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Pierluigi Mattè
Fruit Control Equipments srl
Fruit Control Equipment ,an italian company, leader in the
field of controlled atmosphere technology. It is owner since
1989 of the prestigeous Bonomi's trade marks and pursues a
qualified research programme for improving CA technology.
Throughout a network of companies, each one qualified a specific
area for manufacturing parts for the systems, FCE controls
all the passages of the various processes and also offers
turn- key solutions for their CA projects to the Customers
when required. FCE operates in Italy and in the majority of
apple-producing Countries in the world . Apples in fact still
represent up to 70% of CA investments world wide, followed
by pears and kiwifruit.
Our Company has always proposed and introduced new storage
methods as well as classic CA we also propose ULO ( Ultra
Low Oxigen ), LECA ( Low Ethylene Controlled Atmosphere),
ILOS ( Initial Low Oxygen Stress ), RCA ( Rapid CA ) and DCA
( Dynamic CA ). The interrelationship between FCE, Research
centers , Univerity Institutes specializing in post-harvest
is indicated as one of the best and most practical ways to
reach positive resuls for fruit growers, implementing formation
and information together with training in fruit storage. It
is important to establish world wide simple, clear and appliable
standards for fruit storage technology. FCE is also involved
in suggesting the correct method concearning the CA applications.
Technology is evolving very quickly, with specific regards
to electronics and official standards must be established
to be applied in: CO2 adsorbing plants, O2 pull down systems
and pull-down time, C2H4 ( ethylene ) control, Analysing systems,
computerized controls etc. FCE is leader in the market of
the single units for CO2 adsorption. The solution was conceived
by Bonomi in the late 70's and has been improved by FCE and
updated with PLC technology inside each unit.
Nowadays FCE produces a wide range of CO2 adsorbers for differente
room sizes and of course fruit varieties with different respiratory
rates. Full automatic devices ( with analysers and microprocessors
on board ) can be adopted for special applications, including
regeneration with nitrogen for the off-limits of the gas concentrations.
Concearning oxygen pull-down, FCE has been always insisted
on pushing the market towards short term solutions, which
means the installation ( one per plant ) of an inert gas generator
( now mainly nitrogen generators ). The shorter the amount
of time that passes from harvesting date to when the product
reaches the final CA storage conditions, the better it is
for the apples' quality and the longer the shelf-life will
be on the market, with the best commercial results for the
fruit growers and the satisfaction of the customer. We sometimes
suggest installing nitrogen generators to pull down the oxygen
( from 21% to 5-6% ) in less than 24 hours. Regarding ethylene
control, FCE applies with great success LECA ( Low Ethylene
CA ) solutions for all fruits with high sensitivity to this
gas. Particularly interesting applications are for kiwifruit,
but now and in the future will be used even more for some
apples varieties like Fuji, Gala, Elstar, for maintaining
freshness, acidity and firmness longer on the market. What
about the control systems ? Here is the fantastic area for
developing the most advanced control systems. FCE has been
proposing over the last 12 months a new application for its
GAC5000 computerized system, which will be improved further
during the near future. Our appointment with the Y2K will
be based on a Supervised Dynamic Atmosphere ( SDA ) which
means integration of automation and human resources for better
surveillance on the life and of course the quality of the
stored fruits.
The concept is to take care of the fruits from the point
of view of respiration rate, firmness, brix values and according
to these values apply the best O2 and Co2 concentrations.
We will be testing new probes for ethylene and alcohols, which
could be applied inside each storage room and report important
informations to the computer system for the Dynamic Atmosphere
to be adopted. Man will always be the supervisor of this information
and will check manually from time to time some parameters
to verify the storage process. In the following years of next
millenium there will be a lot to do together with the consumers
in order to establish the preferable characteristics and taste
of the fruits in the different period of the year ( i.e. yellow,
red, green, acid, juicy,crispy etc ). Non distructive methods
are now under testing on line in sorting machines to check
by laser the quality. It will be possible in short time to
calibrate probably the fruits under their intrinsec quality
and of course the fruit growers could be also payed according
to new parameters. According to the panel tests it is possible
to verify also the best storage conditions to apply in order
to keep fruit quality as required by the consumers. The picking
dates windows for the fruit will be the main job to do, out
of the most important one belonging to the fruit growers ,
which is to produce quality and not quantity. The distribution
systems ( large supernmarket chanes ) will pay more attention
to all these developments and hopefully improve their distribution
areas for the fruit and vegetables. FCE will be also working
for these purposes , with friendly environmental solutions.
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