Council of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Andalusia – CAPDER

1. Information about the procurement

ICT Solutions applied to the agrifood value chain for on-site diagnostics and early fraud identification (IAMETH_Agrifood)

The IAMETH Agrifood project focusses on the development of innovative analytical methodologies in the agri-food sector with the incorporation of information and communication technologies (ICT). The project aims to streamline official control actions carried out in the agri-food sector, to improve public service and efficiency in the use of public resources.

These innovative methodologies should reduce the response times of the results of agrifood analytics, improve the efficiency of resources (reduction of associated costs), increase the quality and safety of food, improve processes and optimize the agrifood value chain, as well as the effectiveness of the safety, traceability, warning and risk management mechanisms.

Key technologies:

• Site diagnostic tools applied to agrifood inspection and authentication.
• Near Infrared Technology (NIR)
• Optical spectroscopic techniques on the measurement of electrical characteristics and on the use of instruments equipped with electronic chemical sensors coupled to an appropriate statistical approach for assessment of several quality-related parameters.
• Real time availability of data on the cloud.

Group 1 – On-site diagnostic portable kits

• Identify negatives in the official AgriFood Inspection framework (1.1)

The implementation of agrifood inspection programmes requires a large number of determinations (in 2015, 6,328,202). In addition to the resources required for the implementation of these plans, the time needed to carry out the time samples needed must also be taken into account. An example of this cost is the damage caused by the need to immobilise merchandise in inspected companies or the preventive closing of shellfish areas. It would be necessary to have on-site diagnostic kits or portable devices which will reduce the number of determinations to be made in the laboratory, thus making it possible to obtain a first result. These results are essential to ensure food safety and the quality of these products, as well as to detect fraudulent practices, in order to mitigate these costs and speed up the execution of the Agro-Food Inspection plans.

• Obtain a rapid and low cost measure of moisture and fat content in olives and pomace oil in situ (1.2)

The measurements for the olive fruit, which determine the optimal harvesting date (when the oil biosynthesis is finished), can lead to the harvest of the olives from the trees by avoiding their natural drop. Thus, the olive oil can be classified as extra virgin. Nowadays, olive growers carry out a fruit analysis with a financial cost and the results are obtained within at least 24 to 48 hours. Likewise, the oil miller needs information about the olive characteristics (mainly moisture and oil content) for process regulation to improve the oil yield. As for olive growers, the analysis results are available too late for process regulation. Even when the oil millers regulate the extraction process, they do not know how the regulations work since the pomace characteristic can be available 24h later.

• Obtain a rapid measure of polyphenols content in grape, wine and grape must (1.3)

The monitoring of polyphenols during grape ripening, winemaking, and aging during bottling (in bottle and / or barrel) is key to ensuring its stability and quality. Currently, the quantitative determination of polyphenols in grapes, must and wine is long and tedious, and requires expensive infrastructure. A rapid and quantitative measurement of the different families of polyphenols in grapes, must and wine will allow the adaptation of the processes of vinification, according to the product characteristics. Decision making can be done more quickly without having to wait for determinations that can take days, thus improving the quality and profitability of the product and the process.

Group 2 – Tools for early fraud identification

• Comprehensive and versatile analytical tool for food authentication (2.1)

Effective tools are needed for the determination of the commercial quality of food products, differentiated quality and to fight against fraud and adulteration, in order to respond to the requirements of authentication during an official control.

• Comprehensive and versatile analytical tool for milk species determination in dairy products (2.2)

Dairy products, including cheese, are among food products whose quality is susceptible to fraud and must be authenticated by official controls. Possible adulteration in this type of products can be detected through the analysis of the protein composition of dairy products, the presence and concentration of different genetic variants of characteristic and major proteins (caseins, lactoglobulins).

• Solutions to improve the analysis of Andalusian cotton fibres (2.3)

The equipment available for the analysis of cotton fibres, called High Volume Instrument (HVI), has, despite being internationally standardised, a limitation for all Mediterranean – including Andalusian – cotton. More precisely, the calibration and the ranges of the physical characteristics of cotton, depending on the primary physical parameters and their subsequent processing by algorithms and tables that manage the software of the equipment, do not cover some of the ranges of Andalusian cotton. These tables have been made based on the characteristics of US cotton. Consequently, the final assessment of the Andalusian cotton is hindered and this is why although it complies with the international standards and with the current programme, it is penalised.

