03 december 2020
16:40
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The Colruyt supermarket group has developed a device that can see at a glance whether products are of the right quality. ‘We discover at a glance an excess of water in chicken or ground brick in paprika.’
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A pan that turns into a swimming pool when you bake a chicken fillet in it. Few chefs are enthusiastic about it, and supermarkets are also trying to avoid injected chicken on their shelves. They do this traditionally by regularly examining random meat in labs. But that is expensive and time consuming. The supermarket group Colruyt has found a solution for this through its spin-off Xpectrum.
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‘We have developed a device that fires rays of light at meat and fish,’ says Simon Steverlinck of Xpectrum. ‘The light reflects and our device can see which substances the product is made of.’ If too much water is in chicken meat, the screen will turn red.
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Herbs can also be scanned. ‘Unfortunately, we notice that paprika powder sometimes contains ground brick. Nutmeg sometimes also contains substances that do not belong there. Our device detects them quickly. ‘
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With our device we can check the quality of fish, meat and herbs.
Simon Steverlinck
Xpectra
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Save thousands of euros
Colruyt used the device in its meat workshops last year and said it was able to check a hundred times more samples than normal. That saved the group thousands of euros in lab costs. ‘The meat that usually goes to the labs often contains samples with which there is nothing wrong, while little high-quality meat may well get away with it. It also takes a few days before there is a rash, ‘says Steverlinck. ‘With our device you can search for meat that may have something wrong with it. That can then go to the lab. ‘
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The results of the lab research are processed by the software of the Xpectrum device. The algorithm uses that information to track down bad meat even better. ‘Our software is self-learning. The more samples it processes, the better it will be. Our system currently has an accuracy of 85 to 90 percent. ‘
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Colruyt claims to use the device to check a hundred times more samples than normal. That saved the group thousands of euros in lab costs.
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The possibilities are great, says Steverlinck. ‘With the help of a fish expert, our device could distinguish high quality fish. The connoisseur can scan dozens of fish and indicate whether the fish has a high or low quality. Over time, our machine learns what is good fish and what is not. ‘
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Meel
After a year of experimenting at Colruyt, Xpectrum is ready for the next step. Negotiations are ongoing with supermarkets in Germany and Norway. In Iceland, a research center is looking at whether it can check the freshness of cod with the Xpectrum device.
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The engineers are also trying to convince Arvesta – the former AVEVE Group – to check its bread flour mixes with their device. ‘By scanning the flour, it quickly becomes clear whether the ratio of the ingredients is right.’
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Colruyt started the project two years ago in a vehicle in which the group experiments with innovation. The SmartWithFood app was released there a few years ago. People in the store scan barcodes of products to see which substances they contain. Those who follow a special diet can see whether a product is suitable for this.
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