A process line for washing and sorting harvested vegetables such as green beans B comprises in sequence a washing station for washing the vegetables, a drying station 32 for drying the vegetables, a sorting station 42 for removing small vegetables and vegetable pieces and passing sizeable vegetables, and an inspection station 51 downstream of the other stations for optically inspecting sizeable vegetables including means for removing individual vegetables not complying with inspection standards. The line may include an infeed elevator 2 at the washing station end, a blowing station 6 for blowing leaves from the vegetables, a manual inspection station (56, fig. 7) downstream of the inspection station, and a bagging and weighing station (see figure 8). The washing station may comprise first stage and second stage washing stations 13, 20. The drying station may comprise fans (33, fig. 5) and/or an air-knives (34, fig. 5) for blowing moisture from the vegetables. The sorting station 42 may comprise a vibrational sorter having gaps sized to allow small vegetables and pieces to fall through. The optical inspection station 51 may comprise cameras 53 for optically detecting defects and air nozzles 58, 59 for removing defective vegetables (see figure 7).
