If you’ve ever picked up a prescription medication or matched a paint chip at a home-improvement store, you’ve been touched by the science of spectroscopy.
The use of light as a measurement tool to identify, analyze and filter products before they make their way to consumers already affects our lives in many ways, but a Waterloo-based company is the first to apply it to waste reduction in our food supply chain.
By combining spectral imaging technology with artificial intelligence (AI), P&P Optica is helping food processors assess food composition, quality and contamination in real time. Its patented Smart Imaging System can detect foreign materials, like plastics, rubber, bone, and cardboard, that are difficult to find with other detection solutions.
The system works at a speed of over 36 metres a minute and processes up to 20 terabytes of data in a single day. It’s used to make simple decisions within a fraction of a second, triggering a mechanism that sorts out pieces instantaneously.
In addition to dramatically enhancing food safety, the system also provides valuable information on qualities such as freshness, tenderness, and the protein, water, and fat content. This allows processors to instantly predict whether a tough piece of chicken is better suited for a chicken nugget than a sandwich filling, or if a spinach leaf that’s not as plump could be blended into a smoothie rather than put into a salad.
So far, enabling food processors to go beyond just visual inspection is keeping millions of tons of food out of landfills, while filling in the gaps in an industry plagued by labour shortages. Of the Top 10 meat producers in North America, P&P is already servicing half, with the intent to expand their global footprint into produce.
The system works at a speed of over 36 metres a minute and processes up to 20 terabytes of data in a single day. It’s used to make simple decisions within a fraction of a second, triggering a mechanism that sorts out pieces instantaneously.
In addition to dramatically enhancing food safety, the system also provides valuable information on qualities such as freshness, tenderness, and the protein, water, and fat content. This allows processors to instantly predict whether a tough piece of chicken is better suited for a chicken nugget than a sandwich filling, or if a spinach leaf that’s not as plump could be blended into a smoothie rather than put into a salad.
So far, enabling food processors to go beyond just visual inspection is keeping millions of tons of food out of landfills, while filling in the gaps in an industry plagued by labour shortages. Of the Top 10 meat producers in North America, P&P is already servicing half, with the intent to expand their global footprint into produce.
The system works at a speed of over 36 metres a minute and processes up to 20 terabytes of data in a single day. It’s used to make simple decisions within a fraction of a second, triggering a mechanism that sorts out pieces instantaneously.
In addition to dramatically enhancing food safety, the system also provides valuable information on qualities such as freshness, tenderness, and the protein, water, and fat content. This allows processors to instantly predict whether a tough piece of chicken is better suited for a chicken nugget than a sandwich filling, or if a spinach leaf that’s not as plump could be blended into a smoothie rather than put into a salad.
So far, enabling food processors to go beyond just visual inspection is keeping millions of tons of food out of landfills, while filling in the gaps in an industry plagued by labour shortages. Of the Top 10 meat producers in North America, P&P is already servicing half, with the intent to expand their global footprint into produce.
Learn more here: https://www.edc.ca/en/article/ppoptica-uses-the-science-of-light.html
