UK researchers to develop system to identify defects in food packaging

The new multi-purpose imaging technology will be created by Tom Duckett from the University of Linco…

The new multi-purpose imaging technology will be created by Tom Duckett from the University of Lincoln's School of Computer Science. The technology will be able to take up quality inspection tasks in the food industry.

Duckett said: "We are trying to make an application that can detect a variety of issues in food products and packaging. It's about ensuring that packaging is sealed correctly and about checking that the right amount of food is in the right place."

The £823,277 project, Trainable Vision-based Anomaly Detection and Diagnosis, is being partly funded by the UK's innovation agency, Technology Strategy Board.

The lead partner for the project is Ishida Europe which has been involved in designing, manufacturing and delivering weighing and packing solutions to the European food industry for over 25 years.

Ishida will work with the University of Lincoln to enable real-time testing of the software in its food processing and packaging systems. The company will utilize it to develop the next generation of quality control systems for the food industry.

The project, which is scheduled to run until October 2015, will use expertise from the University's National Centre for Food Manufacturing and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.