AUTOMATE Platform

AUTOMATE is an innovative technological platform comprising 20 instrumented cells dedicated to the automated screening of gas exchanges between food products, packaging materials, and the external environment. It was developed by the BioDyMIA laboratory (Claude Bernard University Lyon 1).

The platform incorporates a humid ternary gas mixture generator (N₂/O₂/CO₂, H₂O) that enables the automated control of closed cells containing real or model food matrices. Each cell is equipped with sensors ensuring accurate and controlled monitoring of system evolution over time, under predefined experimental conditions. The primary objective is to establish representative behavioral models of the interactions involved.

In the longer term, beyond monitoring gas flows and analyzing the profile of volatile compounds in the cell headspace by GC–MS, AUTOMATE will enable the assessment of quality and degradation markers in “tailor‑made” packaged foods. This approach aims to improve the characterization of relationships between the identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and changes occurring within the overall food / functional packaging ecosystem.