Food Customer Stories

With TOMRA’s Spectrim system, ACP has increased it’s packout from a maximum of 40 tonnes to 60 tonnes per hour. We are proud to work alongside ACP supporting their vision.

Agricola El Alamo, located in Chile, discusses their experience with our integrated Blueberry solution.

In this Customer Story, we learn more about Agroexport Internacional SA de CV from Mexico. The company was founded in 2002 by Alfredo Rodríguez and his wife Laure Lemus.
Their main focus is almost exclusively Hass Avocados, a variety of avocados with dark-green bumpy skin.
In order to improve efficiency and quality, and to reduce labor, Agroexport was looking for a trustworthy automated solution.

Since 1904, the Andersen family has been farming prunes, walnuts and cattle in the small town of Vina, located in the Northern Sacramento Valley. Now owned and operated by fourth generation family members, Andersen and Sons use the TOMRA Nimbus BSI to satisfy a larger customer base while meeting and exceeding quality standards. Working with TOMRA has not only boosted efficiency and quality — they've achieved a three-to-four year payback period on their investment.

Apetit is a Finnish producer of convenient fresh and frozen vegetable-based products, including potatoes, leeks, carrots, peas, swede, parsnips, celery, beetroot, and spinach. Apetit uses TOMRA's Blizzard machines to increase quality, deliver an impeccable food safety record, and differentiate their business from their competitors.

Ardo, a global leader in the deep-frozen vegetables sector has decided to partner with TOMRA Food. Over a quarter of all frozen vegetables consumed in Europe come from the family business in Ardooie. They are used, among other things, in soups, ready-to-eat meals and baby food from large companies such as Unilever and Nestlé.

From Belgium, family business Begro explains how TOMRA has helped it live up to its motto of 'Great taste in frozen foods'.

With the TOMRA 5B sorter, Bizz's potato chip and nankeen operations now boast an efficiency of over 95% — despite input defect levels of 15-20%. The sorter has also shown impressive rejection rates, with only one in eight french fries rejected for 10x10 cut sizes, and a capacity of over 6.5 tons per hour. Bizz also uses the TOMRA Orbit Steam Peeler and has significantly reduced food losses during peeling to less than 7.5%.

Bola Surendra Kamath & Sons (BSK) started in the early 1940s when the enterprising Mr. Bola Raghavendra Kamath began trading commodities. He was successful in his business, yet still, a seed had been planted as Bola developed a particular interest in cashews. The years went by, and the seed continued to grow.

The TOMRA 5B's ability to detect millimeter-sized black spots on potato slices enhances BS Cocinados' product quality, giving them a competitive edge. BS Cocinados can now ensure the production of flawless potatoes, free from green skin, rot, or damage, guaranteeing a zero-defect output — and access international market and top-tier customers.

The Ceravolo family has been growing fruit in the Adelaide Hills for three generations. The combination of the Spectrim and Inspectra2 guarantee their customers an excellent quality product.

Brazilian vegetable and fruit producer, the De Marchi Group, achieved a 30% increase in productivity by replacing a completely manual production process to the TOMRA 5B. Working with TOMRA means their plants easily meet product safety standards and increase the quality of their product.

TOMRA's Blizzard sorting machine helps DFS Gıda, a leading Turkish exporter of dried and semi-dried frozen tomatoes, meet high product quality standards demanded by export markets. The Blizzard eliminates foreign materials and color defects, ensuring zero errors in the final product. This investment in automation indicates DFS Gıda's commitment to food safety and quality, allowing it to maintain competitiveness in the global market.

Douyuan Food Co. has significantly benefited from using TOMRA's sorting machines, doubling efficiency and increasing productivity in processing various types of frozen vegetables. 

Duchemin produces La Ferme du Val D’odon potatoes, a premium brand demanding perfection in quality. With the TOMRA 3A high-performance sorting machine, Duchemin guarantees that only top-quality potatoes reach the market, leading to enhanced productivity and customer satisfaction.

Fevita is Hungary's largest frozen food producer and a leading global exporter - with 200+ employees processing more than 32,000 tons of vegetables per annum. By choosing TOMRA,  Fevita has significantly improved its processing efficiency, increasing its capacity to 8-12 tons per hour and reducing waste while meeting strict quality and safety standards for global customers.

