Linking keeping quality models and sensor systems to an autonomous transport supervision system

Abstract: The development of concise supervision systems to monitor quality changes during transport of fresh fruits and of other perishable foods demands cooperation between agricultural and micro electronic research. Special sensors are required to measure parameters that influence product quality. Beside temperature and time, ethylene has an important effect on the keeping quality. We discuss micromechanical sensor concepts for application in reefers or trucks. The assessment of the effect of temperature, time and sensor data needs models to assess the keeping quality, the time a product remains acceptable for consumers. Using tomato as example we show how different harvest conditions influence the keeping quality. Our reduced scale prototype demonstrates that it is feasible to integrate a real-time supervision system into standard reefer trucks or containers. The keeping quality is calculated on a credit card sized processor module. Information to select the appropriate model type is stored on a standard RFID tag that is attached to the freight item.