POMA: setting mobile phone standards for the food industry
AppliColor Inc. has developed a disruptive technology called POMA.
POMA scans color relationships and creates biological maps. It is many times more sensitive than human vision. POMA is able to display ripeness, shelf life, biologic age and texture maps that are linked to optical skin qualities. The POMA scan analysis provides valuable information about the taste status of the underlying pulp, as changes in the pulp are directly related to the color of the skin.
An objective, immediate image-scanning approach
POMA can help identify the optimal times to cultivate, fertilize, hydrate, harvest, transport and monitor quality degradation while stored at a warehouse depot. It will also tell consumers when to purchase, eat, discard and buy produce again.
PomaPro for professionals
For professionals, PomaPro also measures a digital scale of biological markers that is consistent with chlorophyll degradation, senescence (biological age), ripeness and color that accurately characterizes the condition of fruit and vegetables.
There is currently no universally accepted definition of what “fresh” means
“Looks fresh” is really only subjective. Food inspectors rely on subjective sensory cues to determine if a piece of fish, fruit or a vegetable is fresh.
They can touch, smell and eyeball a tomato and know that it looks and smells ripe; it feels firm, and there's a nice give to the skin. They will tell you that it's ripe, but it’s a qualitative assessment rather than a quantitative digital measurement. With POMA, we are now digitally measuring and displaying the subtleties of "fresh".
POMA has implications for every stop on the agriculture industry supply chain
For consumers, a PomaFresh scan in the supermarket will help identify the fruit, vegetables and fish that are freshest, ripest and those that will taste the best from those on display. PomaFresh identifies shelf life so you'll know the optimal time to eat that avocado or pineapple ripening on your counter. These screenshots from the PomaFresh app tell you exactly what pineapples and grapes to select.
For growers, PomaGrow is a precise measurement of freshness, shelf life, growth rate, photosynthesis and chlorophyll degeneration. With just a smartphone’s picture, a plant’s health and disease state can be instantly identified so that mitigation efforts can be initiated.
PVY virus. In the images above, the PomaGrow scan shows where the plants have been infected with the potato virus--invisible to the human eye