Food inspection

The use of X-ray technology is most familiar to people through its use in medical imaging. However, X-rays can also be used for inspection of food products and packaging to allow the imaging of the internal features of the food to detect physical defects or contaminants without damaging the food product.

If you’ve been through security at the airport, you’ve probably seen X-ray systems in action. X-ray systems produce density images that are analyzed for irregularities by computers and people.

X-ray inspection is becoming increasingly necessary for checking the quality in the food industry. Food applications are more complex than security at the airport. A typical application is the inspection for foreign objects in food. The size and type of anomalies being detected are more challenging, and the speed of the inspection is much faster. Because of this issue, manual inspection of these products is nearly impossible. Only by using X-ray technology, combined with dedicated software, can the search for foreign objects become possible.

The inspection is carried out by moving the object on a conveyor belt while scanning the object line by line with an X-ray camera. Our highly sensitive line scan cameras can detect and visualize even the slightest variations in density of a large variety of product compositions quickly, objectively and reliably. The X-ray transmission received by the line sensor is converted to electric signals. An image processing system converts the signals to X-ray transparent images and processes that image to detect contamination and defects of products.

Application Note 7: X-ray line scan cameras for food

Visual and SWIR Cameras for Food Sorting

C14300 line scan camera images

C11800 dual energy line scan camera images

Chicken breast C11800 dual energy line scan camera images

Imaging example: chicken breast. The bones left on the breast can be detected. Tube voltage: 100 kV
Tube current: 8.0 mA | Detector: C11800 | Transport speed: 10m/min | X-ray source to detector distance: 550 mm

Imaging example: hash browns. Thin rubber and glass pieces can be detected. Tube voltage: 90 kV Tube current: 8.0 mA | Detector: C11800 | Transport speed: 10 m/min | X-ray source to detector distance: 550 mm

Imaging example: hash browns. Thin rubber and glass pieces can be detected. Tube voltage: 90 kV
Tube current: 8.0 mA | Detector: C11800 | Transport speed: 10m/min | X-ray source to detector distance: 550 mm

C9750 line scan camera images

Imaging example: cookies. Foreign body detection inside food packaging.

Imaging example: cookies. Foreign body detection inside food packaging.
3D measurement profile is possible using additional software.

Imaging example: fish. Seeing fine bone structure detail is possible using high-resolution, line scan X-ray detector optimized for low-energy applications.

Imaging example: fish. Seeing fine bone structure detail is possible using high-resolution,
line scan X-ray detector optimized for low-energy applications.