The objective of this project was to develop an automated process system (FleXicut) for detection and removal of pinbones. FleXicut incorporates these two critical processing steps in one machine. • High resolution X-ray technology is used to locate the bones with extremely high accuracy, down to 0.2 mm pinbones and software to guide water jets during cutting for pinbone removal. Previous work has revealed that low resolution sensors do not fulfill requirements regarding sensitivity in bone detection. • The water-jets are very flexible, enabling the FleXicut to perform a variety of cutting patterns. The angle cutting option allows it to follow the curved lines of the bone frame very closely, thereby further reducing pinbone material.

FleXicut is also equipped with a built-in blade cutter, to optionally cut the tail piece. With the X-ray scanning and water-jet cutting performed on the same belt, there is no risk of movement between the bone detection and cutting processes, which ensures a superb level of cutting accuracy based on the bone location.

Automated pinbone removal has the potential to increase the sustainability, profits and market for cod and other wild whitefish species. The high precision in locating bones and guiding of bone removal leads to higher yield of raw material. Increased automation of the process results in reduced number of trimming operators needed and improved handling during processing. Thus, the outcome is added value and higher quality of products.