During fruit processing such as gathering, storage and transportation, the fruits are vulnerable to falling, collision, squeeze, and friction, and get deformed or bruised. Such mechanical damage can make the fruits rot and further affect the quality and economic benefits. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures so as to raise the fruit quality and boost our competitiveness with our counterparts.
Technical measures to reduce mechanical damage
A fruit goes through a series of production processes before passed to consumers, including harvest, transportation, washing, waxing, packaging, storage and distribution. Careful supervision on every process is the key to reduce fruit mechanical damages.
Fruit harvest process
Make sure the staffs are qualified and follow the operating regulation. It is advisable to use professional harvest tools. Lay soft foam pads at the bottom of the fruit baskets and boxes. Never fill the fruit basket too full. Clip the stalks if they are too long. Pave the way where fruits are transported. Fasten the fruit cases in case of falling.
Fruit sorting process
Condition permitting, you’d better purchase high quality fruit sorting machine. Here I’d like to recommend AGICO fruit sorting machine, which adopt superior material and advanced technology to ensure high efficiency and convenience. Make sure you have fully understood the operational modes and performance of the equipment before sorting.
common issues during fruit sorting
- Choosing improper equipment: they may use machines designed for citrus fruits to process fruits with thin skin like apples and pears.
- The height difference between elevator and conveyer is not properly adjusted. Their transmission speed are different or too high.
- During fruit washing process, fruits are poured into the water tank too fast, which will cause the fruits to collide or fall.
Solution to the issues
- For those unsuitable for fruit sorting machine, manual sorting is essential. Staffs must have their fingernails trimmed, or wear gloves. Be gentle when handling the fruits.
- For those conveyer belts with certain height difference, you’d better lay thick foam cushions, and adjust the transmission speed of different components to consistency.
- Sink the fruit baskets into water until they surface. Let the fruits flow toward the elevators.
Fruit package process
- To reduce the package cost, dealers usually adopt the same package case during storage, transportation and sales. Therefore, the package must conform to the following requirement.
- The outer packages are supposed to be beautiful, with striking logos, so as to fit the consumers’ preference.
- The package must meet national requirement of intensity, stiffness, preservation effects and resistance to humidity and pollution.
- The boxes sizes are designed according to different carriers. To be convenient for manual lifting, the weight of a box is between 5 and 15kg.
- There should be trays or separators in the box. For fruits with thin skin, wreathe them with additional foam nets. For fruits of irregular shapes, fill the interspaces with papers.
Fruit storage and transportation
- Never heap the boxes too high, install baffles between boxes if necessary.
- Check the bottom box regularly in case it get damp or deformed.
- When transporting by trucks, put the boxes close to prevent them from sliding.
- If the box stacks are too high, add supporting baffles to reduce the bottom pressure.
- Staffs are not allowed to tread on the boxes during loading and unloading work.
