The global expansion of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) faces a critical hurdle: strict international standards for purity and safety, which highlight gaps in traditional sorting methods. To meet requirements from regions like the EU, Japan, and the US, TCM exporters are now relying on advanced
color sorters and precision sorting tech to overcome these barriers.
Traditional manual sorting of TCM herbs (e.g., ginseng, astragalus, and licorice) often misses invisible defects like mold, pesticide residues, or mixed inferior varieties—issues that lead to export rejections. Modern
optical sorters address this by using multi-spectral imaging to analyze not just color, but also texture and chemical composition. For example,
NIR-based color sorting machines can detect trace pesticides in wolfberries, a key TCM ingredient, ensuring compliance with Japan’s strict MRL (Maximum Residue Limit) standards.
Another major barrier is consistent grading. International buyers demand uniform herb quality, which basic
color sorters struggle to achieve. Specialized
TCM herb sorters—a variant of
optical sorters—use AI algorithms to classify herbs by maturity, root thickness, and active ingredient content. A Chinese TCM exporter reported that adopting such machines reduced export rejection rates from 28% to 5%, as they now meet the EU’s herbal drug directive.
Dust and moisture in TCM processing also challenge sorting equipment. Industrial-grade
dust-proof color sorting machines with sealed optical modules maintain accuracy even in humid environments, a must for herbs like angelica that require post-harvest drying. Without these tech upgrades, TCM exporters risk losing market share to competitors who meet global sorting standards.
