PARMENTINE Taps TOMRA as New Partner
LEUVEN, BELGIUM - Innovation is at the forefront of yet another newfound industry alliance, as TOMRA Food has unveiled a new partnership with French potato producer PARMENTINE. As a result of the new partnership, PARMENTINE has equipped its new line in Samazan with two optical sorters from TOMRA Food.
“In 2014, Parmentine invested in two new fresh potato processing lines on two sites, in Voves and Fere Champenoise,” explained Roberto Ricci, Regional Director EMENA at TOMRA Food. “They chose Odenberg and Compac machines, a Compac Sizer 6-line InVision MLS 9000CIR at the Voves site, and a Compac Sizer 8-line MLS Invision 9000CIR at the Fere Champenoise facility. Odenberg and Compac have been selected for their technological excellence in their respective specialties. These two brands have now come together in the TOMRA Food group—proof that, in its long-term growth strategy, TOMRA Food acquires the best companies and technologies.”
Established in Voves, in the Loire Vallery of France, in 1997, PARMENTINE suffered a fire in 2013. It was then completely redesigned and re-equipped with new equipment in an €11 million investment (around $13 million USD).
PARMENTINE runs storage and packing sites in the heart of five different production areas in France: Champagne in Fère-Champenoise, Voves in Eure-et-Loir, Saint-Méen-le-Grand in Brittany, Cavaillon in Provence, and Samazan in Lot-et-Garonne, according to a press release, and processes 180,000 tons of potatoes per year. PARMENTINE recently revealed a major investment to expand its 65,000-square-foot site in Samazan, which has been running in upgraded format using the TOMRA 5A and Sentinel II sorters since November 2020 as a result of the partnership with the tech savant.
“TOMRA’s people really understand the importance of customer service, listening, dialogue, and responsiveness. They share our challenges, understand them, and do what it takes,” commented Olivier Goussard, Technical Director of PARMENTINE Group.
This state-of-the-art Compac technology allows blemish sorting to guarantee the external quality of the products, as well as grading of the tubers according to different parameters such as shape, size, volume, and color. This system allows the operator to select tubers based on different criteria and provide them different treatments before storage and packaging, the press release explained.
“This sorting and grading system is very sophisticated,” said Thierry Lamblin, PARMENTINE’s Marketing and Development Director. “The high-resolution cameras, which take 40 images of each potato, allow ultra-precise grading and homogeneous batches for packaging. This assures quality and customer satisfaction. The packaging is smaller than it used to be, and we also pack into microwaveable pouches. This means, more than ever, that a high degree of consistency is necessary and allows consumers to follow recipe suggestions.”
The TOMRA 5A sorting machine ensures superior foreign material removal, quality control, and peeling inspection, while The Sentinel II is located upstream and uses the latest in illumination and detection technology to remove a wide variety of defects, such as discoloration, damage, and foreign materials.
To read more about this exciting partnership, click here.
AndNowUKnow will continue to report as more game-changing innovations pop up in the industry, so keep an eye out.
