Three Reasons to Use SWIR Infrared Imaging to Improve Quality Control in the Food and Beverage Industry

Over the past few years, SWIR infrared technology has become one of the most effective solutions for improving quality control processes in the food and beverage industry. The industry is known for its stringent safety requirements, such as maintaining cold chains, keeping tabs on the quality of containers and packaging used, and detecting foreign objects in production lines.

Unlike X-ray imaging, SWIR infrared imaging offers food industry professionals a non-invasive way to monitor performance and ensure repeatability in their manufacturing process. These solutions ensure continuous quality control throughout the production line.

In this article, we describe three reasons why SWIR infrared imaging is gaining a growing following in the food and beverage industry to improve quality control.

Today's food and beverage industry are preoccupied with meeting consumer demand for perfectly graded products of impeccable quality. This explains why a strict quality control process is used to continuously inspect food and analyze its appearance and condition, especially when using SWIR infrared technology.

SWIR infrared camera sensors inspect organic materials on the production line to detect any degradation that is invisible to the naked eye and to traditional vision systems used in manufacturing, such as conventional daylight cameras. Since the slightest sign of spoilage can alter the quality of a product, identifying defects is critical to sorting and eliminating damaged food.

Examples include pinpointing and removing damaged fruit from production lines before they end up on supermarket shelves, as well as identifying high moisture levels that can lead to premature growth of mold spores, and spotting contaminants that make food unfit for human consumption.

Hyperspectral sensors are able to sniff out moisture in the food and determine its fat and protein content. This capability means they proliferate on food production lines as industry professionals work to gain intelligence on how ripe fruit is beginning to ripen or to analyze the protein and fat content of meat. The food industry, especially companies using automated food production systems, is also installing SWIR infrared imaging solutions to inspect packaged cheese and assess the level of moisture that can lead to early mold.

The food and beverage industry is utilizing SWIR infrared imaging technology to improve quality control performance throughout the manufacturing process of even the most complex products, which in turn ensures superior food safety.

Installing SWIR infrared sensors into food production lines can detect potentially dangerous unwanted foreign objects.

For example, in the production of loose foods such as rice and coffee, SWIR infrared imaging can zero in on tiny fragments of polymer. The technology can also eradicate stone and metal fragments that can be extremely harmful to consumers and seriously damage food production plants.

Raw materials passing through a food production line can be inspected using SWIR infrared imaging before being used and mixed with other products. This ensures that they are free of any impurities that could affect the final product and render food and beverages dangerous and/or unsuitable for consumption. Raw materials altered by external elements or contaminated by unknown compounds pose health risks.

One example involves analyzing liquids and solids through containers using infrared technology, which can spot intruders in the material within seconds.

Inspecting raw materials using SWIR infrared imaging technology can also improve product performance while minimizing production downtime and improving product quality.

Note that a production line can inspect 30 tons of potatoes per hour.

For food, cleaning supplies, and pharmaceuticals, SWIR infrared imaging can also see through containers. It is able to assess the fill rate of an opaque bottle or determine if any capsules are missing from a blister pack. While these applications don't necessarily have a direct impact on improving product or consumer safety, they can improve performance and improve compliance with regulations.

For example, the technology can spot half-filled plastic bottles or blister strips that are damaged or missing some of their contents (perforated capsules or incomplete tablets), meaning they are unsuitable for sale because the integrity of the product has been compromised.

To take individual vision systems to the next level, SWIR infrared technology is ideal for thermal imaging inspections as it can see through glass so it can keep an eye on high-temperature manufacturing processes above 200°.

For example, SWIR infrared imaging has established itself in the glass bottle manufacturing industry, as well as in various metallurgical processes, especially for detecting impurities in metals.

SWIR infrared imaging enhances safety in the food and beverage industry by assuring product integrity through regular cutting-edge quality control processes. It also improves bottom-line performance by reducing losses and ensuring flawless production quality to expected standards.

The above briefly introduces the application of SWIR infrared imaging in food safety. If you want to buy SWIR infrared camera, please contact us.

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