App puts food under the microscope

A research team based in Flinders University has developed a smartphone system to detect spoilage and ripeness of fresh food.

Using the GoMicro Spotcheck app and a phone-attachable magnifier, users can assess the level of ripeness or spoilage of fresh foods. The CEO and founder of GoMicro, Dr Sivam Krish, suggested that the system could help to save money for agricultural industries and solve the $1 trillion food waste problem.

“We can assess the ripeness or spoilage of fruits and vegetables with 86–99% accuracy, measured in days,” Krish said.

“It’s a very topical issue for the food industry to address, with an estimated 30% of our food being spoiled. We can see that there are some very strong commercial opportunities for a cheap and portable device to have the power to make accurate food spoilage assessments.”

The software uses an AI system that was trained with 100 images of different vegetables; this is a substantially lower number than is usually required for AI training. The company’s patent-pending technology creates lab-quality imaging conditions that can increase the accuracy of detection, reducing the number of images needed for training purposes, resulting in accurate AI detection for this level of magnification.

GoMicro’s aim of re-inventing the microscope and instilling it with artificial intelligence is designed to make the highest quality technology accessible to the public and not just scientists.

The system is initially being directed at agriculture to help farmers and agronomists detect pests and leaf disease, and assess food quality.

“Any farmer with a phone will have the diagnostic capability of an agronomist — through building a more accurate AI engine into the Spotcheck microscope attached to a phone,” Krish said.

“It’s an important breakthrough, because microscopic information can provide a vast array of information across a wide range of agricultural issues. More importantly, we will be making it possible for anyone to build and deploy accurate AI applications.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/adrian_ilie825