Fruit sorting is the process of separating raw material into acceptable and rejected streams based on ripeness, colour, size and defects, and it directly determines the grade and safety of frozen and dried fruit products.
In trade practice
On processing lines, sorting is carried out on inspection belts by trained operatives and by optical sorters running product-specific programmes. QA teams set rejection thresholds for defect categories such as mould, bruising and underripe pieces, and these thresholds are verified during pre-production trials. A common mistake is relying solely on manual sorting at high throughput speeds, which increases the risk of defective pieces passing through undetected.
In a specification
A buyer specification typically states the maximum permitted percentage of defective pieces by weight after sorting, with separate limits for critical defects such as mould and for minor defects such as slight discolouration.