| Abstract |
The quality control (QC) of packaged food products in the vegetable and fruit sector is of crucial importance to preserve the quality of the entire package content up to the moment it reaches the consumers. A single damaged fruit decreases the quality and trust in the product. Additionally, it can ruin a whole package containing initially undamaged products. Furthermore, the problem is often exacerbated by the fact that fruit and vegetable products are exported to other EU countries and overseas. This problem is of great concern in many other packaging sectors, such as the pharmaceutical sector or the food-processing sector in general.
The project aims at developing, integrating and testing innovative low cost nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques and new fruit handling mechanisms for quality control in the selection process of horti-fruit packaging systems. The new NMR based quality control mechanisms will be implemented into existing fruit and vegetable weighting and packaging machines developed by the project partners. NMR technology has been successfully used in many different fields such as Computer Tomography in medicine or in the measurement of materials properties. However, applications in the fruit packaging industry of NMR technologies are still a challenging issue. Developing the first integrated prototype application of NMR techniques for quality control of fruit packaging products is the main goal of this project.
The integrated selection and packaging system resulting from the QTEPACK project will increase the efficiency in eliminating the damaged products prior to the final packaging step. This will reduce the shortcomings of quality control methods based on visual or manual inspection. The efficiency and reliability of the final prototype QTEPACK system will be evaluated by the end users (IND1 and IND8) by applying it to QC in the packaging of oranges. The result to be expected from future applications of the new QTEPACK system is a 40% increase in the detection of damaged items in fruit and vegetable batches. Furthermore, by providing a standardised way of testing packaged products, adequate labelling will help to increase consumer confidence in the quality of the purchased goods.
Spin-off applications of the NMR quality control methods developed in this project include the quality control of a wide range of horti-fruit products, as well as other industrial products such as rubber tires, cloths, plastic and composite components, ceramic parts, etc. and other food, biological and medical products.
The use of NMR-based quality control methods in the food sector and in particular in the horti-fruit packaging industry will make it possible to improve the working conditions for shop floor personnel involved in the rather dreary and wearying quality control tasks and in the selection process. It is clear that the new QC procedures will also lead to an increase in productivity and higher revenues for the horti-fruit industrial sector. Moreover, this productivity increase will invariably lead to the mid-term creation of new jobs.
The experience gained in the validation of the new low cost and large scale NMR quality testing techniques will be a step forward towards the standardisation and regulation of NMR based QC procedures in the selection and packaging process of horti-fruit products, which are presently non-existing.
The execution of the project proposal requires a high level of expertise in the design of horti-fruit processing equipment, provided by the co-ordinator of this project, a Spanish manufacturer of integrated selection and packaging machines for horti-fruit products (IND1, E). By making a sound choice with regard to the European partners involved, IND1 hopes to increase the chances of a successful launch of the first NMR-based quality control machine in the orange packaging sector. The know-how of IND2 (E) in the design of advanced magnetic devices, which is crucial for the success of this venture, is complemented by the manufacturing expertise of IND4 (IRL) in the area of homogeneous magnetic field generators, and by the expertise of IND7 (DK) in high temperature superconductor materials. The contribution by REC3 (E) of specialist computational electromagnetic tools will ensure that the cost of the initial manufacturing process are minimised. Partners REC5 (F) and REC6 (D) will be responsible for the development of a high-frequency sensor configuration and assembly of the high-precision fruit handling mechanical devices, respectively. Finally, partner IND8 (E), a fruit packaging and distribution end user company, will test and evaluate the efficiency and reliability of the new NMR based prototype QTEPACK system on a packaging line of oranges. The contributions of the partners are clearly complementary, and each of them has well-defined tasks and targets within the proposed project |
