TRACOD – Model-based Tracking of Cod and Other Fish Value Chain for Consumer Confidence Boosting and Food Engineers Education
TRACOD – short for TRAck the COD fish, is an EIT Food project aimed at improving the ability of producers and consumers to track freshness and nutritional values of fresh fish, including cod, salmon, and other white fish species. TRACOD uses models implemented in an app for interacting with stakeholders and includes an education component for endowing food engineers with a systems approach. TRACOD also engages future food engineers in conceptual modeling as part of model-based systems engineering of food production and supply systems.
The TRACOD project aims to design a system that combines a spectrometer and a cloud platform to monitor food quality and authenticity.
Regulation and increased consumer awareness are forcing retailers to take a leading role in food quality and authenticity control. As part of this, retailers are looking for screening technologies that are easy to use, and which allow rapid food quality measurement at a lower cost.
The system developed as part of the TRACOD project will be used to increase transparency at all points along the food supply chain. It will offer a wealth of information, which can then be communicated to the consumer at the point of sale.
In this project we will fully test the system, using the supply chain for cod and other fish, and bring it to a commercially viable product level. The finished product will combine NIR spectrometry, a mobile app and an information system. This will provide key nutritional and authenticity information for stakeholders across the food value chain and could ultimately be used by retailers to increase transparency as well as consumer trust in food.