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Leaf Vegetables: Ortomec's Leaf Choice Aid

by Fabrizio Sereni
october/november 2013 | Back

Leaf vegetable selection, whether spinach, lettuce or leafy herbs such as basil, is a major headache for market gardeners when preparing their produce for market, but they have now received a helping hand from Ortomec, a company known for its vegetable harvesters and related tools.

For Agritechnica, the company has produced the Selecta Stock, a selection table for warehouse use, designed to facilitate the removal of stones, earth and other extraneous matter from the crop as well as the selection of the best produce for sale as Range IV vegetables for direct consumption.

Ortomec already produces a series of selection tables for on-field use, offering high performance at the beginning of the processing chain, so the Selecta Stock adds a new link to an expanding range.

The harvested leaves are unloaded onto the machine's conveyor belt, which dumps them into six pierced shaker trays, with varying hole sizes according to the vegetable being handled. The produce is also cleaned as it is selected.

The new machine can also push its own envelope. If a mixture of various types of leaf vegetable is put onto the belt, the shaker trays perform the useful task of creating a well-mixed mixed salad.

The Selecta Stock is electrically powered and has four wheels so that it can be moved easily. The frame is in high-resistance stainless steel, which also satisfies all health and hygiene requirements.

Ortomec is based at Cona, a small town of just over 3,000, located on rich and productive horticultural land just 4 meters above sea level, a few kilometres inland southwest from the Venetian lagoon.

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