Fillimore Peru delivers just-picked California citrus freshness to their customers. By working with TOMRA, the packhouse has improved their efficiency by reducing labor costs, increasing throughput, and enhancing product quality.

Flandre Pomme de Terre works with TOMRA to enhance its production capacity, ensuring a premium product for their customers. Additionally, the technology has helped Flandre Pomme de Terre maintain high-quality standards, leading to increased profitability and customer satisfaction.

The TOMRA 5B sorter allows Freshberry to handle frozen raspberries with care while maintaining high precision during the sorting process. This has enabled the company to maintain its reputation for producing top-quality frozen fruits and meet the demands of even the strictest European markets.

As Europe’s leading manufacturer of private label premium dry petfood, GA Pet Food Partners place quality at the heart of their operation. Beginning as a farming diversification, GA now manufacture 500 different types of extruded petfood to over 1,200 customers globally.

GEO-US WORLD EXPORT is a fast-growing, Georgia-based hazelnut processing company whose business model is built around exporting to Europe. Thanks to high-tech TOMRA Food sorting equipment, this business has been able to increase output and ensure the high quality of its products, critical factors in creating stable demand from European customers.

Tech-savvy Californian vegetable processor proves that ‘knowledge is power’ by using data to improve line rates, product quality, yields, and profitability. By utilizing TOMRA's technology, George Chiala Farms can ensure consistent high-quality products, maximize profit and yield, reduce food loss, and optimize their production lines for efficiency.

The Locorotondo-based company, one of Italy’s leading cherry producers, started the 2022 season with a new Invision 2 optical sorter from TOMRA Food, installed at the plant in Turi (Bari). This technology has enabled Giacovelli to improve its product quality, reduce waste, and lower labor costs.

Anticipating the need to produce macadamias in even greater quantities while ensuring perfect quality, South African cooperative business Golden Macadamias has invested in a TOMRA 5C sorting machine with Biometric Signature Identification technology.

By investing in this cutting-edge equipment, Grano anticipates substantial quality gains, consolidating their market leadership with a 42% market share. Choosing the TOMRA Blizzard sorter not only enhances food quality and safety but also offers Grano a compact design that optimizes space efficiency on the production line.

 Guijie Guangxi, a major citrus producer in China, has significantly improved its operations by installing a state-of-the-art 12-lane sorting and packing line from TOMRA Food. This integrated solution has the capacity to handle three million pieces of citrus fruit per day during peak season, enabling Guijie Guangxi to efficiently process its 1,300 hectares (3,300 acres) of citrus orchards and reduce the number of round-trips by forklift trucks by 60%.

Gumz benefits significantly from using TOMRA's sorting solutions, particularly the TOMRA 3A sorter, which reduces GUMZ's labor by 75-80% while increasing output.

.With TOMRA's technology, Gursoy Findik has achieved a 16-fold increase in throughput, improved removal of foreign materials and defective products from their hazelnuts, and reduced reliance on manual labor. This has led to enhanced operational efficiency, increased yields, and improved food safety.

TOMRA's machines have helped Hermant increase its processing capacity by 30%, allowing it to process up to 25 tons of potatoes per hour. Additionally, TOMRA's sorting solutions have enabled Hermant to achieve a higher yield and better quality of processed potatoes, reducing waste and improving efficiency in its operations.

At Hove Ter Hille, they wanted to be able to store their potatoes without losing space to foreign material and also be able to do that with fewer personnel. Nowadays, finding people to work in food sorting is almost impossible. If you find personnel, they can't work as fast as a machine, and it's also not affordable.

The TOMRA 3A sorting machine for ground potatoes is an investment that brings all sorts of advantages.

Hume Pack-N-Cool, packer of Zespri Kiwifruit in New Zealand, uses Inspectra's NIR technology to sort and grade based on dry matter and sugar content.

By replacing traditional manual sorting methods with this advanced technology, Inaba Peanuts achieved higher production rates to meet growing demand, addressing labor shortages, reducing food waste, and enhancing yields.

Founded in 2005, Jayleaf is a family-run processing and distribution business, supplying certified organic salad mixes and greens to the wholesale and food service sector. Although still a young business, the family behind Jayleaf has more than 20 years’ experience in the industry and the company is quickly earning itself a reputation for excellent quality and customer satisfaction. To further enhance its credentials and deliver outstanding product quality to its customers, Jayleaf partnered with TOMRA Sorting Solutions.

