Thanks to laser marking of fruit and vegetables directly on the peel, logos, codes, origin info, or the legally required organic labeling can be applied entirely without packaging, stickers, or films. With the help of the EcoMark GmbH process, food can not only be labeled without chemicals, but also a lot of paper and plastic waste, energy, and emissions are saved. Since the laser only hits the outermost cell layer of the peel, laser engraving is also suitable for sensitive fruits and vegetables such as stone and citrus fruits, Carsten Dillenberger, Managing Director of EcoMark GmbH, tells us with the aid of practical examples.
Among the particularly sensitive foodstuffs is the category of citrus fruits, i.e., oranges, limes, lemons, and grapefruits. "In order to be able to label even faster and at the same time more gently, we have revised the laser process. Together with our customer, the organic fruit and vegetable distributor Eosta, and Macsa id, our Spanish laser partner, we were able to further optimize the process technology once again and achieved a breakthrough, particularly with regard to shelf life and longer freshness," says Dillenberger.
© EcoMark GmbHLabeled organic citrus fruits
Laser labeling of premium French stone fruits
Another user of the EcoMark Natural Branding System is
the company Clairettes & Coquillon SARL in the south of France at the gates of the Camargue. The organic producer produces and sells high-quality stone fruits such as nectarines, apricots, and peaches under the brand name "Le Canard des Clairettes."
The sorting operation at Clairettes & Coquillon processes thousands of fruit crates for different customers and in different sizes. The Natural Branding System is perfectly suited for this, he says. Dillenberger says, "A 3D camera detects the crate and the position and orientation of the fruit fully automatically and passes the information on to the laser in milliseconds. Each fruit is reliably labeled according to preset criteria. Height differences of 44 mm (+/- 22 mm) are automatically compensated. This also makes it possible, for example, to simply pass round and flat peaches or nectarines through alternately."
The EcoMark laser marking machine has been integrated and networked into the line of sorting machines. If the sorter stops, the laser machine also stops, and if the sorter continues to run, the laser process also restarts automatically.
© EcoMark GmbH The Natural Branding process is also already being used successfully in the stone fruit sector.
Record throughput times become a fact of life
All in all, the EcoMark system enables record throughput times of up to 70,000 markings per hour not required. "This simplifies the operating process at Clairettes & Coquillon considerably and saves costs. And environmentally friendly marking by laser engraving is environmentally friendly anyway. For our customer, the process is apparently so valuable that he markets the laser-engraved fruit as the premium brand 'Le Canard 3 Etoiles', which we are, of course, particularly pleased about," it continues.
Greenwashing instead of proactive outreach
Last year's elimination of single-use plastic for fruits and vegetables in French grocery stores has generally led to increased inquiry activity, Dillenberger observes. "Otherwise, we find that the machines are predominantly purchased when supermarket chains demand laser-labeled fruit. From our point of view, this is a big problem for the manufacturers, as they have no planning security for the investment. The food retail industry could promote the topic of natural branding very strongly if more laser-labeled products were offered. The labeling demonstrably does not harm the fruit, and the labeling cost for one fruit is only 0.005€, which is much lower than conventional methods."
Images: EcoMark GmbH
For more information:
Carsten Dillenberger
EcoMark GmbH
Tel.: +49 (0)2631 / 8244-0
Fax: +49 (0)2631 / 8244 28
Email: [email protected]
www.eco-mark.de
https://www.clairettes-et-coquillon.fr/
