Determination of the Number of Food Products in Closed Packages with the Help of X-ray Imaging and Image Processing

• Published in: Food analytical methods 2024, Vol.17 (7), p.1046-1056
• Main Authors: Görgülü, Ahmet, Ünlü, Mehmet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Darkness; Errors; Food Science; Image processing; Microbiology; Packages; Pixels; X ray imagery
• ISSN: 1936-9751; 1936-976X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12161-024-02623-8

In this research, the determination of the number of products in closed (sealed) and bulk-type packages has been investigated using “X-ray imaging” and “image processing” techniques. A custom image processing program was developed to analyze X-ray images captured at a resolution of 784 × 1024 pixels. The program assigns numerical values ranging from absolute white to absolute black to each pixel in the image on a scale of 0–255. The number of products that belong to separate groups within each package was calculated by dividing the total grayness value of the group by the average grayness value of a single unit of the product. To minimize fluctuations, we employed moving average grayness values. The grayness values represent the overall intensity or darkness of the pixels in the image. The error rate of the multi-head weighers tested in determining the number of products in closed packages was determined to be 4%, the error rate of the product counting systems was 1.25%, and the error rate of the developed X-ray imaging method was 0.25%.