The first optical grading machine for potatoes in Germany
German potato wholesaler Wilhelm Weyers from Weeze invested in a new Ellips-Elisam potato grading machine last year. Managing director Reinhard Krebbers is proud of this novelty. “Until now, potatoes could only be sorted on external quality. Thanks to our optical sorting machine, not a single internally defective potato leaves our premises. That is unique in the world. And we are quite proud of this internal quality grading of potatoes.”
Internal defects have nowhere to hide.
“Until recently, graders could not give any guarantees about internal quality, because a lot of internal defects are not visible on the outside. You can hardly go and cut open every potato, and even random samples do not offer guarantees. The Ellips Grading Technology uses Light Transmission Technology and allows us to look completely through the potato, not just through a limited part of the skin. The machine virtually ‘cuts’ the potatoes into pieces to examine the internal quality. This internal quality grading of potatoes allows us to recognize diseases and defects at lightning speed.”
Weather changes affect the quality of potatoes
The quality of potatoes is declining in some parts of the world due to climate change. As a result, processing capacity is decreasing and more employees are needed for sorting. “There was no better year imaginable to start using the Elisam machine than this year,” Krebbers concludes. “Due to the poor quality of the potatoes, we would otherwise have needed eight to ten people in sorting, while it is only getting harder to find reliable workers.”
