Solution for the detection of alternaria in pomegranates.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE POMEGRANATE SECTOR?

Pomegranate consumption is growing worldwide due to its reputation as a superfood. Due to its high antioxidant power, both the pomegranate and its by-products have generated a lot of interest among consumers. Its high price has attracted the attention of new producers and there is competition in the market.

Currently, the world area dedicated to the cultivation of this fruit exceeds 300,000 hectares. The main world producers are India and China, followed by Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, the United States, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Spain.

In the European market, Spain has one of the largest productions of pomegranates, reaching 50,000 tons, and its cultivation is mainly concentrated in the regions of Alicante, Valencia and Murcia. The largest importers of pomegranates in Europe are Germany, followed by Italy, France and the United Kingdom.

A new law from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will facilitate trade in high-quality pomegranates, which will be beneficial to both producers and consumers.

Alternaria in pomegranates: the condition of a fungus that affects the quality of the fruit

Alternaria is a fungus that affects the pomegranate tree in humid growing regions. The fruit is also affected and rots inside, although the skin remains intact. This is a serious quality problem, which is impossible to detect with the human eye.

X-RAY TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO THE INSPECTION OF POMEGRANATE

Multiscan Technologies is an expert in the use of X-ray technology and other vision systems to develop inspection equipment for the agri-food industry. X-rays penetrate so deep into a food that they detect any quality problems that cannot be seen from the outside.

Based on the need of a pomegranate producer to detect quality problems inside the fruit, Multiscan transferred this technology to the inspection of pomegranates in boxes. Thanks to X-rays, pomegranates with a black heart affected by the Alternaria fungus can be identified.

MULTISCAN MXV-PACK FOR THE DETECTION OF ALTERNARIA

The MXV-PACK is specially designed for the inspection of packaged products. It is a compact high-performance equipment that integrates X-ray technologies to ensure the quality of food.

Multiscan has developed specific software for pomegranates which, when applied to this equipment, becomes the ideal solution for continuous inspection of pomegranate boxes. In this way, it identifies those fruits with a black heart and they can be removed from the box before being sold. In addition, it provides additional functionalities such as unit counting and production reports.

   

Pomegranate affected by the Alternaria fungus and its analysis after passing through an MXV-PACK equipment

Technical characteristics

This solution analyzes the fruit inside the box, ready to deliver to the customer. If defective pomegranates are detected, an operator replaces them with perfectly good pomegranates previously analyzed by the Multiscan MXV-PACK:

NOMINAL CAPACITY (65% load)) Belt speed 20 m/min

12.000 fruits/h

400 – 500 boxes/h

PRODUCT SIZE 40×15 cm

50×25 cm

ADAPTABLE CONFIGURATION Diferent ejection options, cooling systems and quality control

 

ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS – Software and industry 4.0

All Multiscan equipment integrates a software platform that provides the customer with an intuitive and easy-to-use user interface, with the possibility of remote technical assistance. In addition, it allows the generation of data on the quality of the batches, as well as instantaneous production for subsequent analysis. All this in real time.

RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY, QUICK RETURN ON INVESTMENT AND SUCCESS STORY IN THE GRANADA SECTOR

This application is a success story that has already been validated by leading clients in the pomegranate sector. Multiscan technology has responded to a problem that had no solution in the market.

With the MXV-PACK, pomegranate producers can ensure the internal quality of their pomegranates, without damaging the product. This means an improvement in the overall profitability of the business, minimizing returns due to quality problems and reducing the need for labor for manual quality selection.

If you want to know how the Multiscan MXV-PACK works for pomegranate inspection, here is a video.

For more information about this equipment, contact our specialists.