PROJECT INFORMATION

Procurer: Council of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development of Andalusia – CAPDER

Type of innovation procurement: Several potential PCP and PPI procurements
Within this project several potential PCP and PPI procurements are foreseen. The project first focused on innovation procurement for the Solution Group 1 – challenge  1.1a Olive oil and 1.1b Biotoxins.

• 1.1a Olive oil: Goal – Line of work 1: Obtaining a prototype of a portable system that allows differentiation between extra virgin, virgin, olive oil composed of refined olive oils and virgin olive oils, olive pomace oil, lampante, refined and crude pomace oil, as well as detecting mixtures between categories. This device must detect possible adulterations.
• 1.1b Biotoxins: Goal – Line of work 2: Obtaining a portable technology that allows differentiation between groups of marine biotoxins that are all regulated by law.

Timeframe: Start January 2018 – ongoing
Publication date of the first call for tenders – Line 1 and Line 2: Group 1 – 1.1a & 1.1b: 29/06/2021.
Contract award dates: 26/01/2022 (Group 1- Lot 1) and 25/03/2022 (Group 1 – Lot 2).

Budget envisaged by the procurer: € 2.640.000,- (excl. VAT)

• Group 1 – First PCP – 1.1a – Line 1 amount paid: 477,950 euros.
• Group 1 – First PCP – 1.1b – Line 2 amount paid: 199,375 euros.

Prior Information Notice published  21 September 2018
PIN: https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:417571-2018:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0

Market consultation (Spanish):

• http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/agenciaagrariaypesquera/portal/web/principal/compra-publica-de-innovacion
• https://juntadeandalucia.es/temas/contratacion-publica/perfiles-licitaciones/consultas-preliminares/detalle/000000086197.html

Contract Notice & Contract Award:

Contract notice published on 29/06/2021:
Junta de Andalucía – COMPRA PÚBLICA PRECOMERCIAL DE LOS SERVICIOS DE INVESTIGACIÓN, DESARRROLLO E INNOVACIÓN PARA LA IDENTIFICACIÓN DE NEGATIVOS IN SITU EN EL MARCO DE LA INSPECCIÓN AGROALIMENTARIA OFICIAL. (juntadeandalucia.es)

Contract notice publication on TED: https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:333291-2021:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0

Contract for Lot 1 (Group 1 – 1.1.a)  awarded on  26/01/2022 to Sensory and Robotics Integration (iSR) 
Contract for Lot 2 (Group 1 – 1.1b) awarded on 25/03/2022 to AZTI Technology Centre

• Notification on TED: https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:171453-2022:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0 
• Notification on website Junta de Andalucia: https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/haciendayadministracionpublica

More information:

• Technical Office CPI:
  https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organismos/agriculturapescaaguaydesarrollorural/consejeria/transparencia/contratos-convenios/compra-publica-innovacion.html
• Information of the project at the CPI Technical Office on the website of AGAPA:
  http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/agenciaagrariaypesquera/portal/web/principal/contenidos/-/contenidos/detalle/compra-publica-de-innovacion (Spanish)
• Strategy for the Promotion and Consolidation of Innovation Procurement & Annex (Spanish)
• Newsitem on project (Group 1) – March 2023 (Spanish):
  https://diariodigital.ujaen.es/investigacion-y-transferencia/investigadores-de-la-uja-desarrollan-un-dispositivo-portatil-para-la
• Vídeo: https://youtu.be/72cqnTjj0S4?si=z_BjMtZVxVQHkEne

2. Type of assistance provided by eafip

To the specific tenders (Group 1 & Group 2):
Procurement strategy, IPR search, stakeholder approach, preparation of market consultation, business case improvement, support in the development of tender documents and contract clauses.

To the general procurement of the organisation:
Best practices for innovation procurement.

CURRENT STATUS:

The project first focused on innovation procurement for the Solution Group 1 – challenge 1.1a and 1.1b. For these challenges the first PCP within this project was launched. Contract notice published – GROUP 1.1 on 29-06-2021. Contracts awarded.

PCP Group 1 – 1.1a) & 1.1b) currently has the following status:

• 1.1a) Line of work 1 – Olive oil:
  • Contract for Lot 1 (Group 1 – 1.1.a)  awarded in January 2022.
  • Phase II: Prototyping. Completed.
  • Phase III. Series of tests under real conditions. Pending award.
• 1.1b) Line of work 2 – Biotoxins:
  • Contract for Lot 2 (Group 1 – 1.1b) awarded in March 2022.
  • Phase II: Prototyping. Completed.
  • Phase III: Series of tests under real conditions. Not feasible.