Development of handheld multispectral imaging system for food safety inspection

Authors: Kise, Michio; Park, Bosoon; Lawrence, Kurt; Windham, William

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/3/2007
Publication Date: 6/15/2007
Citation: Kise, M., Park, B., Lawrence, K.C., Windham, W.R. 2007. Development of handheld multispectral imaging system for food safety inspection. Proceedings Biological Sensorics (CDROM)

Interpretive Summary: Food safety in the poultry industry is an ongoing problem. Potential contamination can occur when feces or ingesta is deposited on the surface of the carcass. Identification and separation of birds contaminated by feces is critical for the protection of the consumer from a potential source of food poisoning. With the implementation of HACCP, the food industry is mandated to establish science-based processing controls and to establish performance standards for these controls. However, Current visual inspection is not science-based, intermittent, and subject to bias from each human inspector. The objective of this research was to design and fabricate a handheld multispectral instrument for food safety inspection for raw meat, poultry and other foodstuffs. Such a spectral sensor offers the ability to instantly assess the target, and it does so in a non-destructively manner.

Technical Abstract: Spectral sensing has been widely utilized for detecting foodborne contaminants because of the ability of prompt and non-destructive sensing. The objective of this research was to design and fabricate a handheld multispectral instrument and to collect and analyze spectra of raw meat, poultry and other foodstuffs for food safety inspection. The prototype system developed in this research consisted of a compact dual-band spectral imaging system, LED illumination and handheld computer. The dual-band spectral imaging system developed in this study was a two-port imaging system that consisted of two identical monochrome cameras, optical system and two narrow bandpass filters. A spectral reflectance from an object to be inspected was collimated and split in two directions by an optical system including a beamsplitter and lenses, and then two identical collimated lights were filtered by the narrow bandpass filters and focused on the sensor of the cameras by lenses. This design allows users to replace those filters easily according to their applications. That is a great advantage in terms of the selection of the spectral bands the imaging system measures, as compared to conventional multispectral imaging systems that integrate filters and sensors in one unit. Lens distortions and geometric misalignment of the two cameras were mathematically corrected to get two band images registered. The prototype system was tested at the real-time poultry processing line and the preliminary results showed that the handheld dual-band spectral imaging system could effectively detect feces and ingesta on the surface of poultry carcass.