The ripening systems of VDH Products are sold all over the world. These systems are not just used for bananas anymore. More and more tropical fruits are offered ripe, for which increasingly more specific ripening programmes can be made.
Perfectly ripened fruit, does it even exist? “Not yet, but we are getting closer,” says Jacco Smid from VDH Products. Ripening fruit isn’t easy. Using the latest technologies, the fruit can be ripened increasingly more accurately. Retailers demand more and more often that their fruit is supplied in exact volumes with the exact ripeness. “We can be of meaning for this. With our ripening regulators, it becomes possible for suppliers of bananas and other tropical fruit, such as mangoes, avocados and papayas, to guide the entire ripening process according to demands and needs of the customer.”
The latest developments of VDH Products is the Proba 5. This ripening regulator was recently officially introduced, but is already in operation at five companies globally. “It’s the successor of the Proba 4. This new regulator enables an accurate process regarding the regulation of parameters such as temperature, gas concentration, humidity, ventilation and atmospheric pressure. It offers even more control and is fully programmed,” according to Jacco. Unlike many other systems, the Proba is not a PLC system where users depend on a regular installer. The Proba ripening regulator is an open system. The sales manager sees an increasing need for open systems, allowing users to manually make settings and changes without additional installation costs.
Each product has its own ripening programme
For operation, the Proba regulators are coupled to VASP software, a management system that transfers all data from the ripening chambers, cooling, freezing and other installations into process information. Jacco: “For each product that has to be ripened, a specific programme, or recipe as we call it, can be made by putting in or adjusting the desired process values. These values depend on numerous factors, such as type of soil or climatological circumstances in the production country, and the status of the product when it enters the ripening cell. Customers can also request a certain level of ripeness. Once made, the ripening programme can easily be used for a next batch as well, with some slight adjustments if necessary.” Compared to many other systems that drive multiple cells with one regulator, the ripening regulator of VDH Products only drives one ripening cell. Because of that, the ripening process isn’t dependent on failures or problems elsewhere.
For more than 30 years, the manufacturer of mechanical and electronic tools for measuring temperature, pressure and atmospheric humidity has been active in ripening systems. By now, VDH Products has supplied more than 8,000 operating systems for ripening chambers. “We are not a ripening company,” Jacco admits. “Our ripening systems have been developed based on practical experience of users and feedback from professional ripening plants, advisors and end customers such as retailers. We combine this knowledge and experience in the regulator, so that everyone can profit from it. This is one of the reasons for the increasing demand for our products, which are sent all over the world nowadays.”
Improved accuracy
The sales manager mentions that techniques in regulating systems for fruit are improving very quickly. He says it’s important to continually keep up with that. According to Jacco, accuracy or measuring of the temperatures in particular has improved considerably in recent years. “An even process is very important in the cells. It’s quite complicated to create the same temperature and pressure and the same ethylene content throughout the ripening cell. With long sensory cables, for example, all kinds of malfunctions are picked up that can affect the ripening process. It’s important to filter these failures out. We are working on making these kinds of aspects more transparent and stabler with the TÜV.” Compared to years ago, users are much more in contact with the product to be ripened. The process is always visible everywhere. When a parameter deviates, a notification is sent via VASP or the mobile application immediately, possibly with subsequent action for the person on site. “In the past, a light would go on somewhere, and you’d have to guess the cause. Action can now be taken much faster. This results in fewer losses than in the past.” For that matter, this doesn’t mean manual labour is no longer needed. “Some users will start a ripening programme and then not check in on the product for a week. That isn’t our recommendation,” he says. “A ripener, working on his product and regularly taking a sample and checking the product, obviously supplies better quality. Modern techniques make it easier to control and review the process, but ripening remains a specialty and it’s certainly not for everyone.”
Nowadays, fruit is ripened throughout the world. The systems of VDH Products find their way to both customers in the Netherlands and Belgium and the far corners of New Zealand and China. As emerging markets, Jacco mentions, among other countries, Russia, Asia, South Africa and India, where interest in ripening fruit is increasing. “In these growth markets, a quality catch-up effort is being made. They have money to invest in Western techniques and they don’t want to be dependent on others anymore. Take Russia, for example, this is an important market for us. They are not to be surpassed by western ripening plants. They have state-of-the-art systems nowadays, although mostly produced by the Dutch. Besides, the replacement market takes up a large part of our activities.”
Challenges
VDH Products is currently finalising a new additional system for ripening cells. While ripeners normally require a separate ethylene sensor for each ripening cell, the manufacturer markets a measuring system, a kind of gas station, to which eight to ten cells can be connected. “An ethylene sensor is quite valuable. They have to be calibrated after a year, and they are written off a few years after that,” Jacco explains. “Our system needs fewer sensors. Every once in a while, samples are taken in the cells, to analyse the gas concentration. If needed, the gas supply can be adjusted by means of the Proba.” Jacco also mentions that communicating with other systems is a hot item. “Additionally, we are in various projects with a number of authorities to achieve a better end product. Improvements are still possible. All of the data we log and register, is valuable for that. It gives a lot of information. For example, a banana from Brazil ripens very differently than a banana from Ecuador. In future, we’ll be able to more specifically adjust a ripening programme to the product, but nutritional values such as starch or glucose content might also play a larger part in that. That’s still in the future, but it’s definitely coming.”
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VDH Products
Jacco Smid