Japan-based food packing machinery manufacturer Ishida says that its X-ray inspection system is helping a Turkish food company meet the stringent quality norms desired in the UK and Western European retail sectors.
The food company named Farmeks and based in Izmir supplies a range of dried fruits like apricots, raisins, sultanas, figs and mulberries.
According to Ishida, the dried fruits are packed in bulk usually in 10kg bag-in-box cartons. While half of Farmeks’ dried fruits are exported for sale in the UK through its own sales team, the remainder of the produce is dispatched to other Western European countries and also to the US.
Dried fruit packers like Farmeks are typically challenged by the issue of contaminants sneaking into the fruit during the sun-drying process that can last for a couple of weeks.
Quality control has become the main priority for the Turkish company as most of its produce is exported to Europe where the fruits have to be contamination free and also be consistent in colour and size.
This is where Ishida IX-GA-4075 comes into play with its capability to trace down glass contaminants of up to 1.5mm size, metal spheres of up to 0.6mm, metal wire up to 0.3mm and stones of up to 1mm.
The Ishida IX-GA-4075 is based on the genetic algorithm (GA) technology which uses image data analysis after several inspections before creating a more accurate calibration protocol of the usual contaminants.
Hayded Memur who is responsible for Farmeks’ UK operation said: “We were amazed about the detection sensitivity of the Ishida X-ray.
“It produced better results than we had anticipated and on a consistent basis.
“The machine is also very easy to operate and changing over product takes just a few ticks on the touch screen unit.”
