An apparatus, designed and configured for optically inspecting articles of the fish and meat processing industry, includes at least one imaging system which is arranged so as to be encapsulated on all sides in a housing and is configured for optically scanning the articles. The housing has a transparent viewing window and a protective element, forming a light-transmissive channel, and is releasably arranged on the outside of the housing to protect the viewing window from contamination. In addition, an arrangement for processing and inspecting the opened abdominal cavity of gutted fish, includes a conveying device configured for conveying the fish along a processing line in the longitudinal direction, which is characterised in that the arrangement comprises at least one apparatus configured for optically inspecting the abdominal cavity.

A method for processing food products (12) includes transporting the food products by a first conveyor (11), an X-ray unit (13) positioned between the intake end and the discharge end of the first conveyor to acquire a first set of product-specific data relating to the food product transported. At least one first optical camera (17), assigned to the first conveyor, is used to acquire a second set of product-specific data relating to the food product. A control unit (18) is used to receive and integrate the first and second data sets to analyze the composition of the food product and determine parameters for the food product. Based on the determined parameters of the food product, the food product is cut with a cutting unit, under the control of the control unit.

This invention relates generally to a system and method of detecting woody breast using image analysis of carcass features, and more particularly to a real-time system and method of detecting woody breast in broilers using non-destructive and/or non-contact image analysis of carcass features. The system and method assess woody breast in broilers at the fillet level using image analysis of the angle or area associated with the tip of the keel bone and surrounding breast meat of broiler carcasses. The method is configured be incorporated into and utilized by vision grading system.

A method of sorting beef carcasses comprises determining the hot carcass weight and the Torso Section Thickness of a plurality of beef carcasses at a Standardized Location on the carcass torso; determining the ratio of hot carcass weight to Torso Section Thickness of individual carcasses of the plurality of beef carcasses and, prior to processing of the carcasses into smaller portions, sorting the carcasses into a groups based on the ratio of hot carcass weight to Torso Section Thickness. In another aspect, the sorting is carried out based on the lean point of the Torso Section of individual carcasses at a Standardized Location on the carcass torso of the plurality of beef carcasses.

An approach to noninvasively and remotely detect the presence, location, and/or quantity of a target substance in a scene via a spectral imaging system comprising a spectral filter array and image capture array. For a chosen target substance, a spectral filter array is provided that is sensitive to selected wavelengths characterizing the electromagnetic spectrum of the target substance. Elements of the image capture array are optically aligned with elements of the spectral filter array to simultaneously capture spectrally filtered images. These filtered images identify the spectrum of the target substance. Program instructions analyze the acquired images to compute information about the target substance throughout the scene. A color-coded output image may be displayed on a smartphone or computing device to indicate spatial and quantitative information about the detected target substance. The system desirably includes a library of interchangeable spectral filter arrays, each sensitive to one or more target substances.

The invention relates to an apparatus (10), designed and configured to acquire and analyse product-specific data for products (12) of the food processing industry, comprising a conveyor (11), which is gap-free in the transport plane, for transporting separated products (12) in transport direction T from an intake end to a discharge end, an X-ray unit (13) having at least one X-ray source (14) and at least one X-ray camera (15) for acquiring product-specific data, wherein X-ray source (14) and X-ray camera (15) are assigned to the conveyor (11) in such a manner that the products (12) can be guided along between the X-ray source (14) and the X-ray camera (15), as well as a control unit (16) which is connected to the X-ray unit (13) and is designed and configured to receive and analyse the product-specific data, forming a first data set, acquired by said X-ray unit (13), which is characterised in that at least one optical camera (17) is assigned to the same conveyor (11) between its intake end and discharge end, by means of which, in addition to the X-ray unit (13), product-specific data of the products (12) transported on said conveyor (11) can be acquired, wherein the optical camera (17) is connected to a control unit (18) which is designed and configured to receive and analyse the product-specific data, forming a second data set, acquired by the optical camera (17). The invention also relates to a system (29) comprising such an apparatus (10) as well as a method for processing products (12) of the food processing industry.

A system for processing meat pieces includes a radiation inspection apparatus configured to receive a primary stream of meat pieces conveyed by a conveyor and to detect trim products containing undesired objects; a reject device; a control unit configured to operate the reject device using the detected undesired objects as an operation parameter such that the meat pieces containing the undesired objects are separated from the primary stream of trim products; an object remover configured to remove the undesired objects from the meat pieces separated from the primary stream of trim products; and a recirculation apparatus configured to receive the meat pieces after undergoing the object remover and recirculate it as a secondary stream into the radiation inspection apparatus. The secondary stream is separated from the primary stream, and the radiation inspection is configured to detect whether any remaining undesired objects are in the secondary stream.

The disclosed technology includes a food system that prepares food based on a user's preferences and environment (e.g., health and diet, tastes, availability of food, costs, location, and what is stored or available for the food preparation system). The food system can store, cool, serve, prepare, juice, recognize with an antenna array, cut, weigh, sanitize, or compost food. The food system can include a robotic arm or water jet for cutting a food item. The disclosed technology improves food consumption for users based on diet and observed behavior (e.g., tracking caloric intake and exercise).

An automated process assesses an amount of meat remaining on a trimmed animal carcass by generating image data of the carcass and processing the image data in a computer to calculate the amount of meat remaining on the carcass. The automated process can be carried out using an equation developed by counting pixels in an area of interest in images of a plurality of reference trimmed carcasses from which the remaining meat is thereafter scraped and weighed, to produce data points used to develop the equation which is then used to calculate the amount of meat remaining on a trimmed carcass as it proceeds down a processing line.

Disclosed is a method for realizing batch-based traceability for pork based on a QR code. Based on the QR code, user information is added to a web address carried by the QR code to realize the traceability for the pork. The method includes: 1) registering basic information of pigs in breeding and brokering processes; 2) printing an initial traceability QR code of a carcass in a slaughtering process; 3) adding user information to the initial traceability QR code in a selling process, and updating the user information to the traceability system; and 4) scanning the traceability QR code to recall data of the traceability system in a catering process to achieve transparent information. The pork and pork products are traced from production process to the selling process.