"People always talk about fruit that is ready to eat, however, this requirement clashes with automatic sorting solutions. The machines developed so far do not guarantee the same degree of automation and respect for the produce as our solution, which is innovative and unlike any other on the market," explains Nicola Antonacci from Zetapack.
The device is a round grader. The fruit continues to circulate until it's chosen by operators, just like an airport luggage belt. Loading is manual, so delicate fruits such as Romagna persimmons, pears after they've been stored for months, ripe peaches, large apricots or Asian pears does not get ruined.
"The truly innovative aspect regards sorting and unloading, as operators pick up the fruit from the cup on the conveyor and place it in the packaging. The fruit can be sorted by weight, grade and colour. An LED light indicates which fruits correspond to a certain setting."
There's no room for mistakes, as the LEDs have different colours. The speed is almost like that of a traditional sorter, but there is no rolling as it would ruin the fruit.
"The machine works well with Asian pears at the moment, but we are obtaining good results with delicate fruit as well. It's a revolution: there will be no more excuses when processing delicate fruit. Times and costs will be reduced as well."
Left to right: Nicola Antonacci and Stefano Zoli
Zetapack will attend Macfrut, hall D1 stand 89.
Contacts:
Zetapack
Sede Legale
Via Montalti, 7
47521 Cesena (FC) Italy
Tel.: (+39) 335.6878235
Email: nicola.antonacci@zetapack.it
Web: www.zetapack.it