Introduction
S3FOOD, a European-based funding organization, intends to support 14 new agricultural innovation initiatives. S3FOOD is a consortium of 13 agri-food and high-tech cluster organizations from eight European countries. It helps food producers in Europe digitize their production processes. S3FOOD focuses on using smart sensor technologies by SMEs in the food and agriculture industry. On May 4, 2021, the consortium awarded 1.3 million euros to 14 new projects as part of the S3FOOD call. The latest innovation projects in the agri-food sector can start with smart sensor techniques. Two of these projects come from the Netherlands. CIED & NGSensors bags the grant from S3FOOD for agri-food innovation and is working together on a new detection method for the agri-food chain.
Next Generation Sensors
Next Generation Sensors bring solutions for a safer world by bringing the lab to the sample with portable, sensitive, accurate, and user-friendly technology for easy detection of harmful substances in our food, bodies, and environment. Their mission is to go beyond the borders of the current state of art of mass spectrometry and bring in – a mass spectrometer which is portable, user friendly without compromising its performance and accuracy.
The Need for Action
With an increasing global population, agricultural production and farming need to get dramatically more productive and efficient to produce enormous yields in a limited amount of time. It is no longer possible to conduct manual experiments, assess viability through trial and error. However, bacteria, viruses, and other germs can contaminate food, causing it to become very ill for those who consume it. Real-time detection of inconsistencies in food production is in high demand. Consequently, there is a need for precise, rapid, and simple methods to evaluate food quality in this sector.
To address this problem, both the companies are on a journey to build a mass spectrometry-based portable diagnostic device and a UI/UX dashboard for real time data collection and interaction with the device. The objective of Next Generation Sensors was a shift from bulky, costly, mechanical sensing devices to small, cost-effective smart sensors that created fast, reliable information for centralized and local control systems.
This case study aims to present a detailed explanation of the background, challenges, solutions, benefits, and results of the technology developed by CIED and NG Sensors.