Project description
X-ray detector for safe foods
Food safety inspections cannot always detect contamination in time. Detection is a process that often requires several different laboratory examinations. The EU-funded XSpectra project is developing x-ray technology that can examine in real time the physico-chemical characteristics of materials. This will allow inspectors to detect foreign bodies immediately, which are not explorable with current technology. Based on artificial intelligence, this technology improves security, reduces costs and time, and helps prevent waste in the food industry. The project will test the technology of the same name at a production line to finalise an industrial product for commercialisation.
Objective
Xnext is a small Italian high-tech company that has the ambition of revolutionizing the quality inspection in the food sector and the ultimate goal of providing a decisive contribution for the solution of food contamination problems. We aim at succeeding thanks to XSpectra®, the most advanced real time inspection detector. XSpectra® is a disruptive technology as it overcomes all the weaknesses of conventional technologies, thus determining a relevant technological leap compared to all the existing solutions. Based on X-ray multi-spectrum analysis, XSpectra® is capable, like no other technology, to analyze real time the physical-chemical features of the materials and identify foreign bodies currently not detectable. The result of over 8 years of R&D, it’s a very complex system, combining 3 high innovations, all industrialized in-house: Photonics, Nuclear Electronics and Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence Algorithms. XSpectra® is beneficial for the food producers as it improves significantly the production efficiency (minimizing the product batch discard as well as the costs for product recalls); for the consumer as it guarantees the highest safety standards for the quality of foodstuff; for the environment as it helps to reduce significantly the amount of wasted food from the production line. XSpectra® has successfully completed the industrial prototype testing and is now installed for a field test on a production line. At the end of the project we will release the final industrial product and begin the commercialization worldwide. Thanks to high versatility of the system and the chemical-physical characterization capability, XSpectra® can be applied in several other fields: Pharma, Non-Destructive-Tests, material recycling, security controls, just to mention a few. Xnext intends to exploit the cash generation coming from the application in the food sector to support the application of XSpectra® in other sectors that also need to improve the quality standar
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technology
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economics
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligencemachine learningdeep learning
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
20127 MILANO
Italy
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.