Ishida Helps Scotto Increase Capacity, Yield And Range

Established French shellfish supplier Scotto SARL has replaced a volumetric method of packing mussels into trays with an Ishida multihead weigher and weigher-to-pack distribution system, giving the company the opportunity to greatly increase its sales volume.

Founded in 1950, today Scotto sells a baseline 1500 tonnes of sea-grown mussels each year, 70% of them packed in trays of 1.4 or 2kg under its own brand name. Mussels in trays, washed and ready to use, are becoming increasingly popular however, while opportunities also arise to significantly increase sales volume across a range of smaller shellfish, such as cockles and clams. Scotto was therefore determined to be well-placed to take advantage of these trends, using efficient modern automation.

The mussels are first weighed and an estimate made of the percentage of meat the load contains. The shellfish are then scrubbed, de-bearded and washed in seawater.

For packing, the mussels are delivered from above to the top of the weigher, via a descending conveyor. The new weigher is a 10-head model of the Ishida RS-series. The downward conveyor and its junction with the weigher are designed to prevent any of the hard, smooth shellfish from escaping.

Flexible baffles at the entrance to each radial feeder help to control the mussels so that they reach the large, embossed, stainless steel hoppers in an even manner.

A special distribution system under the machine collects each weighment and delivers it via a dipping funnel into a tray, avoiding any exposure of the tray sealing lip to moisture or product.

Trays then pass through a traysealer before labelling, assembly into loads and dispatch. To ensure freshness, the entire process takes place within 48 hours. Bacteriological testing is carried out by an external laboratory while Scotto itself makes regular tests of packed product quality.

Even though the overall system is constrained by the current rate of tray sealing the company can process much more rapidly than before. Working at about 20 trays per minute, it now rates its potential mussel production at up to 5,000 tonnes per year, for example.

The accuracy of the Ishida multihead weigher has reduced giveaway, increasing the yield of packed product, while the speed of the process is now more in line with the urgency of the shellfish supply business. However owner Henri Scotto is clear as to what he sees as the main benefit.

“It’s a good tool, quickly cleaned, which will enable me to diversify into the tray packing of 500g trays of small shellfish. But also to double or even triple my sales volume, especially to supermarkets.”