Completed Food & Agriculture Computing & AI

SecQual - Secure Quality Assured Logistics for Digital Food Ecosystems

Funder UKRI
Recipient organisation Lloyd's Register Group Limited
Funding £1.4M
Period Mar 2021 — Sept 2023

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A single digital platform will replace the paper trails, phone calls, and manual checks that currently move food from farms to shops. The food supply chain today relies on fragmented paperwork and slow, error-prone processes that create bottlenecks, waste, and regulatory gaps. SecQuAL aims to build a secure, quality-assured digital ecosystem that connects every link in the chain—from producer to consumer—so that data flows automatically and decisions can be made in real time. If it succeeds, the system could reduce food waste by cutting unnecessary transport, lower carbon emissions, and give consumers reliable confidence in what they buy. It would also allow regulators to oversee compliance remotely, without waiting for paper audits. The project is not fundamental science; it is an applied engineering challenge that brings together technology companies, food producers, and regulators to modernise an entire industry. The outcome would be a simpler, faster, and more transparent food system that quietly keeps the supply chain running—something most people never think about until it breaks.

View original technical description
The vision for SecQuAL is a secure, quality assured, digitally enabled food ecosystem that will reduce waste, improve decision-making and provide consumers with confidence in the food they purchase and consume. The next best thing since sliced bread! SecQuAL's key objective is to overhaul the food supply chain from farm to fork. SecQuAL addresses current bottlenecks and inefficient paper practices, enables remote regulatory oversight and compliance, provides quality assurance throughout all supply chain links, and enables smart decisions to be made to reduce food waste, reduce carbon emissions as a result of unnecessary transport, and increase consumer confidence in the food purchased and consumed. SecQuAL is innovative because it brings technology to the fore to modernise a complete food ecosystem. It will increase the number of digital technology companies providing solutions for manufacturing industries by bringing together an excellent consortium with partners spanning the full food ecosystem introducing digital technologies to modernise current practices. SecQuAL will simplify a complex industry.

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Original classification

Collaborative R&D

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.