Goal:

In the Landes region of southwest France, the transition to organic farming and stricter herbicide regulations has led to the proliferation of toxic plants, specifically Datura and black nightshade, which have contaminated fields. Antarctic Foods, a frozen vegetable producer, has faced significant challenges in recent years with the contamination of beans and peas by these toxic plants.

The primary objective of this project is:

• to enable Antarctic Foods to continue producing green beans and peas in this region while ensuring a safe and uncontaminated product without imposing burdens on farmers and the factory.
• Collaborating with Captic, a software developer and integrator specializing in AI-driven vision technology for the food industry, this project aims to implement three AI-driven camera systems.

Challenges addressed:

Captic is taking on the challenge of detecting toxic plants through AI technology at three critical points within the Antarctic Foods processing facility: at the beginning of the production line, in the middle before cutting and blanching, and after the last optical sorter just before packing. The goal is to provide real-time alerts for quality issues or toxic plant detection, enabling Antarctic Foods to assess the risk at the end of the line.

These alerts may vary, including notifications to the production manager, rework instructions, or direct integration into the ERP program. By addressing these challenges, the project aims to mitigate the risk of toxic plant contamination in frozen vegetables and maintain a consistent level of product safety and quality.

Expected benefits:

The project's primary benefit for Antarctic Foods is the opportunity to scale up bean production in the Landes region, where production had decreased over the past decade due to toxic plant contamination. Additionally, the ability to ensure higher food safety standards will allow Antarctic Foods to regain customers in the baby food market who had previously stopped purchasing their products due to contamination concerns.

Moreover, this technology's impact extends beyond Antarctic Foods. It will enable Antarctic Foods to access new markets by setting higher food safety standards, benefiting other vegetable producers facing similar challenges with toxic plants. Captic will gain a significant reference in the market, demonstrating the effectiveness of AI vision solutions for high-flow production environments.

Furthermore, this project will demonstrate that AI vision solutions are adaptable to high-flow rates, potentially opening up new opportunities for similar technology implementations in other industries and sectors.

Award date: 10/26/2023

Duration: 10 months

Partners:

• ANTARCTIC FOODS AQUITAINE https://www.antarcticfoods.com/fr (France)
• CAPTIC BV https://www.captic.com/ (Belgium)