Application of Computer Vision System in Food Processing- A Review

Agricultural and food products are present in incredible varieties in terms of shape, size, color and as the market grows more demanding, food products are subdivided in various categories and are destined to different segments. The definition and characterization of different attributes are very important for the business and for the consumer, making it necessary to establish norms of classification and standardization, thus making commercial trading more efficient and allowing for higher awareness on the part of consumers. A computer vision system (CVS) have proven very successful in the analysis of food on the basis of color, size, shape, texture etc. Computer vision is the science that develops the theoretical and algorithmic basis by which useful information about an object or scene can be automatically extracted and analyzed from an observed image, image set or image sequence. An image can be defined as a spatial representation of an object or scene. Image processing is base of computer vision system. Image acquisition, processing, segmentation are basic steps for extracting information of image. CVS system is being used in food industry for the detection of defects in apples, oranges, olives, cherries etc., sorting of potatoes, online monitoring of baking conditions, measurement of browning in chips. It is also being used for checking ripening stages of banana, tomato, cherries etc. Also it can be used to classify different varieties of cereal grains and check their adulteration. It can also be used for checking color of meat and lean yield. Computer vision is an emerging subject in food sector. It is a fast, noninvasive cheap method for evaluating quality of foods. The use of computers allows for increased efficiency with less manpower, reduces dependence on trained experts which is costly and time consuming. Also, we can do modelling of information obtained from image and can be used for future. This paper presents a review of the main publications in the last ten years with respect to new technologies and to the wide application ofsystems