Ripeness determination in food processing

The high priority placed on food safety makes food sorting a very demanding application. High classification and spatial accuracy are required to eliminate any chance that slightly defective products or small foreign materials (e.g. glass shards or metal wires) will reach the customer. It is therefore the case that the reputation and financial well-being of food producers depends on the effectiveness of the food inspection and sorting systems they use. The complete surveillance of food quality, from sensor-based sorting of raw materials, in-line inspection during production and final inspection before packaging, is rapidly becoming an imperative in today’s high standard food industry.

To date there exists no in-line inference method for the determination of fruit ripeness covering the whole product stream.