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The Spanish Agri-food Cooperative “SAT del Campo”, dedicated to the cultivation of high-quality organic pistachios, has chosen the TOMRA 5C to achieve the flexibility needed to address the growing demand, quickly adapt to the changing requests of its customers, meet the high-quality standards required by European markets, and optimize its results. The sorter has proved highly effective in sorting the deformed and aborted kernels and particles resulting from cracking the closed pistachios.
Leuven, Belgium, August 2024 – SAT del Campo is an Agri-food cooperative founded in 2010 and based in Villacañas, near Toledo in the Spanish region of Castilla la Mancha, where it grows high-quality organic pistachios for the premium segment of the market.
The cooperative has introduced a TOMRA 5C into its Separation, Grading and Sorting phase of the process, where it separates the stained pistachios from the clean ones and sorts with precision the kernels after the closed nuts are cracked.
“Undoubtedly, the TOMRA 5C’s ability to detect foreign materials is remarkable, it has no competition. The truth is that the TOMRA 5C continues to surprise us. As we work with it, we become more efficient in its operation and keep discovering new possibilities for the equipment,” adds David Pérez.
5% increase in volumes, improved quality to IFS standards – an investment for the future
The cooperative has evolved fast, as David Pérez Pardo-Pimentel, General Manager of its processing plant, explains: “We started with 5 farmers full of enthusiasm and a desire to innovate in the agricultural sector of Castilla la Mancha, and we have seen many changes and advances. By 2024, we have grown to 75 farmer members and over 1,400 hectares of pistachios, with 95% being organic and 5% in the process of conversion to organic. In the last 14 years, production has increased by 15% to 20% annually.”
This increase has led to important decisions to set the foundations for sustained growth: “The needs of our cooperative increased exponentially due to the growing demand from our increasingly quality-conscious and deadline-driven customers. This became even more important when we obtained the IFS Food Certification, which sets high standards for quality in processing, product traceability and food safety. The IFS has been crucial for us to penetrate new markets in the European Union that require this high level of certification,” says David Pérez.
“Managing such production volumes required investing in innovation and adopting state-of-the-art equipment. That’s why we decided to acquire the TOMRA 5C, and it proved to be an excellent decision,” explains David Pérez. The TOMRA 5C optical sorter has allowed the cooperative to process higher volumes while maintaining high-quality standards: “To date, we have increased the plant’s productivity by 5%, and I am confident we can improve even further. We are processing up to 1,000 kg/h, and even 2,000 kg/h depending on the type of product, with a quality level that meets our customers’ specifications and a quantity that allows us to respond to market demand.”
“I am convinced of the advantages of optical sorting. The acquisition of the TOMRA 5C has improved the results at SAT del Campo. We have optimized processing costs and mitigated the price disparity of pistachios in recent years, achieving profitability in line with the expectations of our agricultural society,” states David Pérez.
Cutting-edge technology for high precision sorting
SAT del Campo carries out the complete processing of the pistachios, starting with the Peeling and Drying phase. Once the product is cleaned with the removal of leaves and branches, the process continues with peeling, pre-drying, separation of empty pistachios, and drying to ensure the cold pistachio moisture content is below 7%. This process stabilizes the pistachios within 24 hours of harvesting.
The Separation, Grading and Sorting phase follows: once the closed pistachios are separated from the open ones, they are graded by size.
“The TOMRA 5C comes into play in this second phase. It separates the stained pistachios from the clean ones with precision and sorts the kernels after the closed pistachios are cracked. It performs excellent sorting of deformed kernels, aborted kernels and shell particles resulting from the cracking process. This is where the TOMRA 5C shows its best results,” continues David Pérez.
The TOMRA 5C is used in a wide range of applications due to the efficiency of the high-resolution laser and TOMRA Food’s exclusive BSI+ technology, which analyzes objects not only by color and shape, but also by their biometric characteristics. This enables it to detect hard-to-see and nearly invisible defects. The spectral images obtained by the TOMRA 5C sorter identify unique biometric characteristics.
Expert advice and tests for an informed purchase decision
TOMRA Food has extensive experience with pistachios, both in the domestic and international markets. It helps customers in their purchasing decision with expert advice and various options for testing its solutions. This was the case for SAT del Campo: “In 2022, TOMRA Food invited us to their facilities in Calpe (Alicante, Spain) for a demonstration with our pistachios. The results were very promising, and even exceeded our expectations about the machine’s false rejection rates. After testing several machines with similar features, the TOMRA 5C convinced us with its versatility and excellent results. In addition, we have been able to verify these results with our end customers, so we are very satisfied with our decision,” states David Pérez.
“I recommend this equipment for its capacity, safety, ease of operation, warranty and versatility. Additionally, there are many possibilities for the continuous development of optical sorting technology. And, as if this weren’t enough, working with TOMRA Food is very straightforward. Besides the training we received, there is always a TOMRA technician available to help us improve,” concludes David Pérez.