Why benchmarking?

In the past, we used taste in deciding which produce was best. 

Now it is all about "appearance", and being 'sweet', travelling many food miles, kept in cold storage,  etc.

And about having a full range of produce all year round, from anywhere in the world. 

Gone are the days of seasonal eating, as nature required and our bodies became accustomed to.  

BRIX meters have been regarded, by food scientists and Health Authorities, as the best 'objective' measure of food value and nutrient density (highest BRIX = most delicious, nutritious) for past 200 years ago, used by Aussies farmers for past 80.

More than 80 years ago, Dr. Carey Reams created a BRIX Ratings chart of "poor", "average", "good" or excellent" - see here.

This was done by doing benchmark testing of BRIX readings for 50 produce families across the USA, to cater for varying climatic conditions and soil types.

BRIX maters are slow and messy, as one has to extract the juice or sap, place a few drops on the glass surface, and look though an optical device to read the result, as illustrated above.

Hand-held scanners are fast and easy. 4-5 secs per read, calculate and display, smaller (9.8x2.5x1.7 cm) than your Mobile. 

The NDI of 64 for the pear to the left, is great for comparing and selecting which is the most delicious, nutritious, but needs to be verified against established metrics like the BRIX.  

Since prototyping in 2023, we have believed there is at least a 90% correlation between BRIX and NDI.