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Food scanner
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Food scanner

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1.3 million tonnes of food are thrown away in Bavaria every year, a significant proportion at the end of the value chain. Retailers and consumers are often unable to assess the remaining shelf life. The research team led by Prof. Dr Heike Mempel at the University of applied sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf is working on determining the degree of ripeness of fruit and vegetables, assessing the quality of the fruit and estimating the remaining shelf life in each case. Fresh plant foods such as fruit and vegetables are sensitive and easily perishable due to their high water content and metabolism. Depending on the degree of ripeness, the storage conditions (temperature, humidity, light), product-specific properties or the packaging quality-degrading processes can proceed at different rates. Particularly in the case of post-ripening fruit, the degree of ripeness has a significant influence on the storage period but cannot always be assessed by appearance, smell or texture.

With the help of near-infrared spectroscopy, relevant quality and ripeness parameters of fruits, such as their sugar and acid content, water content and firmness and other ingredients, such as lycopene in tomatoes, are to be measured. The project aims to provide convenient information for retailers. There are opportunities for action along the entire value chain if quality changes and the associated remaining shelf life are recognised early. For example, the flow of goods can be managed intelligently, the goods can be used alternatively (smoothies, soups, sauces...), or prices can be reduced for faster sales.

The use of food scanners as a non-destructive measuring method for rapid quality assessment and shelf life estimation of fruit and vegetables has already been funded in two successive research projects, first by the "We save food" alliance of the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry and then by the QS Wissenschaftsforns Obst, Gemüse und Kartoffeln.

Currently, in the follow-up project "FreshAnalytics", the team is working with other project partners on a digital system for data management along the food supply chain in order to bring forecasting models into practical use.

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