A new collaborative project is aiming to reduce the risk of potato bruising through technology to help reduce supermarket waste.
B-hive Innovations, an agri-tech research and development company, has been awarded funding by Innovate UK for the project.
The company will undertake the nine-month ‘TuberTurgor‘ project in partnership with scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL).
Together, the research team will investigate “non-destructive” methods of measuring turgor pressure in potatoes; this is the force inside cells that pushes outwards, allowing the cells to withstand shocks and reduce bruising.
The project will gather data to provide proof of concepts for tools that ultimately could automatically sort different fresh produce by bruising risk.
TuberTurgor project lead at B-hive, Dr. Barbara Correia, said: “Growers and supermarkets are increasingly impacted by potato bruising that is brought on by prolonged periods of drought from rising global temperatures.
“This can drastically increase susceptibility to bruising damage during handling, so there is a supply-chain need to investigate how this can be reduced through devising early, non-destructive detection measures.”
TuberTurgor
B-hive will be testing a series of prospective methods to measure turgor pressure including physical hardness measures, ultrasonic and spectroscopic testing, as well as high resolution imaging approaches.
After an initial period to define the research protocol, the team will be conducting the first testing phase from this month until October to determine the most successful testing methodologies.
This will inform the second testing phase to gather extensive data for the most promising techniques – set to take place from November 2023 until the project completes in March 2024 – with refinements being continually made.
Technical lead at the NPL, Dr. Tony Maxwell, said: “NPL has a long history in the development of measurement techniques, and we are excited to be able to apply our expertise to an issue that so directly influences agricultural productivity and the environment.”
General manager at B-hive, Dr. Andrew Gill, said: “The TuberTurgor project is our latest fresh-produce analysis initiative, which has been devised to help supply chains minimise waste.
“Bruising contributes to enormous losses in productivity and reputational damage for both growers and supermarkets.
“We are delighted to have secured funding that could help to retain a high overall quality of end produce, as growers face ongoing challenges to manage their crop.”
