Argentinean blueberries

New Zealand-based BBC Technologies will use this week’s Fruit Logistica trade show in Berlin to showcase developments in its line of post harvest processing equipment.

This includes its new MIRA -360 machine, designed to cater for rising international interest in small fruit sorters. The MIRA -360 sort for defects including cracks and splits, soft rot, wrinkles and bruises and insect damage, along with fruit colour.

BBC will also have information on hand about its MK-2.5 Colour Sorter and Dura-Touch Soft Sorter machines, both of which were recently installed at DeGrandchamp Farms in Michigan, US, to remove blueberries damager by Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD).

“We were pleasantly surprised and encouraged to find that none of the berries that ran through our colour and soft sorter combination had SWD detected and rejected at delivery,” Mike DeGrandchamp, of DeGrandchamp Farms, said after trialling the installation.

“Confirmation of the success of the sorting technology came when we later checked on rejected berries that we put in the cooler as we found they were infested with SWD.”

BBC’s international sales and marketing manager Jason Walker told Scoop Independent News that Europe was the company’s fastest growing market.

“As production of blueberries and other small fruit expands in Europe, customers are looking for advanced equipment like ours to handle both sorting and packing,” Walker said.