Icelandic fish processor, Valka, has unveiled a new x-ray guided water jet cutting machine which it says marks a turning point in fish processing.
The machine promises to greatly increase throughput and yield with a need for fewer workers when it comes to trimming and portioning white fish fillets.
It uses a combination of x-ray and 3D image processing together with robotically controlled water jets to locate and cut out pin bones and portions with exceptionally high accuracy.
The first machine is installed and in operation at HB Grandi in Reykjavik and is currently being used to cut out pin bones in redfish fillets. This requires high precision accuracy because the fillets are very small – from 80-250 grams in weight and 150-300cm in length. When running the belt at 415mm per second, the machine can process from 500kg per hour to over 1200kg per hour, depending on the size of the fillets.
Valka says that compared to manual cutting, the capacity of the machine is at least double.
The company says that this first version of the cutting machine is particularly suited to direct cutting of fillets with a straight bone structure – it is working on the next version which will be able to cut with a degree parallel to the bones.
