Berry group Driscoll's has announced a partnership with Israel-based technology solutions company Consumer Physics, to leverage its SCiO technology to innovate Driscoll's quality measurement process.
The Near Infrared (NIR) technology and design offered through the Consumer Physics SCiO Cup will allow Driscoll's to measure the Brix of its berries more effectively.
It also enables its Quality Rewards System, which measures and rewards its independent growers who consistently bring great-tasting berries from harvest to the consumer.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve the flavour of our berries,” said Brie Reiter Smith, Driscoll’s director of quality systems design and Technology, supply chain. “Investing in technology that ensures more flavour consistency within our proprietary berry varieties is important to our continued efforts to elevate our berry consumers’ experience.
'Partnering with Consumer Physics was an easy decision,' Smith added. 'Their impressive and novel brix measurement device allows us to reward the independent growers across our network who provide the ripest and best tasting berries.'
How does it work?
The Consumer Physics SCiO Cup supports cloud-based software to deliver lab-grade analyses to mobile devices in seconds.
An entire clamshell of strawberries is able to fit in each SCiO Cup and be scanned at one time, which eliminates the need for inspectors to select which berries to measure for Brix.
For raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, more than two six ounce clamshells can be measured in a single reading.
Driscoll's will begin integrating SCiO Cup devices within its quality measurement process this month in the US, Mexico and Canada.
By the end of 2021, Driscoll's will rely exclusively on the SCiO Cup device for Brix measurements in the approximately 2m quality inspections conducted annually in North America.
'We are excited to see our technology adopted by Driscoll's,” said Damian Goldring, co-founder and CTO at Consumer Physics. “It fits perfectly with Driscoll's innovative use case.
'The SCiO Cup delivers within seconds, accurate, consistent and non-destructive Brix analysis in berries,' Goldring added. 'We have been developing this solution closely with Driscoll's over the past couple of years and already see additional opportunities to implement this solution across the Driscoll's supply chain in the future.'
