Twin City Foods has been a leader in the frozen vegetable industry since their start in the 1940s. Processing hundreds of millions of pounds of product annually, their frozen peas, corn, carrots and green beans are sold around the world to foodservice customers and in private-label retail packs.

This year, Twin City Foods partnered with Key Technology and installed two VERYX optical sorters at the end of their lines that process both frozen peas and corn. VERYX removes all types of foreign material and processor-specified product defects to help ensure high product quality while maximizing yield.

“Our customers are very discerning. While other frozen vegetable processors might be limited to offering only certain product grades, we pride ourselves on having the flexibility to accommodate any grade our customers ask for,” said Dan Munko, vice president of operations at Twin City Foods. “Reliably achieving more unique grades requires sophisticated sorting, so we decided it was time to update our flagship facility in Pasco, Washington with the latest technology. We wanted optical sorters that would maximize our food safety and ensure exact product quality specifications, while also increasing yield, achieving high throughputs and simplifying our operations.”

Twin City Foods installed two of Key’s VERYX B210 belt-fed sorters, the highest capacity model in the VERYX family, which are each capable of processing up to 40,000 pounds of frozen vegetables per hour. Both sorters are equipped with top-mounted off-axis cameras and laser sensors as well as Key’s Pixel Fusion detection module to achieve Twin City Foods’ rigorous food safety and product quality objectives.

Recognizing the color, size, shape and structural property of every object, these VERYX sorters find and remove all types of foreign materials, including metal, plastic, insects, extraneous vegetative matter (EVM) and more as well as a variety of defects such as off-color products and pulled corn kernels.

To further maximize equipment uptime and sorting performance, Twin City Foods’ VERYX systems are equipped with RemoteMD, which enables a two-way remote session between the sorter and a Key service technician to simplify diagnostics and speed the resolution of any issues.

About Key Technology, Inc.
Key Technology is a global leader in the design and manufacture of automation systems including optical sorters, conveyors and other processing equipment. Applying processing knowledge and application expertise, Key helps customers in the food processing and other industries improve quality, increase yield and reduce cost. Key manufactures its products in Walla Walla, Washington, USA; Redmond, Oregon, USA; and in Beusichem, the Netherlands. Key offers customer demonstration and testing services at four locations including Walla Walla and Beusichem as well as Hasselt, Belgium and Sacramento, California, USA; and maintains a sales and service office in Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico. Key is a Duravant Company.