Located just north of France, the beautiful British isle of Jersey is home to Britain’s most celebrated potato – the Jersey Royal. The first to harvest every year, this tiny spud heralds the beginning of a new potato season and is famous for its distinctive flavour and nutty taste.

JG Pears, a leading UK processor of animal by-products and food waste, turned to TOMRA to exceed customer expectations in product quality. Since deploying TOMRA sorters, JG Pears has not only improved customer feedback but seen increased interest and demand from the wider market.

By implementing TOMRA's solutions, Kadi has optimized its production line, enhancing performance for both various potato sizes and end products. This partnership has not only improved quality but also reduced maintenance costs, water usage, and peel loss, showcasing significant advancements in energy efficiency and quality management for Kadi's potato products and frozen foods.

By integrating TOMRA's optical sorting technology, Kentaur, a leading producer of nuts and seeds, has significantly enhanced its processing efficiency and product quality. With TOMRA's help, Kentaur have achieved a 99.9% purity rate for sunflower seeds, a 50% reduction in manual labor, and a 25% increase in production capacity.

By leveraging TOMRA's industry-leading technology, Kral Incir achieves high product quality and food safety standards for its premium dried figs. The partnership with TOMRA ensures that Kral Incir maintains its position as a leading exporter of dried figs by enhancing product quality and ensuring food safety compliance.

By automating its production lines with TOMRA Food technology, KWS has optimized processes, improved product quality, reduced losses, and increased production capacity. The equipment has proven to be instrumental in enhancing the sorting process, ensuring high-quality corn products, and minimizing mechanical damage to seeds.

Lamb Weston / Meijer is one of the most recognized companies in the global potato industry, with a rich and starched history. The company's mission - Wellbeing through potatoes - and their customer-focused modus operandi has earned them stripes serving quick service restaurants, large food chains, and retailers all over EMEA.

As a company who take great pride in delivering exceptional quality of both their kernel and in-shell produce, the TOMRA 3C has enabled Laragon to significantly enhance their operation.

Lauber Seed Farms is a provider of premium irrigated hybrid seed corn. Located in Geneva, Nebraska, its fertile farm ground sits above the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world’s largest natural bedrocks which ensures consistent production, regardless of rainfall. In the organization’s quest for continual change and improvement, Lauber Seed Farms has taken a bold step towards innovation by partnering with TOMRA Sorting Food and installing a number of its automatic sorting systems.

LEGUMBRES SELECTAS SIERRA NEVADA, a Spanish company, based in Granada, specializes in producing, processing, and marketing superior quality pulses. It is the Spanish market leader and is one of the top 5 companies on the European market in processing lentils, beans, and its own-production chickpeas. The company has found the Nimbus BSI+ by TOMRA to be the solution to the issues specific to grading pulses.

Logofruits' state-of-the-art plant allows them to provide their customer base with quality products fitting every customer's specifications. Thanks to machines such as the KATO 360, LUCAi™, and CURO, their new integrated TOMRA Food sorting and grading line allows them to boost the automatization process of their sorting and packing.

Mapeks Organics, a leading organic fruit producer, has significantly enhanced its product quality and capacity by integrating TOMRA's Blizzard optical sorting machine into its production line. This technology has enabled Mapeks to process one ton of product in 15 minutes, compared to the 40 minutes required by traditional manual sorting methods, resulting in a 25% increase in monthly production tonnage. 

The TOMRA 5B optical sorter has helped this well-established family business achieve a 16-fold increase in throughput, improved the removal of foreign materials and defective product, and reduced reliance on hard-to-find manual labor.

This Denair is a grower and packer of California Almonds, and their customers want the best quality almonds that California has to offer. To get products from the farm to the point on the chain, they looked to TOMRA to improve their volume and operational safety with a tailored solution to their products.

Morada Produce (Morada Nut) are third generation family farmers from Linden, California. They pack walnuts using TOMRA Nimbus BSI technology to ensure only a safe and quality product makes it to the end consumer.

Founded more than 150 years ago in Switzerland, Nestlé started small but would eventually expand to touch the lives of billions every day. Nestlé now has more than 2000 brands, including global icons and local favorites. Their products can be found in 187 countries worldwide - quite an expansion from their humble beginnings producing condensed milk and infant cereal in the Alps.

