H2020 HYPERA Project: Affordable hyperspectral imaging system for online foreign body detection and chemical composition analysis
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2016 -2018
- Assigned Budget 1.156.225,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website CleanPack
Description
HYPERA is an online quality inspection system for automated chemical composition analysis and foreign body detection in food, pharmaceutical, and other applications. Foreign bodies are a leading source of complaints and lawsuits in the food industry. The presence of unwanted objects or anomalies in food products can lead to costly product recalls and legal fees, severely damage brand reputation, and undermine consumer confidence. Given the limitations of current detection systems, such as metal detectors or X-rays, which can expose food processors to risk, HYPERA brings an enhanced non-destructive technique to the food industry, capable of instantly and consistently detecting a wide range of anomalies in food during processing. Our system easily detects the presence of insects, glass, plastics/Teflon, chewing gum, hair, cigarette butts, stones/sand, nutshells, fruit pits, and any other anomalies. HYPERA is a smart investment for industry leaders who want to offer exceptional levels of quality assurance and food safety, while protecting their businesses from costly product recalls, loss of image, and lost business. HYPERA is excellent news for consumers, as it will prevent countless food scares and scandals in the future and protect them from hazards such as the presence of plastics in chocolate bars (which can cause choking in young children), or contact with human hair, insect remains, cleaning fluids, or harmful food particles contaminating other foods, which can be harmful to people with allergies, to name just a few examples.
Description of activities
Thanks to the SME Instrument, we have accelerated the system's scale-up to a virtually market-ready online quality monitoring solution. We have successfully tested and validated it in five different food application cases for foreign body detection in pizzas, ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, processed fruits and vegetables, and cooked meats. With access to SME Instrument funding, we have been able to expand our development team, comprised of highly skilled scientists and engineers. We have fostered a strong multidisciplinary team to drive innovation in the fields of photonics, chemometrics, software development, and artificial intelligence, in order to obtain new intellectual property and incorporate performance improvements into our system, which will ultimately benefit the competitiveness of the food industry and the quality of life of European consumers. In parallel with development, we have also focused, together with our market, sales, and senior management teams, on preparing to enter the market with a disruptive technology with enormous potential. We have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by SME Instrument's Business Acceleration Services to present to companies, participate in lead generation intermediation events, and attend international trade shows such as Hannover Messe. We have also expanded our business expertise and experience through the SME Academy, where we have had access to strategic tools such as the Business Model Canvas, the Value Proposition Canvas, and Market Segmentation, in addition to benefiting from the experience and mentorship of strategic business coaches. We have used the 4Ps Marketing Mix tool to define and implement our strategies regarding the product, price, promotion, and market placement of our HYPERA solution. We have built and trained our sales team, closed our first sales, signed our first channel agreements, and presented our new solutions at international trade shows such as Foodex in the UK, Foodex in Barcelona, and Food & Drink Business Europe (Dublin), in addition to promoting them at Anuga, Achema, and other conferences and events.
Objectives
In response to the growing industry demand for rapid, non-destructive techniques for the detection and identification of foreign bodies in food products, IRIS (a Spanish advanced engineering company specializing in the integration of real-time monitoring solutions in the industry) will accelerate the development of an affordable, fast, and accurate hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system for in-line foreign body detection and chemical composition analysis in modern food processing plants. The HYPERA® system is based on a novel and disruptive combination of shortwave infrared hyperspectral imaging (SWIR-HSI) in reflectance with near-infrared multispectral imaging (NIR-MSI) in reflectance/transmittance and chemometric software. HYPERA offers exceptional performance for the detection of foreign bodies in food products by enabling: a) penetration (NIR-enabled); b) compositional differentiation (SWIR-enabled); and c) resolving image distortion caused by scattering (enabled by chemometrics); d) compact and low-cost design (enabled by extended infrared spectral bands to obtain more chemical information from the sample using novel detectors); e) high inspection speeds and versatility (enabled by combining a flexible hyperspectral imager design with integrated chemometric tools). The HYPERA® system, which will be suitable for multiple purposes and application objects, will equip food processors to prevent contaminated food from entering the supply chain, thus protecting both brands and the consumer.
Results
Our system is highly novel, as it combines two imaging cameras with different wavelength regions combined with chemometrics and artificial intelligence tools, to obtain the following advantages for the industry: High resolution (chemometrics mitigates the problem of image distortion caused by "scattering"). Quantification of chemical or physical parameters with spatial information (this is key to detect not only the presence of an anomaly, but exactly where that anomaly is located). Good penetrability of food/materials, which is important for detecting anomalies below surfaces and within food. Compositional differentiation (this is key to detecting anomalies and to visualize defects that are not visible to the human eye or machine vision cameras) All-in-one design, high inspection speeds, versatility and affordability and easily combinable with alarm and sorting systems (key to industry adoption) Designed to operate in harsh industrial environments At the end of the project, we have an almost market-ready inline quality inspection system that delivers an overall identification rate of over 95% for targeted applications Publication date, and for which we are filing a patent application. In conclusion, HYPERA is a timely development that will have a major impact. Foreign body hazards represent one of the most significant risks associated with the production and distribution of food products. Prevention is key to minimizing risks to consumer health and safety and avoiding product rejections and recalls that can lead to high levels of food waste. The HYPERA® system is a cost-effective, fast, reliable, and non-destructive inline quality inspection system for real-time food inspection for foreign body detection and chemical composition analysis. Our solution will prevent unspecified products from entering the food chain, thus avoiding product rejections and recalls and ultimately protecting consumer health and safety.
Coordinators
- IRIS TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA (IRIS)
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