From a glass of milk on the breakfast table to the last bite of dinner, our food still connects millions to the roots of agriculture. At the intersection of everyday necessity and cutting-edge physics, UH Energy Teratech Solutions Pvt Ltd is reimagining how we test the freshness of the food we consume. Born out of the University of Hyderabad and nurtured at T-Hub, this deep-tech startup is harnessing the invisible waves of terahertz radiation combined with the intelligence of AI to tackle one of India’s most pressing challenges: food safety/ freshness of agro and diary products.
What began as a doctoral research project under the mentorship of Prof Anil Kumar Chaudhary has now blossomed into a national-stage innovation story. Co-founded by his scholar, Dr Chandan Ghorui, a Prime Minister’s Research Fellow at the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, the startup made its debut at the prestigious PMRF Researchers to Entrepreneurs Conclave in New Delhi, standing out as one of India’s most promising deep-tech ventures. With backing from DRDO, DIA CoE, and the University of Hyderabad, the team’s vision is to move THz technology out of the lab and into the hands of farmers, suppliers, and consumers, ensuring that every drop of milk and every grain that reaches our homes is safe, fresh, and trustworthy.
Prof Anil Kumar Chaudhary of the University of Hyderabad has spent more than fifteen years immersed in the fascinating world of terahertz (THz) radiation — building sources, detectors, and exploring their spectroscopy applications. For most, such work would remain within the walls of academia. But for Prof Anil, the journey of discovery did not stop there. “We were doing challenging, defence-funded research at ACRHEM, our advanced centre dedicated to high-energy materials. It is the brainchild of our late President, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and the first such centre in India,” he explains, adding, “Our work for DRDO had already shown how THz could be applied in defence. But when my research scholar, Chandan Ghorui, was selected under the PMRF programme, we decided to look beyond defence towards the common people.”
That decision marked the beginning of UH Energy Teratech, a deep-tech startup that now seeks to revolutionise food safety with THz + AI-powered sensing devices. India’s dairy and agricultural sectors, among the largest in the world, still struggle with freshness testing, adulteration, and food safety at scale. Current testing methods are slow, limited, and often unable to track parameters like water content or biodegradation in real time. “THz is still a very new technology in India,” Prof Anil says, adding, “But its potential is enormous. Our device combines THz radiation with AI, making it possible to simultaneously measure temperature, water content, and biodegradation mechanisms. This gives us a faster, more accurate picture of food freshness compared to traditional techniques.” In early prototypes, the system achieved 88–93% accuracy. Prof Anil imagines a future where the technology is as accessible as a barcode scanner in a supermarket.
The leap from research to entrepreneurship is rarely smooth, especially in hardware-heavy deep-tech fields. Prof Anil credits institutional support for making that leap possible. “It was AIC T-Hub’s CEO, Rajesh Adla, who motivated and supported us to convert our research model into a user-friendly application,” he recalls.
Backing from the University of Hyderabad, DRDO funding, and recognition at the PMRF Researchers to Entrepreneurs Conclave further solidified their path. “Without this ecosystem of support, our journey would not have been possible,” Prof Anil admits.
The innovation lies not only in THz but also in how the technology integrates with artificial intelligence. “AI thrives on machine learning data and best-fit models. We had already used THz machine learning techniques in defence applications,” Prof Anil explains, adding, “When we applied the same principles to dairy and agro products, the fast degradation rates required us to combine multiple sensors with the THz sensor. The result was speed and accuracy.”
Food testing is only the beginning. Prof Anil sees THz technology extending far beyond: “There are tremendous possibilities — leather technology, food processing industries, medical fields, even space and defence.”
Yet, he is pragmatic about the road ahead. “We are still in the learning phase. Scaling deep-tech solutions in India will not be without challenges. But we understand our technology well, therefore it will not be very challenging for us,” he believes.
When asked how he envisions UH Energy Teratech five to ten years from now, Prof Anil says, “We feel it has great scope in the coming years. It is just the beginning. I hope our system will help protect the health of common people as well as enhance exports.”