Smart Sensing for Optimal Product Quality

Whether it’s fresh fruit, vegetables and cut flowers or processed foods, top quality, sustainable, cost-efficient production processes are crucial for agrifood companies wanting to establish themselves in the market. Wageningen Food & Biobased Research develops smart sensor systems that provide detailed and objective insight into product quality. This enables agrifood companies to optimise processes throughout the chain and extract the maximum value from product quality.

Quality measurement

Is it possible to implement a system that quickly, objectively and reliably measures quality control from grower to retailer? Can we deliver the desired quality, on demand, without loss or waste? Agrifood companies throughout the entire chain, from vegetable grower to retailer, and from machine builder to packager, need the ability to assess and predict the quality of products quickly, accurately and reliably. Wageningen Food & Biobased Research supports them with research, advice and prototypes for smart measurement, sorting and packaging systems, and software. This enables companies to produce, process, sort and package their products more flexibly, sustainably and efficiently - with or without robots. Improving product quality and reducing labour cost and waste.

Smart sensing for optimal product quality

From camera to robot

Wageningen Food & Biobased Research has the requisite knowledge, expertise and facilities, in-house, to measure and predict the quality of fresh and processed food, including the effects of sorting and packaging processes. Experts in the field of storage technology, sensors, agrifood robotics, food technology and supply chains work closely together in fundamental and applied research. Think, for example, of using 2 and 3 dimensional and multispectral cameras for non-destructive assessment of the ripeness of fruit and vegetables, or the presence of internal and external defects in flowers and plants. Or automatic sorting and packaging of confectionery, bakery products and meat by colour, and 3D printing of food. Our experts integrate data from multiple sensors for an even faster and better insight into product quality and thus smarter process control.

    Smart Colour & Quality Inspection

    Over the past decades, Wageningen Food & Biobased Research has supported various clients in optimising production processes and improving product quality. For example, sensors developed within the GreenCHAINge project (2016-2019) enable agrifood companies to more-reliably predict the quality and shelf life of strawberries based on maturity at harvest. This enables better decisions about markets and transport. In Smart Colour & Quality Inspection Wageningen experts have developed a broadly applicable instrument that objectively measures and analyses the colour of agrifood products throughout the entire chain - from harvest to sale. The Plantalyzer project (2018-2021), which sees Wageningen Food & Biobased Research partnering with the technology company Hortikey, aims to deliver a system to help tomato growers make reliable harvest forecasts of greenhouse tomato crops.

    Want to know more?

    Easily increase market share with smart sensor systems. Please contact us for a no-obligation consultation.