AppliColor Inc. has pioneered a new way to evaluate produce for ripeness and freshness based on a color spectrum that we call Poma FreshTM. Our new set of standards is predicated on readily available technology using mobile phones and digital cameras. The standards are based on well-understood and accepted science. With Poma FreshTM as a measurement tool, we hope to reduce waste and improve the way that food is utilized at every stop on the supply chain. The qualities associated with fresh food impact all of us everyday.
GROWERS/DISTRIBUTORS. Delays and costs of sending samples to labs are mitigated.
• Anticipating demand and managing shelf life, shipments and deliveries are delicate balancing acts.
• Shipment quality can be confirmed before it is transported and preapproved by retailers.
• The image analysis provides information on biologic age, relative chlorophyll health and current photosynthetic activity.
• The application can tell whether a plant has been compromised by warm temperature, mold, moisture or diseases such as E.coli or staphylococcus, allowing mitigation procedures to be initiated sooner.
RETAILERS. Use Poma FreshTM to compare vendors, set seasonal standards, predict shelf life.
• Retailers can monitor shipments to determine if a product has been compromised by time, temperature, mold or other disease.
• Improve quality-control procedures and reduce labor costs.
• Poma FreshTM can help determine when to donate a product to favorite charities to capture the 2016 tax incentives for food donations.
• Information can be immediately be integrated with inventory and purchasing systems and replenishment scheduling.
• Store managers can monitor shelf inventory rotations.
CONSUMERS. Poma FreshTM helps consumers pick the freshest, ripest produce from that on display.
• Users take a picture of a produce item with their smartphones.
• The app performs an advanced image analysis, providing users with information such as biologic age (senescence) and ripeness or relative chlorophyll health.
• Poma FreshTM will identify which melon in the display is the ripest and freshest. Use Poma FreshTM at home to indicate the perfect time to eat the avocado, cantaloupe or pineapple ripening on your kitchen counter.
POMA FRESH: The long-term Implications The data collected can provide a new understanding of how climate change and weather conditions affect the quality of food worldwide. Every time an image of a food item is taken, the data—date, time, grower location, product type and biological values–can be accumulated in a central database. Over time, the data can reveal trends that will help farmers optimize their cultivation procedures to improve food quality. Everyone along the supply chain–consumers, distributors and retailers–will play an important role in this developing scenario.
Source: AppliColor Inc.