(Alliance News) - FOS Spa announced on Wednesday its investment of EUR1.8 million in the research and development project "TITCO - Technologies for the Detection, Traceability and Measurability of Contaminants in Olive Oils," with the aim of applying innovative product and process technology solutions to the olive oil supply chain.

The project is led by the FOS group through the company T&G Srl, which specializes in Information and Communication Technology. It is also part of the European Union's 2021-2027 research and innovation framework program "Horizon Europe" in the area of food systems and envisages a total investment of EUR5.3 million, financed by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy with a grant of EUR1.2 million.

The EUR1.8 million FOS investment provides for a grant of EUR630,000 over 36 months.

The company will use an Internet of Things system to monitor the entire industry supply chain through the use of Artifical Intelligence in order to detect the possible presence of contaminants, bringing relevant product and process technology innovations to a nationally central supply chain.

In detail, the monitoring system will be developed by T&G Srl starting from the FOS Group's "AgriWise" platform and will affect all stages of the supply chain, from cultivation, to packaging, through harvesting and industrial processing.

The solution, the company points out, "will make it possible to detect the possible presence of contaminants, thus improving the quality and wholesomeness of the final product on a large scale, maintaining the sustainability of production and pioneering hypothetical regulatory reinforcements in terms of safety and quality of the oil sector."

Enrico Botte, CEO of FOS, said, "Our commitment to researching innovative technological solutions to be transferred to the market is confirmed as successful with this recognition by the Ministry. The FOS group is consolidated as the concrete partner for the technological development of the Italian agri-food sector."

Giovanni Giannotta, agritech manager of FOS and project manager of the TITCO project, said, "With the investment in this project, we put to good use the technological experiences gained in recent years in various Agritech projects. We explore the new frontiers of artificial intelligence and internet of things applied to real processes and concrete needs of the olive oil supply chain, for the benefit of Made in Italy and end consumers."

In addition to T&G, the lead partner, Santagata 1907 Spa, active in the selection and marketing of olive oils, Srl, active in the field of traceability and blockchain, and the CNR-National Research Council, through the Institute for Bioeconomics and the National Institute of Optics, are also involved.

FOS stock is unchanged at EUR3.44 per share.

By Chiara Bruschi, Alliance News reporter

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