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La vie en ROSA

According to APCOR president Antnio Rios de Amorim, who is also chairman of the world's largest cork producer, Amorim & Irmos, the idea is to give small producers shared access to the latest technology for reducing TCA to avoid the financial burden of investing in expensive new equipment.

The proposal for the new industrial park was launched in June, and Amorim expects the plans to be finalised by October 2005 - the deadline for the project to qualify for EU funding. To date, almost 100 small cork manufacturers have expressed interest in using the new cork boiling facilities, and around half of the producers are considering moving their operations to the new site in the municipality of Feira.

The issue of TCA reduction has been firmly at the top of the cork industry's agenda for several years, as competition from plastic closure and screwcap producers has intensified. Market pressures spark improvements,' said Amorim. We had 95% of the market; now we are down to 90%. So the wake up call came in.'

Amorim admits that the Portuguese cork industry had previously been too slow in reacting to the problem, but claims that most producers are now actively working towards reducing the incidence of TCA. The idea behind the industrial park is to ensure that all producers move in the same direction - towards total TCA eradication - and that no one lets the side down. That's important to Amorim & Irmos, because with 25% of the global cork market, it is more or less the face of the Portuguese cork industry. The real enemies of cork are the bad cork producers, not plastic closure producers,' said Amorim.

Amorim is leading the research into new curative methods of

dealing with TCA, for example with its steam distillation method ROSA, but its first steps were developing the preventative measures such as the improved boiling system.

In 1999 it set up a research and development department, headed by former university professor Miguel F A Ferreira Cabral, and reviewed its entire cork processing system. The TCA reduction process now begins at the point of harvest, with bark from the root area of the tree no longer used for wine closures because it is more likely to harbour TCA precursors. If the root section gets through to the production facilities, it is identified and removed before processing. The cork is also transported using stainless steel rather than wooden palates and stored on concrete rather than bare earth, both of which significantly reduce the chances of TCA developing.

One of the key elements is the new boiling system. With the new stainless steel units, smaller quantities of cork are processed in each batch, so the cork is less compressed and the water circulates better. This also means that the temperature is more uniform and therefore the boiling process more effective. The cork also absorbs less water, so cork humidity levels are lower (20% rather than 40%) immediately following the treatment and reduce to the correct level for punching corks (13-14%) much faster. High humidity encourages TCA precursors, so this shortens a potential danger period.

Amorim's hope is that by giving all producers access to better boiling facilities and encouraging them to incorporate the other simple preventative measures into their production process, the incidence of TCA taint in cork will soon drop to more acceptable levels.

The next step will surely be to extend the curative measures across the industry. Cabral is currently working on evolving the commercial applications of his ROSA system, which he claims reduces the incidence of any remaining TCA by a further 80%. The fight against TCA goes on.

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