The responsible production of food, which society demands today, implies that these are healthy and sustainable, requiring a continuous effort to maximize the quality and safety of the final product, improving the homogeneity between batches and reducing waste, the use of additives, the energy cost, the consumption of both water and raw materials and the generation of by-products. The solution proposed by our group focuses precisely on optimizing processes in the food industry that contribute to improving the nutritional, textural and organoleptic quality of food, particularly in the dairy and meat sectors, in order to facilitate the production of healthy and sustainable food.

Optical systems capable of reducing solids loss during cheese production are available, in particular through control of curd firmness and/or syneresis, as well as monitoring changes in the raw material, such as the size of the curds. casein micelles, or the emulsifying and foaming capacity of whey proteins. It is also applied in the cooking of meat emulsions to reduce losses.

The system is based on a set of custom fiber optic sensors, made to order, which can be used at the laboratory level and incorporated into industrial equipment. For the first time, a technology of this type is introduced that can be configured inline, which is also cheaper and faster than those currently on the market and allows decision-making and rectifications during the production process. This optimization of processes brings as a benefit the production of healthy, sustainable and profitable food.

Currently, various food producing companies (end-users), machinery manufacturers for the agri-food industry, as well as integrator and photonics companies have expressed interest in our solution.