Insectomat

Pest detection in grain, particularly during transit, is of great commercial importance. Current methods will not detect insects at low population densities and often cannot estimate levels of infestation accurately. This limits management options and encourages the use of pesticides and fumigants as a preventative measure. With many of these pesticides and fumigants being removed for food safety reasons, this is no longer a viable option.

Under a twelve month research and development project funded by the Home Grown Cereals Authority prototype machines using sieves or aspiration to separate insects from grain were built and tested. The best results were obtained with a flat-bed, reciprocating sieve and development was concentrated on this design. The rate of flow of grain through the machine had a profound effect on the recovery of insects but the angle of the sieve and the amplitude of shaking had much less effect. The optimised prototype siever was able to give consistent recoveries of two important species of grain pest close to 100%.

A pre-production prototype machine was then built and tested. This machine incorporated all the design principles of the first prototype but also was designed to meet operating and safety standards required of a commercial machine. Tests showed that this unit could process 10 kg of wheat in 1.8 minutes, recovering almost 100% of check insects in the grain. It proved capable of detecting infestations at population densities of 0.2 insects/kg.

The performance of the pre-production prototype was so significant and a large improvement over current commercial methods, it spawned the introduction of the Insectomat. The Insectomat helps improved detection of insects at intake, ensures better quality control, prevents infested grain being added to clean stock as well as minimising pesticide usage and eliminating the need for costly fumigations. Most importantly, improved pest detection will allow stores, mills and export silos to ensure they do not accept or supply infested grain.