Knowing the size and blush of an entire cold store of apples based on a few photos, Optiflux offers that insight with its algorithm-based software, Quality Insights. At harvest time, predicting how a batch of apples will hold up qualitatively in storage—for up to 200 days—can be done with Storage Insights. And when we talk about apples, we're also talking about pears, and even blueberries, redcurrants, and strawberries, they assure.
It all started with the search for a way to optimize fruit storage. "Until 2018, I spent five years working on a PhD at KU Leuven," Niels Bessemans explains. "The aim was to develop a new storage method by optimizing the oxygen level in storage. Today, that oxygen level is usually set fixed per apple or pear variety. But with an accurate measurement method, which captures how the fruit breathes, the appropriate oxygen level for long-term storage can be determined at the cold store level."
OptiControl: Hardware storage technology Storage Optimum for smart storage management, longer shelf life, and better quality
There is a business case in that, for which Optiflux was founded in 2021 by Niels and three partners. The measurement method was immediately patented by this spin-off of KU Leuven, the Flemish Centre for Storage of Horticultural Products, and the Federation of Belgian Horticultural Cooperatives. "Since we noticed that many chemical ripening inhibitors are still used in storage, such as 1-MCP, a method that cannot be combined with our dynamic storage method, and since many fridges are not airtight enough to go to very low oxygen levels, it was decided to shift the focus from storage optimization to quality management."
This is done in two steps: determining the external quality of a lot at harvest (size, color, and skin damage) and predicting how quality will evolve in a given fridge over the months. For the first step, Optiflux developed the software Quality Insights; for the second phase, Storage Insights.
Quality insights
Quality Insights is a mobile app that takes photos of harvested fruit. Let's focus for a moment on top fruit. A picture is taken of the top layer of apples in a crate, about 100 to 150 pieces of fruit. "This number is representative of the crate, but not of the orchard or the cold store. However, if you can photograph a third to half of the crates being driven into a cold store, you achieve a 97% accuracy in terms of size distribution and blush of all the apples in the respective fridge. For next year, we also plan to include external defects as a parameter. Think rot and skin damage," Niels explains.
To make image capture easy, Optiflux is developing an algorithm system for a camera bridge. This will automatically take a picture of the top box of a stack of three boxes driven into the fridges by a forklift truck. "For traceability, the barcodes on the crates are automatically scanned, although registration can be done just as well with RFID," Niels said.
Quality Insights: Based on a picture of a crate of apples, Quality Insights calculates the size and blush distribution
Not only does inventory management become more insightful, but trading is also facilitated. "If a grower or trader receives a request from a customer for a particular variety, size, and color specification, the software shows in which fridge there are the most apples or pears that best match the desired characteristics," he says. In addition, Quality Insights is a tool to achieve better pricing. If a trader wants to buy 100 crates from a grower, before the price is set, both parties can photograph 20 to 30 crates, which is a sufficient number for a representative picture. And those growers who offer a batch of apples online can provide accurate and reliable info on the size distribution and color through a Quality Insights report. It gives buyers more certainty about what is in a batch."
Storage insights
With the additional hardness and Brix measurement of one sample of apples or pears, Optiflux is also able to predict the quality of a cold store—with or without 1-MCP—for the following 200 days. The software for this is housed in Storage Insights. It is no longer necessary to take a sample to a lab for such testing; growers or traders can perform the tests themselves. "You put away one sample of the fruit that you photograph on the day of harvest, then after one week and then after two weeks, supplemented with data from a penetrometer and a Brix meter. For fruit that will be stored for a long time, ideally, you also put away a second sample at the inspection hatch of a cold store for checking in January or February. This is for those companies that want to store until May or June," indicates Niels, who adds that Storage Insight achieves 90% accuracy based on the initial prediction. "In 10% of the cases, we adjust the model based on the second sampling to also be accurate in the prediction for the very long storage."
The expert explains that the usual practice today is to place a dozen bags of 10 fruits at the window of a cold store and take out a bag every month to take measurements. "But that is quite a lot of work and ten fruits are not representative of the whole fridge. We can predict at harvest time with over 90% accuracy how hardness and color will evolve over a long period of time and for each storage condition. By combining Quality Insights with Storage Insights, a grower can not only know which cold room contains which size and color distribution but also, if multiple cells are considered for a given customer demand, which cold room is best cleared first given the storability level of a batch." 
Storage Insights: Predicting the hardness and color of a batch of pears with Storage Insights
Utility in the orchard
Besides the benefits in terms of stock management and trading, Niels argues that Quality Insights is of service even in the orchard. "By taking photos of the fruit in the crates during picking, a grower can immediately get a clear view of the size and color distribution. Thus, proper instructions can be given to pickers about the fruit to be harvested in the different picking rounds. This can be done for apples and pears, but also for blueberries and strawberries. With the latter fruit, it is also important to optimize logistics, because, for strawberries, the shelf life is very short. By carrying out an inspection in the field, the product can be transported directly from the grower to the buyer. Then there is no need for inspection at an intermediate station. It shortens the lines, it saves money, and it benefits the environment," Niels says.
Storage optimum
Finally, let's return to Optiflux's starting point: optimizing storage conditions. "Although the focus soon turned to quality management, we also still offer our first product: Storage Optimum. If a grower sees, based on Storage Insights, that a certain lot is suitable for long storage, then storage technology can still be put to work to make that long storage as good as possible. Moreover, this year, we have a new variant, namely a pallet system to store blueberries and redcurrants, among others. The idea is to keep blueberries in storage for 6-8 weeks and redcurrants for up to 8-9 months. For strawberries, a very delicate product, we are aiming for two to four days of storage," Niels concludes.
For more information:
Niels Bessemans
Optiflux
+32 (0) 478 38 27 54
niels.bessemans@optiflux.world
www.optiflux.world