Oerlemans Foods is one of the leading specialists in growing and processing frozen vegetables, potatoes and fruit. Oerlemans joined forces with TOMRA Sorting Solutions and decided to invest in a brand new steam peeling processing line.

Oliveira Pinho & Filhos, a family business located in the municipality of Mira (Portugal) dedicated to the trade of bagged potatoes and onions, purchased a Sentinel II optical food sorter from TOMRA. This machine is equipped with the latest pulsed LED technology for sorting food at a higher speed than earlier models.

Orka Tarim is company based in Manisa, Turkey, which was established in 1994 following decades of dried grape production and trade by the Orka family.

Installing TOMRA’s Sentinel II sorting machine has enabled the Bolognese company to select large quantities of potatoes – its flagship products – with great precision and minimal waste.

Osman Akça A.Ş., the raisin industry leader, never misses the opportunity to benefit from TOMRA Food's new cutting-edge technologies, and has now become the first company in Turkey to purchase the TOMRA 5C sorter.

Thanks to TOMRA Food’s sorting and grading technologies, leading Turkish citrus exporter Özler Tarım has improved product quality and doubled capacity in just one year.

SA PARMENTINE processes 180,000 tons of potatoes per year, selling three-quarters of these in France and the remainder in other European nations. By operating an integrated upstream-downstream business model, PARMENTINE contracts supplies from farmers who are mostly shareholders in the business.

Paturpat, a company specialised in processing and marketing steamed potatoes, has opted for TOMRA's Orbit steam peeler, because of the advantages it offers during the peeling process and to the final result.

PEF company is daily committed to satisfying their customers, delivering a great quality product, and increasing their production.

One of Türkiye's leading exporters of fresh fruit and vegetables is strengthening its market position by using line technologies from TOMRA Food.

When Italian producer of retail and food service products Pizzoli decided to improve the performance of their steam peeling line, they partnered with TOMRA Sorting.

At Polehn Farms, they know how a beautiful decluttered cherry makes a difference to the final customer. When the cherries are nicely presented, they are more attractive. And they choose TOMRA's unique technology for cherry cluster separation: The Cascade Singulator, which improves cluster separation, eliminates mechanical damage on fruit, and ensures a better presentation of the final product of our customer Polehn Farms, Oregon, USA.

Prima Frutta are based in Linden, California and pack apples, cherries and walnuts. The family owned company is passionate about delivering quality to their customers and achieve this through their investment in technology. Across their apple and cherry lines, they have partnered with Compac for external and internal inspection technology and TOMRA sorters for their walnuts.

Pingdu, a city in Shandong province, enjoys four clear seasons, sufficient sunshine and is one of the three main peanut-producing areas in China. The natural and high-quality raw material found here has seen an influx of peanut processing companies locate to the surrounding areas. Qingdao Jixing Food exports its products to 17 countries including South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States, gaining recognition for food ‘made in China’ in the international market.

With 7 unique views of each cherry, InVision2 with TotalView is the only inspection technology capable of inspecting 100% of the surface of the fruit, without blind spots, at full production speeds. Compared to other sorters, TotalView's end-view cameras are located at lower inspection angles and closer to the fruit. This results in superior image quality and improved identification of nose cracks, stem bowl mildew, and suture splits.

Sackett Ranch, a partner to a prominent potato chip producer since the 1960s, placed their trust in TOMRA sorters to help meet strict quality guidelines for potatoes. Since its investment in the TOMRA 3A and the TOMRA 5A potato sorting technology, Sackett Ranch has increased the quality of the potatoes delivered to the potato chip processing plant.

The installation of QVision equipment in the cold meat production line allows Salaisons Jouvin to ensure consistent and uniform product quality as well as cutting costs, guaranteeing the uniformity demanded by customers in order to satisfy consumers. The TOMRA QVision analyzer for continuous analysis of meat composition ensures higher productivity, complete traceability, consistent product quality, a reduction in human error and smarter purchasing of raw materials.

The Bernard company specializes in the production of seed potatoes for gardeners, market gardeners, and farmers. The TOMRA 3A optical sorter provides the company with the working power and accuracy to secure operations in the high season and has enabled it to increase its production capacity.

