Paolo Menesatti

Printing on Food or Food Printing: a Review

The processes of printing foodstuffs or imaging on an unconventional surface deserve extra attention in comparison with conventional techniques especially in relation with the substrate interested that will or should say a lot about the concept behind the design. Indeed, while printing on food, designers are required to consider carefully both, the appropriate edible inks and the production processes. Moreover, printing on food packaging requires almost as much care. However, the concept of food printing represents nowadays a new frontier in food processing and industry to realize new food products of complex shapes and colour and with particular mixtures. At the moment, many current research projects and products related to food printing are being developed. In 2011, a European Cooperation in Science and Technology action named “New possibilities for print media and packaging, combining print with digital” was created with the aim to promote an interdisciplinary interaction among European research partner with several different research backgrounds. Among the aims of the project, a crucial aspect regards the combination of food expertise with printing using new technologies in order to print on food or food printing. In light of this scenario, image processing and machine control occupy a very important part of the research: a number of programs were written or modified as part of the research into food printing. This review aims to produce an updated analysis on the current developments regarding the technology for food printing and printing on food. In this sense, the work starts giving an overview of the 2D and three-dimensional (3D) printer technology and moves on the food media, edible substrate used by 3D printers and a print of food chapter, related to the substrates used by the 2D printers.

Comparison between manual and stereovision body traits measurements of Lipizzan horses

The accuracy between manual & stereovision measures on Lipizzan horses was measured.The results showed a high total correlation and a low variability between operators.The average stereovision error was < 3% and differences depend by specific traits.The stereovision system prototyped could be a helpful tool for phenotyping. The Lipizzan horse is one of the oldest European horse breeds, its documented origins date back to 1580 in the Imperial stud-farm at Lipizza and are currently used the high-riding school, dressage and others equestrian sports as well as recreational activities. They are also traditionally selected by their morphological characteristics. The aim of this study was to verify the accuracy between manual measurements and stereo-image ones, for the most important linear, angular and circumference measures used for breeding purposes. In this approach a dual web-camera system, in combination with an image analysis algorithm, is proposed to automatically extract the information needed. For this reason a model species such as Lipizzan horse has been chosen and the most important biometric variables (linear measurements and angles) have been selected and taken into consideration. Ten horses were analyzed manually and using a stereovision system taking into account six linear measurements and two angles. The comparison between manual and stereovision measurements showed a high total correlation (r=0.998) and a low variability between operators (SD=0.0004). The average error, lower than 3% and difference in magnitude of error depending by specific traits. In conclusion the stereovision system prototyped could be a good tool to improve phenotyping and enlarge the basis of population involved in breeding programs of horses as well as in other livestock species.

Assessing VOC emission by different wood cores using the PTR-ToF-MS technology

To date, the chemical composition and the amount and diversity of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by different woody plants samples have been measured and characterized through one of the most common techniques, the gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. However, this technique is very time-consuming and requires sample preparation. By contrast, the Proton-Transfer-Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) represents an innovative tool able to provide the whole mass spectra of VOCs with short response time, high mass resolution and without sample preparation. This technique is fast, non-invasive, highly sensitive with a rapid detection system and a very low mass fragmentation of the volatile molecules. The goal of this study was to characterize the VOCs profile of different wood sample cores using a PTR-ToF-MS tool and thereafter to assess whether VOC emissions were specific for some groups of trees. VOCs released from core wood samples belonging to 14 different species were analyzed and subsequently, using an advanced multivariate class-modeling approach, the groups (softwood and hardwood) and the different tree species were discriminated. PTR-ToF-MS was able to detect VOCs from wood and to discriminate between hardwood and softwood and among different species. The great potential and the rapidity of this analysis method allow the PTR-ToF-MS to become a commercial standard tool for monitoring VOCs emitted by wood.

Science mapping approach to analyze the research evolution on precision agriculture: world, EU and Italian situation

The relevance of precision agriculture produced a growth of the related literature over the years. However, a structured analysis of the published material is still missing. Thus, this study attempts to analyze the global scientific output of precision agriculture researches published during the period 2000–2016. By using a science mapping approach, mainly based on the application of network analysis tools, it was possible to investigate pivotal aspects of this research field such as publication trends, research topics and their geographical distribution. Using the Scopus database 17,756 scientific publications were retrieved from the chosen period. The number of publications increased after 2006, highlighting the vibrancy of the field. By authoring 35% of the publications, U.S.A. and China were the most active knowledge producer countries. Moreover, the generation of time resolved maps allowed us to identify agriculture engineering, computer science and agriculture studies as three main research areas characterizing precision agriculture panorama. The paper discusses the distribution of these topics at global level, among European countries and in Italy. Overall, this analysis represents the first holistic view of precision agriculture research providing valuable information for farmers, policy makers and researchers.

