News Release

May 7, 2008

Satake Releases the Optical Seaweed Sorter

Detects foreign materials by color

Optical Seaweed Sorter

Satake has developed an optical sorting machine which can remove seaweed with color defects or holes. Sales began on May 20, 2008.

The Optical Seaweed Sorter uses a CCD camera to detect impurities in sheet style seaweed.

During the production process, contaminants such as shrimp and pieces of string can become inadvertently mixed in with the seaweed, and flakes of paint from processing machines may adhere to the finished sheets.

The Optical Seaweed Sorter can reliably detect these problems, and can also accurately remove sheets with holes or imperfect edges.

Other companies have produced seaweed sorting machines in the past, but they could not deliver the paint-chip detection accuracy the market demanded.

Satake has made full use of its optical sorting expertise to develop the solution: the hygienic, high accuracy Optical Seaweed Sorter.

Its CCD camera's advanced digital image processing allows the machine to remove materials discolored by any number of different paints, including red and blue.

The conveying parts of the machine are stainless steel, increasing corrosion resistance and durability and preventing the buildup of dirt and bacteria.

Satake plans to sell thirty per year to seaweed processing companies.

* Please note descriptions in news releases are accurate as of the date of release and may differ from the most up-to-date information.