Food Contamination: Detection Through Space Technology

Paul French: How and when did you come up with the idea?

Andrew Larkins: The idea came from my colleague and our CEO, Roger Dewell, about 12 months ago. He comes from a space background and wanted to find another application for the remote sensing technologyin satellites. You can use it to see all sorts of things from space including the water levels of oceans through to ripples on the sea. We thought that imaging technology could be used in other areas and decided that food looked likely to be the best fit.

PF: How did you develop it from there into a business?

AL: We formed the company in November 2012 and applied to the EU Space Agency Business Incubator, who are keen for space technology to be used in other applications. They gave us some funding and a development licence and we went out and did some research. Rather than focus on the technology, we spoke to people from across the food and drinks markets including wine bottlers and seafood processing companies.

PF: What did you learn from that?

AL: We were looking for problems that can’t be solved by existing technology – things that either cost money or cause complaints from customers. What we learned about the detection of food contamination allowed us to move on and put together proof of concept systems for our technology, file patent applications and attract a larger team of people into the business.

PF: Who’s in your team?

AL: The company has two experienced executive directors. We also have non-executive directors plus a comprehensive advisory board of well-respected industry and academic professionals. We have active collaborations with the University of Reading and the Science and Technology Facilities Council as imaging technology sources. We also have specialist consultants on the team for food technology, IP development, financing strategy and sales and marketing support.

PF: How has R&D funding from Harwell’s Space Launchpad Initiativehelped you?

AL: It’s been really useful. They’ve provided lots of assistance including helping us improve our pitches to investors and giving good opportunities for us to promote the business to a wide range of people. Being at the Harwell Campus has helped too. It’s like a university but it isn’t. There are lots of big science projects costing hundreds of thousands of pounds going on and experts in a broad range of fields we can ask for assistance if we need to.

PF: So how does your technology actually work?

AL: Most food is checked for impairments using X-ray or metal detecting technology. Like remote sensing technology for satellites, we use different types of camera including visible and ultra light, which take many images and combine them together to give a more complete picture of what’s going on.

PF: What are the advantages of doing it that way?

AL: There’s nothing on the market like this. Most systems are generic – metal detectors only detect metal. X-ray machines can detect a bit more than that but they can’t pick up hard plastics or wood. That can cause expensive product recalls and damage a business’ reputation. The aim of our technology is that you’ll be able to detect a broad range of contaminants with one machine, which has the ability to be applied across a broader range of products than X-ray or metal detectors. It will also check products generally to make sure things like the shape, size and colour are correct, giving a higher level of inspection than is currently available.

PF: Is the technology working now?

AL: We have a machine that is detecting contamination in food at basic demonstration level. The next stage is to go out and work with some food producers to test it in the field. We want to be able to perform our checks on conveyor belts moving at conventional speed and we’re hoping to start testing during the coming year.

PF: So what happens next?

AL: The initial business model is built around the supply of machinery. Costs are critical to this, which is one of the reasons we’re looking at building the technology to have multiple functions such as checking for physical contaminants and labelling. The aim is to target markets where there is currently no solution at all but we still have to be price competitive. Once we have complete systems that work we’ll be offering training and maintenance services to anyone who is using our machinery.

PF: Finally, what does the future hold for you?

AL: The short-term aim is to supply our technology direct to businessesacross the UK and Europe. Ultimately we’d like to become a big player on the market or perhaps sell thebusiness onto a larger organisation. It’s exciting but first we need people to come and talk to us. If you think this kind of technology could help you and there’s nothing on the market that currently satisfies your needs, please get in touch with us through our website http://www.interasight.com/