nofima.no
Creating value
2013
9
Financed by:
The Research Council
of Norway
Partners:
SINTEF ICT and
SINTEF Fisheries and
Aquaculture
Nofima Senior Research Scientist Jens Petter Wold scans a block of cheese in an NIR scanner in the laboratory.
photo: Jon-Are Berg-Jacobsen © nofima
Novel sensors and automation is the name of a project
in which the main objective is to develop sensor technol-
ogy that can help food companies to optimize utilisation
of raw materials, improve logistics, increase profitability
and minimize wastage.
The research in this project is divided into two parts:
1. Further development of existing sensor technology in
order to exploit what researchers have already made in
the best possible manner.
2. Development of completely new sensor technology,
small and cheap sensors, so the food industry (and other
industries) to a greater extent can make use of this tech-
nology in order to become more hi-tech and automati-
cally quality controlled.
“In the long term this will strengthen competitiveness
and safeguard market channels,” says Nofima Senior
Research Scientist and Project Manager, Jens Petter
Wold.
Precise measurements:
One example from the project
is the development of a system to automatically sort fish
by species, size and exterior qualities.
“We are using a camera and a laser line that scans
the fish and provides feedback to a computer about how
much the fish weighs, exterior quality and which species
it is,” says Wold.
Such a system provides opportunities for far more
precise and detailed sorting than is the case with the
current system, and consequently better utilisation of
the raw material.
Another example is the development of automated
and more precise measurements of fat and fat composi-
tion in, for instance, milk. This utilizes Fourier Transform
Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.
“This will give the producer detailed quality informa-
tion about the milk and the possibility of optimal use
during further processing,” concludes Wold.
Sensors adapted for use in the food industry make automatic and
precise sorting of raw materials possible, and improves efficiency.
Measure quality, save money
