Chicken nuggets are among the most popular foods in the world. However, the demand for premium nuggets highlights a significant issue within the poultry processing industry, specifically the widespread practice of using a large workforce to manually inspect and separate portioned chicken breast for nuggets from lower value ‘trim.” This is a costly and inconsistent process that can result in 25% to 35% loss of high-value nuggets. For high volume processors, this can equate to a loss of revenue that can run to millions annually. In addition, poultry processors face challenges due to the workforce demands, including high turnover, absenteeism, subjectivity in sorting, and rising costs.
“The current process involves people inspecting a ‘sea’ of nuggets. They are asked to assess the size and shape, which is nearly impossible given that the nuggets are pressed up against each other, while also looking for any blood spots or excess fat,” says James Lapeyre, General Manager of Laitram Machinery, a global leader in food processing solutions such as steam cookers, blanchers, pasteurizers, roasters and vision graders for nuts, seafood, and vegetables.
Given the potential losses coupled with increasing demand, poultry processors are turning to high speed, automated sorting systems that singulate, or separate, each piece of chicken so it can be scanned by advanced proprietary vision systems. Nuggets that meet the processor’s specifications in size and shape are then sorted into bins or totes. The process, which is now enhanced by faster and more accurate AI identification of “prime” nuggets, can sort at speeds of 4,200 pounds per hour and recover most of the lost high-value nuggets currently lost to trim.
With 75 years of experience in shrimp processing and grading equipment, Laitram Machinery identified similarities in the technological requirements, specifically the need to separate and scan each item at high speed. The result is the SMART Sorter, a patented, fully automated sorter that separates the nuggets and then utilizes high-precision laser imaging and computer vision algorithms to inspect and sort each piece to the processor’s size, shape, and weight specifications.
The system was introduced by Laitram at IPPE (International Production & Processing Expo) in Atlanta, Georgia, and was recognized as the best innovation in 2024. Today, the system is already installed in the facilities of some of the world’s largest poultry processors.
The ROI comes from the immediate increase in prime nuggets upgraded from trim. The system can identify 20-40% more nuggets that originally were not being identified in manual sorting. Considering that premium nuggets garner roughly twice the price per pound of trim and that volumes can run into millions of pounds annually, the savings are signficant.
As for labor, the SMART Sorter decreases labor requirements and costs by more than 50%, compared to manual processing and sorting. “Now workers only need to look for blood spots or excess fat, a much simpler task,” explains Lapeyre.
Laitram Machinery recently integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) to almost double throughput rates to 6,500-7,000 pounds of nuggets per hour. AI also enhances clump and defect detection, minimizing the risk of “out-of-spec” nuggets reaching customers and further boosting recovery rates. Lapeyre explains that AI can identify patterns without additional programming. “Over time, the system continues to learn the attributes of a ‘good’ nugget and visually recognize it. We can also train the system to recognize when there is a clump [two or three potentially good nuggets touching] and how to handle that. In the past, that might have ended up as trim.”
For more information: call +1 (504) 570-5299; email [email protected]; or visit laitrammachinery.com.