Feb 3, 2024

Neolithics uses AI to inspect fruit

Neolithics, an artificial intelligence (AI) agritech company, is launching Neolithics Light, an automated, portable produce inspection system.

The non-destructive technology eliminates inspection waste, improves productivity and increases the volume of saleable product, according to a news release from Tel Aviv, Israel-based Neolithics.

Retailers, distributors and food processors can eliminate manual, sample-destroying inspections using Neolithics Light. The platform uses hyperspectral optics and AI frameworks to deliver previously unavailable insights, including nutrition levels, Brix sweetness, project shelf life, maturity, anomalies and detection of different organic compound distribution both internally and externally.

“We’re going to reduce food loss and ensure food quality and safety,” Neolithics CEO Amir Adamov said in the release. “With manual inspection, more than 8% of each crop is destroyed. Thirty-five percent of crops are lost due to transport and shelf-life issues. With the speed and accuracy of our platform, most of those losses can disappear.”

Current manual processes require destroying as much as 5 % of the entire crop, with the subjective measurements almost 30% inaccurate, according to the company.

Furthermore, data entry reduces turnaround speed and incurs significant labor costs — even more expensive with hiring challenges in the agricultural sector. Digitizing the system reduces inspection time by 90% and increases accuracy by more than 15%, according to the company.

Clients already benefiting from Neolithics Light include Granot Fresh, one of the Middle East’s largest food cooperatives, as well as global produce distributors, overseeing hundreds of tons of gross product every day.

By implementing the Neolithics Light system, companies will reduce operating costs and expenses while strengthening their competitive advantage, consumers will receive higher quality produce, and food production will become more efficient, according to Neolithics.

“With long-term use of the Neolithics Light’s produce quality analyses, retailers, distributors and food processors can create different produce grades, charging more for higher-quality fruit and increasing their bottom lines,” Adamov said in the release.

The Neolithics hardware delivers spectral analysis of various organic materials, and the software provides comprehensive data management for accurate grading and prediction. The Neolithics Light integrates with any third-party logistics, supply chain or processing hardware and enterprise resource planning software.

Neolithics will be demonstrating the system at Fruit Logistica, Feb. 7-8, in Berlin, in the Granot Fresh booth in Hall 5.2, Stand D-23.