A Low-Cost Image Analysis System to Upgrade the Rudin Beer Foam Head Retention Meter

Beer foam is one of the first characteristics consumers visually perceive. Even if their opinions vary, generally, beer foam should be stable and long lasting. In this work, the conventional foam head retention method developed by Rudin (1957) was improved by resorting to three different automatic data acquisition systems. The first one made use of a mouse time tracking software offered at no cost. The second one was an Accurate Image Analysis system using a high-definition camera and a script written in MATLAB. Finally, the third one was an automatic low-cost image analysis (LCIA) system incorporating a Raspberry Pi single-board computer and a camera module (Raspberry Pi Foundation, UK). The latter was able not only to acquire the whole foam decay curve but also to fit the time course of the beer–foam interface position and extract the characteristic beer foam half-life (t½). All the data acquisition systems yielded t½ values practically coincident at the probability level of 0.05, this confirming their substantial equivalence. Once the lager beer had been laced with increasing doses of a foam agent (i.e., tetrahydro-iso-α-acid) to enhance its foam persistence, the resulting foam half-life, as estimated using the above Rudin-based methods, was highly correlated (r2u2009=u20090.99) to the foam collapse time, as derived from the NIBEM Foam Stability Tester. Finally, thanks to the LCIA acquisition system developed here, the Rudin test might represent a fast, flexible, and cheaper alternative to the generally recommended but expensive NIBEM tester, as well as other commercial automated Rudin apparatuses.

Multivariate approaches to electronic nose and PTR-TOF-MS technologies in agro-food products

Beyond the appearance of agricultural products, affecting the consumers’ choice, volatile organic compounds play a crucial role in agro-industrial processes and all food-related sciences and technologies as well as food perception and acceptability, being at the origin of its aroma and flavor. Thus, this chapter will show the multiple uses of the electronic nose and PTR–TOF–MS technologies in the agricultural field, particularly in postharvest quality control and cultivar classification, mainly focusing on applications regarding citrus fruits and dairy products and showing the potential of multivariate statistical approaches. Moreover, the PTR–TOF–MS, being capable of providing fingerprint for agro-industrial product, opening new promising fields of application in food research, thus providing key elements to improve food production processes and enhance food consumer acceptability.

An Open Source Conveyor Belt Prototype for Image Analysis-Based Rice Yield Determination

The basic role of industrial rice milling is the transformation of paddy rice into white rice with good appearance while selecting the best quality grain for human consumption. In Italy, the commercial value of paddy rice is assessed calculating whole and free of defect kernel yield after processing. The determination is performed by laboratories utilizing a benchtop yield machine that carries out the husking and kernel bleaching. The aim of the study is the development of a pilot conveyor belt (grain coulter), based on image analysis, to increase the reliability of laboratory yield estimation (discrimination of paddy and white grains). The tests regard rice grains belonging to 26 different genotypes of rice grown in Sardinia (Italy). The low-cost prototype based on open source technologies that aim to substitute the current subjective estimation made by eye with an industrial like optically based one. The method is based on the image analysis and extracts three main qualitative attributes: shape, size (i.e., Fourier descriptors and basic morphometry) and appearance (color), and the use of a multivariate classification technique (i.e., partial least squares discriminant analysis). The models discriminated samples of paddy or white rice for each genotype considered (26 models) and for all the genotypes considered together (1 model). For all the 27 models, the mean sensitivities and specificities were very high, ranging from 99 to 100%, while the mean classification errors were very low. The mean percentage of correct classification in the test set was equal to 99.99% for the “unique model” (i.e., paddy VS white rice) and 100% for the 26 single genotype models. The proposed system appears to be useful not only for paddy and white rice discrimination but also as a flexible apparatus for analyzing many other agro-food products. Indeed, the algorithm was used on other food products, such as red hot chili peppers for other discrimination purposes.

The next expansion of NEMO-SN1, EMSO node, by video imaging equipment for the monitoring of the local deep-sea communities

Aguzzi, Jacopo... et. al.-- European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory Conference Ocean Observatories Challenges and Progress (EMSO Conference OOCP), Scientific ideas, early results and infrastructure development, 13-15 November 2013, Rome.-- 1 page

Determination of a Drop Damage Index to Estimate Bruising Susceptibility of Apple Royal Gala by Logistic Model

The analysis of impact damage of fruits is a subject of high economic value and it is widely discussed in literature (Brusewitz and Bartsch, 1989; Hung, 1993). A number of research techniques have been used to evaluate the resistance of fruit and cultivars to different kinds of mechanical stress (Brusewitz et al.,1991; Heap, 1994; Holt and Schoorl, 1977; Mohsenin, 1986; Schoorl and Holt, 1980; Shulte et al., 1991a and Shulte et al., 1991b; Studman, 1997) in order to set limits that must not be exceeded during handling and transportation (Chen and Sun, 1981; Garcia et al., 1988; Holt et al., 1981; Kunze et al., 1975; Roudot et al., 1991; Zhang and Brusewitz, 1991). Despite the evidence for impact damage, the causes of physical damage are complex to analyse (Garcia et al., 1995; Menesatti et al.,1999; Menesatti et al., 1998).