FOREIGN MATERIAL DETECTION SYSTEM FOR FOOD ITEMS

WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ON-LINE X-RAY SYSTEM FOR DETECTING FOREIGN MATERIAL CONTAMINATION IN RAW, IN-PROCESS AND PACKAGED FOOD ITEMS. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WOULD DETECT VERY SMALL PIECES OF METAL, GLASS, BONE, ROCK, PLASTIC AND OTHER KINDS OF FOREIGN MATERIAL CONTAMINATION IN THE FOOD PRODUCTS AT FACTORY SPEED. THE PROPOSER HAS ALREADY PROVEN THE INITIAL FEASIBILITY OF SUCH A CONCEPT. THE PRESENT CONCEPT PROTOTYPE SYSTEM OPERATING IN OUR LABORATORY USES OFF-LINE COMPUTER CONVOLUTION AND ANALYSIS OF THE X-RAY DATA. DURING PHASE I, WE PROPOSE TO EXTEND THE CAPABILITY OF OUR CONCEPT PROTOTYPE SYSTEM BY USING FOUR DETECTOR SYSTEM AND EXPERIMENT WITH IT TO DETERMINE THE PERFORMANCE OF SUCH A SYSTEM FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF FOOD AND FOREIGN MATERIALS. THE PHASE I EXPERIMENTS WILL ALSO DETERMINE THE OPTIMUM SUBSYSTEM PARAMETERS FOR THE FINAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM DESIGN. WE PROPOSE TO EXPERIMENT WITH REPRESENTATIVE FOOD MATERIALS LIKE LUNCH MEAT PACKAGES, PACKAGES OF NUTS, GROUND MEAT, CEREAL AND FLOUR PACKAGES, AND OTHER TYPES OF FOOD ITEMS.