SEPAmatic acquisition broadens Fortifi separation portfolio

Fortifi Food Processing Solutions has acquired German engineering company SEPAFood Solutions GmbH, known as SEPAmatic, adding low-pressure separation equipment, patented process controls, and German manufacturing capability to its food-processing portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

SEPAmatic develops and manufactures separation machinery for red meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables. Its range includes low-pressure belt separators, screw separators, perforated drums in several configurations, conveyors, and spare parts, extending Fortifi’s coverage of raw-material recovery and soft-tissue separation.

The acquisition also includes patented cooling and speed-regulation systems. The cooling technology is designed to manage heat rise during separation, where excessive mechanical work can affect product temperature, yield, texture, and the quality of the recovered stream.

Massimo Bizzi, chief executive officer of Fortifi, said the added capability could help processors “maximize yield, recover more value from every raw material and reduce food loss and waste across their operations.” SEPAmatic will sit alongside separation technologies already offered through Fortifi businesses including Provisur and LIMA.

The overlap gives the group a wider choice of mechanical approaches rather than a single standard separator. Separation performance changes with raw material, particle size, connective tissue, temperature, pressure, and the intended use of the recovered product, so one process cannot cover every application equally well.

Low-pressure systems are particularly relevant where recovery has to be balanced against product structure and temperature. Increasing mechanical force may raise yield in some applications, but it can also change texture or increase unwanted material in the output, making control of pressure, speed, and temperature part of the product-quality specification.

SEPAmatic’s German operation adds engineering knowledge and manufacturing capacity as well as equipment designs. That gives Fortifi a European production base for the product family and an aftermarket operation supporting customers that expect long service lives and continuing access to drums, belts, wear parts, and technical support.

Aftermarket capability is commercially significant in separation equipment because performance depends on components remaining within specification. Worn parts, incorrect drum selection, or poor belt condition can change yield and product quality long before a machine reaches the end of its working life.

Fortifi is also positioning the acquisition within its wider work on automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. SEPAmatic’s product range is expected to feed into that programme, although the immediate value of the business remains its mechanical separation technology and application knowledge.

The digital opportunity is strongest where machine data can be tied to measurable process outcomes. Speed, product temperature, throughput, yield, and quality measurements provide variables that could support more adaptive control, but useful automation depends on reliable sensors and consistent product data rather than software layered over poorly understood mechanics.

The deal continues Fortifi’s strategy of assembling specialist food-processing businesses under one group. In July, it completed the acquisition of UK-based Deighton Manufacturing, adding forming, portioning, coating, and frying equipment to a portfolio that already spans protein processing, chilling, freezing, conveying, hygiene, material handling, packaging, and thermal systems.

SEPAmatic adds depth in a narrower area where raw-material economics are particularly visible. Meat, fish, and produce processors often retain usable material on bones, frames, trimmings, skins, or other streams after primary processing, and the value recovered from those materials can have a direct effect on yield and waste.

The quality of that recovered stream determines where it can be used next. Material intended for further forming, mixing, or prepared-food production has to remain within defined temperature, texture, and composition limits, so separation cannot be judged on recovery percentage alone.

That makes the patented cooling and speed controls more than peripheral features. If they allow processors to hold product closer to specification while maintaining useful throughput, the technology can influence both saleable yield and downstream processing stability.

Fortifi acquired the business from SEPAmatic’s founding family and BPE, a Hamburg-based private equity investor focused on small-cap succession situations. SEPAmatic employees will join Fortifi’s broad-based ownership programme, while the German business will continue to contribute engineering and manufacturing capability to the wider group.

The acquisition therefore combines product range, industrial capacity, and aftermarket access. It also gives Fortifi another specialist platform that can be sold alongside adjacent processing equipment, particularly where customers are redesigning lines around yield recovery rather than buying a separator as an isolated machine.

Integration will determine how much value that combination produces. SEPAmatic’s strength lies in application-specific separation engineering; Fortifi’s scale lies in service reach, complementary systems, and its ability to connect mechanical equipment with automation and data.

For processors, the useful outcome would be a broader choice of separation methods supported by common service and controls rather than a longer catalogue carrying several overlapping brands. The first measure will be whether Fortifi can preserve SEPAmatic’s specialist engineering while making the technology easier to integrate into larger processing lines.