Starting today, the Eurecat technology centre is taking part in the Food4Future World Summit in Bilbao, where it will preview innovative solutions regarding diet and health, biotechnology, sustainability, industrial and agricultural robotics and digital transformation linked to the agri-food sector, such as the DANTIAN project, which studies new bioactive ingredients and foods that promote mental well-being.
‘An innovative multi-technology approach is essential for food companies to be able to achieve their objectives and increase their competitiveness’, says Ignasi Papell, the head of the Eurecat technology centre’s Food Industry Business.
As part of the fair, the technology centre has organised two sessions with experts who will share their projects and experience, aimed at food industry companies, entities and organisations.
The session held on 18 May will feature solutions based on big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning that provide possibilities such as process automation, resource savings, increased operational efficiency and improved understanding of consumer behaviour in the food industry value chain.
Eurecat’s head of Food Industry Business will be responsible for introducing the session, where, together with the companies Raventós Codorníu, Mapex and Prolongo, they will present the project launched by the ALIMENTE 21 consortium to apply artificial intelligence in food industry production processes to increase the efficiency of industrial management in the sector, ensure its quality and safety and reduce its environmental impact. ALIMENTE 21 – Smart food for the 21st century is a project with technical coordination from Eurecat and led by Raventós Codorníu.
Research and innovation in new ingredients to strengthen foods will be the focus of the session on novel foods, where Josep Maria del Bas, the director of Eurecat’s Nutrition and Health Unit, will present successful methods developed to obtain functional foods and nutraceuticals.
Innovative projects
The innovations Eurecat is presenting at the Food4Future fair includes the DANTIAN project, promoted by a consortium of 8 companies led by Mahou San Miguel, with technical coordination from Eurecat, which studies new foods and bioactive ingredients that encourage mental well-being through the understanding of the mechanism at cognitive level and its relationship with the microbiota and intestinal health.
In the technology area, solutions will be presented related to autonomous robotics for work in the field, transporting raw materials, crop monitoring and precision intervention, as well as a system with hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence for detecting extraneous objects and quality control for food products.
Moreover, in this area there is also the project that Eurecat has carried out with the food group Splendid Foods—whose core business is the production of hard sausages—which incorporates artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics to optimise the sausage curing process.
