Objectives
The NAME-SA project aims to develop and implement an integrated non-destructive spectroscopy approach for evaluating the quality and safety of meat products.
The main objectives are:
- To explore the feasibility of integrating benchtop and handheld spectrometers, along with hyperspectral imaging, for multi-parameter meat evaluation.
- To develop robust calibration models to predict quality attributes, safety parameters, and authenticity markers.
- To transfer the developed calibration models.
- To optimize data fusion and predictive modeling techniques using machine learning.
- To validate the approach on a wide range of meat products and industrial processes.
- To strengthen collaboration between South African and Belgian teams, with a strong focus on training young researchers.
CRA-W Involvement
CRA-W (Quality and Authentication of Agricultural Products Unit) will play a central role in:
· Acquiring, standardizing, and ensuring the quality of the data.
- Developing and validating predictive models using advanced machine learning techniques.
- Implementing calibration transfer, data fusion, and relevant feature extraction.
· Supervising researchers and students involved in modeling and analysis activities.
The project team includes experts in analytical chemistry, spectroscopy, and image processing.
Partnership
Stellenbosch University (Afrique du Sud)
Department of Food Science: expert in food microbiology, spectroscopy, and meat science.
Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (Belgium)
Expertise in spectroscopy, chemometrics, and cattle.
CRA-W (Belgium)
Expertise in chemometrics, spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging.
Funding
This project is a bilateral mobility initiative under the PINT-BILAT-M NRF (South Africa 2024) program of the F.R.S.-FNRS. A total of €15,000 is allocated to CRA-W (approximately €6,600 in 2025 and €8,400 in 2026).
Additional funding is provided to the South African team by the National Research Foundation (NRF), covering field missions, scientific exchanges, and workshop organization (approximately €9,586 in 2025 and €10,248 in 2026).
