S. African top fruit companies invest in technology

Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing and its parent packhouse, have invested in new technology which is set to i…

Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing and its parent packhouse, have invested in new technology which is set to improve their final product and reduce quality-related claims, which cost the two companies millions of rand.

The new technologies will make it possible to look inside the fruit to test elements such as the amount of sugar in the product and check for defects including internal browning, which could not — until now — be determined without cutting into each piece of fruit. The company did not disclose the amount of money it had invested in the new technology.

Tru-Cape marketing director Conrad Fick said on Thursday 19 May the newly installed Greefa 10-lane sorter can process eight pieces of fruit per second per lane at Two-a-Day in Grabouw, and was the largest in the southern Hemisphere.

"Combined with the new iFA light technology that ‘sees’ into the heart of each apple or pear that is processed, we can now deliver a better final product with fewer issues," he said.

"Our packhouses have had camera-scanning equipment — which increased productivity by 25% (and) sorted faster and more accurately than before — for a while now, and the 1GB Digital GigE camera, which captures a full, high-definition image of 1900 x 1024 pixels to make correct colour selection more efficient, while no longer new, remains current."

Fick said that as consumer tastes and demands become ever-more exacting, Tru-Cape’s packhouses’ ability to add algorithms that sort to ever-higher colour and blemish-free standards becomes essential.

He said the investment will save millions of rand as Tru-Cape will be improving productivity and returning maximum value to growers by not delivering fruit that might be rejected on arrival because of not meeting the packing specification, or of showing signs of internal damage.