TOMRA запускає оптичний сортувальник 4A для немитої картоплі, продуктивністю до 100 тонн на годину

TOMRA Food launched the TOMRA 4A on 5 November, an optical sorter for unwashed potatoes that the company rates at up to 100 tonnes per hour. The machine splits the flow into good potatoes, out-of-spec potatoes and foreign material, and it will be shown publicly for the first time at Interpom in Belgium at the end of November. The performance figures below come from the manufacturer.

What the machine is built to do

За оцінкою КартопляPro, the 4A removes foreign material such as stones and mud clods with 92% accuracy and copes with incoming defect loads of up to 20%. The product page says the 92% figure comes from TOMRA’s internal testing. The same page says the 100 tonnes per hour applies to pre-storage sorting, while post-storage sorting runs at a lower throughput that is not quantified.

The third stream is the point of the design. Out-of-spec potatoes, such as rotten, green or misshapen ones, go to their own line rather than being mixed with waste. TOMRA says they can still have secondary uses, which reduces waste and helps recover value from the crop.

Inspection is dual-sided, using TOMRA’s Pulsed LED+ optics with infrared channels. Two sets of ejection fingers handle foreign material and defective potatoes separately, and cushioned fingers are optional.

AI from day one, with local training

The sorter runs on LUCAi, TOMRA’s AI platform. It ships with pre-trained deep-learning models, and operators can train it further on crop-specific defects and local conditions. Set-up runs through the XCD interface, and TOMRA says one operator can manage the full line.

“The TOMRA 4A marks the beginning of our next generation platform,” said Paul Menz, Product Manager at TOMRA Food. Chris Enright, SVP for Global Solutions, said: “Potatoes are a priority area for TOMRA Food.”

The launch covers unwashed potatoes. Onions are planned as the next application, before the next harvest season; Новини картоплі сьогодні reports that onion sorting will come to all TOMRA 4A machines. The sources reviewed do not give a price or name any customers.

A crowded idea: sort before the store

TOMRA is not alone in moving optical sorting up the line. The company presents the 4A against shorter, weather-dependent harvest windows, seasonal labour shortages and rising growing and storage costs.

Dutch storage specialist Tolsma-Grisnich recently introduced the Optica S, rated at up to 80 tonnes per hour, which removes stones, clods, rot and defects during store loading. Flikweert Vision’s DIVIDER Select is rated at up to 120 tonnes per hour; according to the supplier, MTS Gijzenberg’s operation in Arizona needs eight fewer people on its sorting line with two of the machines, at the same capacity.

These ratings come from different suppliers and are not an independent comparison. Crop, soil and defect load will all affect real output. Growers will be able to see several approaches in one place: Interpom runs from 29 November to 1 December at Kortrijk Xpo, with 330 exhibitors from 15 countries.

Що це означає для фермерських господарств та ринку

• Larger growers and packers: the case rests on labour, store space and the value of separated out-of-spec potatoes. Run those numbers on your own soil and defect loads, not on a rated maximum.
• Wet-harvest regions: clods and rot are the costly material in a season like this one. Ask suppliers for results in sticky soil and at the defect load you expect, and check how far 92% accuracy holds in those conditions.
• Before buying: ask for independent or customer references, post-storage throughput figures and tuber-damage data. Interpom is a practical chance to compare systems side by side.

джерела: PotatoPro, 5 November 2026; PotatoPro product page; Новини про картоплю сьогодні, 6 листопада 2026 року; Potatoes.News on Tolsma-Grisnich Optica S; Potatoes.News on MTS Gijzenberg; Potatoes.News on Interpom 2026.