US: X-ray technology helps peanut farmers

Researchers may sometimes complain they work for peanuts but scientists at the US National Peanut Research Laboratory have shown that this is not always a bad thing. They have developed new high-tech grading methods that could dramatically boost the American peanut industry.

Engineer Hank Sheppard and research leader Marshall Lamb discovered that X-ray technology had proved to be a faster and more efficient alternative to manual peanut grading.

"We have been working with the industry for 15-20 years," said Marshall. "What we are hoping for is that we can increase the accuracy of grading peanuts and decrease the amount of time needed to do this."

The new method delivers an accuracy level of up to 99% and has accelerated the traditionally labour-intensive grading process. Official peanut grading usually can take up to 20 minutes per sample and requires three to six skilled workers to hand-shell, sort and grade each nut.

The X-ray graders take just seven minutes per sample and capture an image of the peanuts while they are still inside the hull. The researchers then calculate the number of peanuts inside the hull in comparison to the weight of the hull.

This will reduce costs incurred by the industry when grading. In a recession year, this is all the more important, especially as the Peanut Corporation of America announced in January a recall of peanut products because of the possibility of a salmonella contamination.

The peanut industry works with the laboratory, part of the Agriculture Research Service, a branch of the US Department of Agriculture, to develop and improve farming practices to produce a high-quality crop and the efficiency of peanut production.

Marshall said he was unsure if the profits lost at the beginning of the year would be recuperated by the use of the new technology. But he was positive it would decrease labour costs and produce a higher quality nut.

His laboratory is also working on a technology that could measure the moisture level in peanuts. This would allow processors to cut back on wasted nuts and separate the specimens that required further processing from others.