Fast food image

An X-ray inspection technology using low-energy radiation can produce fast, highly-detailed images of food products and packaged goods while still on the production line, one of its European developers claims. The images are then scanned with inspection software that can automatically detect irregularities.

The technology, which is the result of the EU-funded Modulinspex project, was led by

of Denmark, with partners

,

,

,

and the

.

Until now food producers have used high-energy X-ray technology similar to that used to scan luggage at airports. While these systems can find a tiny pebble in a package, they lack the resolution to image such things as a grain of sand in a bag of flour.

Low-energy X-ray technology is capable of imaging these irregularities but has not been used before on the production line because it requires longer exposure times, which slows the rapid pace of modern processing and packaging plants.

Jørgen Rheinlænder, managing director of Innospexion, said his group found a way to speed up the imaging by simplifying the process.