Shandong Santao Food Co., Ltd. is a large food enterprise that incorporates agricultural planting, livestock breeding, food processing and international trade.

SNOW VALLEY Food is the owner of a leading frozen french fries processing group in Asia. By prioritizing highly efficient Potato processing, SNOW VALLEY has been awarded excellent accreditations and ongoing public praise over the years – complimented by specialized research, delivering consistently high-quality products, and providing better solutions for the Chinese catering industry.

Harvesting daily in a high-rise building in Singapore, Sustenir Agriculture has enhanced product quality and reduced food waste by using a TOMRA optical sorting machine

Swizzels Matlow, a family business that produces sugar confectionery in the United Kingdom, has chosen TOMRA’s Nimbus optical sorter to automate the sorting process of its ‘Drumstick Squashies’ in order to meet fast-growing demand while ensuring the consistently excellent quality of the product.

TANN Marchtrenk, Austria’s largest producer of meat products, uses the TOMRA QVision as part of its innovative fat analysis. As a result, the in-line fat analysis process is improved and optimized to deliver a uniformly high-quality product. With 1,000 employees, the company produces specialty meat and sausage in six regional plants exclusively for the 1,600 locations of Austrian supermarket, SPAR.

The Almond Company is the almond handling and processing operation for Harris Family Enterprises, a group of companies dedicated to quality farming and food production. It processes more than 100 million pounds of almonds for domestic and international distribution. The company purchased a TOMRA 5C premium optical sorter which has been operating at its Madera, California facility for the past six months with excellent results.

The farm of Tremonvilliers (Oise) is equipped since the fall of 2020 with a TOMRA 3A to sort its potato and red beet crops. The TOMRA 3A gives Tremonvillers complete control over their production cycle: adapting to harvest peaks, providing unrivaled sorting quality, and eliminating the need for manual sorting. In addition, TOMRA 3A's payback time is only three year.

Trypol Pack is a cooperative of Belgian farmers, based in Flanders, specialising in Brussels sprouts. A production they excel in, and now the TOMRA sorting machines will help them to bring European consumers the best quality.

One of the world's leading dried grape processing facilities has benefited greatly since investing in TOMRA Food's innovative new sorting solution.

TOMRA Food has a proven track record at the forefront of sorting in a multitude of products with different technologies. The star for this application is TOMRA’s unique Biometric Signature Identification (BSI) technology featured in the TOMRA 5C acquired by Uwafen Seeds, a Chilean company dedicated to the production of high-quality sweet corn seeds. BSI+ detects differences in the chemical composition of sweet corn and dent corn, which is very difficult to distinguish for the human eye, and very complex for grading systems using color cameras or laser technology.

Van Roey & Zonen is a family business specialising in the sorting and packing of potatoes and onions. The company has a particular focus on tasty Bintjes and waxy potatoes. Van Roey & Zonen is a family business specialising in the sorting and packing of potatoes and onions. The company has a particular focus on tasty Bintjes and waxy potatoes. High quality is very important to the Van Roey family.

Virto Group specializes in frozen vegetables and serves a long list of international clients. Running one of the industry's most technologically advanced facilities has allowed them to plan for the future and lean on automation to serve their customers best.

The Chilean company put its trust on TOMRA Food once again in order to optimize its sorting process and continue to offer premium quality frozen raspberries. Ten years ago, Vitafoods (formerly Hortifrut and Alifrut separately) opted for the brand for its blueberry production and acquired TOMRA technology. On the back of their positive experience, they have opted for the TOMRA 5B, a sorter ideal for products that, like frozen raspberries, require delicate handling and high precision when sorting.

WZPOW Kwidzyn is a 100% Polish company with a global reach and vibrant history whose synonymous with processing vegetables. Their growers' cooperation is fundamental to building a high-quality resource base and allows the homegrown business to compete with the best products available today.

Product quality, quantities, and consumer satisfaction have all increased since this ambitious business in Hunan Province purchased TOMRA’s state-of-the-art sorting and grading solutions.

Zeina Foods are a family owned nut packer based in Osset, UK. They're passionate about innovative, tasty and healthy food. Their premium quality Nuts, Seeds and Dried Fruit have been carefully sourced from around the world to meet with the demands of today’s health conscious consumer and have partnered with TOMRA to make sure their customers only get the best product.