New vision technology for multidimensional quality monitoring of food processes

The trained process operator plays a key role in today's food industry. His or her ability to judge processes such as continuous baking, roasting and frying processes by visual inspection is crucial. Automation has been slow due to inadequate technology.

New forms of vision technology where the product is illuminated uniformly over a large area (50 cm2) and at specified wavelengths have the potential of matching much closer the visual judgement made by the trained process operator. The technology has proven its ability to difficult tasks in particle sorting and recent results indicate its large potential in food process control. The aim of the project is to investigate the potentials of this new vision technology and develop the technical/scientific basis for widespread use in process control of continuous baking, roasting and frying processes.