Strategic partnership to transform global fresh-cut processing | Extractacore x QING

A Critical Bottleneck, Now Resolved

While significant advancements have been made in harvesting, sorting, and packaging, the post-harvest de-coring process has remained largely unchanged. Despite being one of the most cost-intensive and yield-critical steps in the food processing chain, it still relies heavily on manual labor or fragmented automation.

With thousands of fresh-cut processing lines worldwide, decoring remains a necessary yet inefficient process.

Together, QING and Extractacore are addressing this bottleneck with a system that delivers:

• Up to a 20% increase in yield
• Significant reduction in labor
• High-speed, standardized output across sites
• A typical return on investment within 12 months

On an industrial scale, these improvements are not incremental; they are transformational.

Proven Performance in Industrial Environments

In a recent twin-lane installation, integrating QING’s STAQ into Extractacore’s existing platform yielded immediate results:

• Processing iceberg lettuce at a rate of 110 heads per minute
• Achieving 98% detection and cut accuracy right from the start
• Optimized to >99% accuracy after tuning

This level of performance demonstrates not only accuracy, but also consistency and reliability under real production conditions.

“Extractacore de-coring systems are in use at many salad processing facilities today, delivering transformative results. STAQ takes our systems to the next level in terms of control and reliability. This will enable us to scale up more quickly as a company, while maintaining the level of performance and consistency that the industry expects—and deserves.” Letti Barber - Founder & CEO, Extractacore

From Complexity to Control

The integration of STAQ fundamentally simplifies the Extractacore system architecture.

Where previously multiple independent systems were required—including robot software, vision software, electrical controls, and HMI—STAQ consolidates these into a single unified control platform.

The result:

• Improved system stability
• Resolution of communication and data issues
• Faster commissioning and installation
• A scalable and repeatable system design

Standardizing the Future of Decoration

Extractacore systems will be standardized around the STAQ Technology Package, enabling:

• Plug-and-play deployment
• Shorter delivery and installation times
• Greater reliability and repeatability
• Competitive pricing at scale

This paves the way for making automated decoring a recognized and standardized process in fresh-cut processing—setting a new benchmark for yield, precision, and reliability.

A Strategic Control Point in the Supply Chain

This collaboration is not just about improving machines—it is about controlling a critical point in the global fresh-cut supply chain.

By combining advanced vision, AI, and robotics into a single integrated system, QING and Extractacore are positioning themselves at the forefront of next-generation food processing.

“This partnership is a clear example of our strategy to make an impact on the global food processing industry. By combining Extractacore’s experience and expertise with our expertise in vision AI and robotics integration, we have a strong proposition for the global fresh produce market—not only reducing manual labor, but also significantly reducing food waste.” Bram de Vrught – CEO, QING Food Automation