A novel automated system for the grape processing sector to reduce waste by 50% and provide economic benefits for users of up to £19 million per annum

During the sorting & packing process, grape bunches can be found to possess a variety of defects; particularly botrytis (necrotrophic fungus), splits, shrivelled/damaged fruit, moulds and maggots, which can lead to accelerated rotting of fruit and decreased shelf life - 47% of grape punnets are affected by rots and moulds at current 'end of life'. This results in economic losses of £39million per annum and waste of ~12,900tonnes per annum of grape for UK wholesalers/retailers and households (AM Fresh & WRAP data). Typically workers are employed to manually look for and remove these defects, whilst the fruit is travelling along conveyors during the packing process. However the effects of Covid-19 has led to much lower numbers of workers available due to travel bans and the need for safe working environments. This situation is unlikely to improve, due to not only the lingering concerns with further Covid-19 waves, but also Brexit. As European workers make up a large proportion of the workforce, the entire food production sector is likely to suffer. Our solution is to develop an automated prototype system for grape processing that will identify defective fruit and trim during the packing process -- reducing the impacts of lower worker numbers and improving productivity and profitability. It is envisaged that some of the benefits of the solution will be: \***Reduced supply chain waste** - System users could benefit from enhanced revenues as the technology could extend shelf life and reduce grape losses. Extending shelf life from 5 to 7 days (through removing defective/damaged/diseased fruit) would reduce waste by 50% between packing and sale. This would leading to cumulative revenue increases of up to £19million per annum. \***Quality assurance** -- The presence of rotten fruit, spiders and webs etc in grape punnets is highly emotive to consumers and can results in considerable cost in terms of sales and public relations on the produce industry. Providing quality assurance by adopting this innovative automated approach could therefore improve public relations and consumer confidence; which may lead to sales uplifts. **Reduced impact of lower worker numbers** -- The impacts of Covid in the fresh produce sector have been substantial, due to travel bans, as ~90% of workers are from European nations. With Brexit looming, this situation is unlikely to improve. By automating the quality control process, our technology reduce the impacts on the sector imposed by Covid, and anticipated future impacts resulting from Brexit.