA 3C’s technologies result in numerous advan- tages. The dual laser-induced scattering results in superior glass and foreign material removal; the double-sided RGB cameras, combined with high intensity LED lighting, remove the subtlest color and shape defects; the high-speed ejec- tion valve results in an exceptionally low rate of false rejects; intelligent auto-cleaning sustains the machine’s optimum performance; and the control interface, with a large touch