XIAMEN, Oct. 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, at the just-concluded China International Small Berry Conference, TOMRA Foods won the "China Small Berry Industry Development Contribution Award". The award aims to recognize enterprises that promote technological innovation and transformation in the small berry industry. TOMRA Foods won the award for its superior AI sorting technology and one-stop solution for blueberry post-harvest processing, reinforcing its leading position in the blueberry post-harvest sorting industry.
TOMRA Wins "China Small Berry Industry Development Contribution Award"
Yu Deyun, Sales Director of TOMRA Foods China, delivered a special speech on "Blueberry Industry Development and Technological Innovation" at the meeting. Yu Deyun said: "The blueberry market still has a lot of consumption potential. With China becoming the world's largest blueberry grower and producer, the industry's inflection point is also approaching. The model of relying solely on the expansion of varieties and the expansion of production may not be sustainable, and it is necessary to select varieties, improve quality, and build brands in advance. Standardized planting, post-harvest standardization, and adherence to the red line of quality help blueberries achieve a win-win industrial form of production and marketing. In the blueberry world, beware of taking the old road of 'sunshine rose'. "
Yu Deyun, Sales Director of TOMRA Foods China, delivered a blueberry speech
Standardized post-harvest treatment, a watershed for industrial benefitsThe post-harvest standardized process in the global blueberry market is to pre-cool the blueberries after picking, then use a sorting machine to test the quality of the blueberries, automatically reject all kinds of defective fruits, and directly pack them in boxes. This standardized post-harvest process allows blueberries to reach consumers in as few hours as soon as they leave the branches. Among them, post-harvest sorting and packaging equipment is the key link in the transformation of blueberry commercial fruits into actual profits.
The hot domestic blueberry market has accelerated the standardization, branding and intelligent construction of the blueberry industry, and a number of enterprises at the forefront of automation and standardization have emerged, such as Baimaoling Farm under Guangming Group, Sichuan Decai Agriculture, etc. They use TOMRA's self-developed LUCAi™ AI engine to detect the quality of blueberries, and remove scarred fruits, rotten fruits, moldy fruits, cracked fruits, green and red fruits, soft fruits that are difficult to distinguish with the naked eye, and blueberries infected with early anthracnose, etc., to achieve stable quality and brand building.
The comprehensive and accurate rejection is due to TOMRA's more than 40 years of technical iteration in the blueberry industry and the accumulation of blueberry data samples from customers around the world. TOMRA also developed the LUCAi™ artificial intelligence engine and built a huge blueberry database. Driven by 250,000+ images, this database covers a wide range of blueberry blemish types, as well as the ability to quickly identify calyxes or pore sizes, which are the same color as blueberries and have irregular shapes that can be mistaken for defects.
TOMRA blueberry sorting equipment
Eliminating defective fruits and reducing misjudgments, the commercial fruit rate of blueberries will naturally increase accordingly, which will directly improve the sales and profitability of enterprises. On the contrary, if the defective fruit is not treated, or the sorting accuracy is low, resulting in high-quality blueberries, diseased fruits, and defective fruits in one box, the high-quality fruits will be quickly infected, greatly reducing the shelf life, consumption willingness, and even affecting the repurchase and satisfaction of the brand in the sales channel.
Precise sorting is the gatekeeper of quality, and size grading directly affects the selling price. The market has an obvious consumer preference for blueberries, and fruit diameter size is one of the important influencing factors. In order to improve the overall profitability and optimize the product price system, Sichuan Decai Agriculture uses TOMRA's sorting equipment to divide blueberries into 6 grades and carry out refined operation of products.
In addition to Guangming and Decai, Driscoll's and Joyvio are also using TOMRA's equipment to improve standardization and automation. At present, TOMRA Foods' solutions have covered the major blueberry producing areas from the north to Yunnan in China, and the accumulated blueberry data and industry experience will further help China's blueberry industry to upgrade.