Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation Systems for the Food and Beverage Industries

Abstract

Advanced sensors and instrumentation systems are becoming increasingly important in the classification, characterization, authentication, quality control and safety management of food products and beverages. To bring together industrialists and academic researchers to discuss the latest developments and trends in this particular area, the ISAT (Instrument Science and Technology) Group of the Institute of Physics organized a highly focused one-day technical meeting, which was held at the Rutherford Conference Centre at the Institute of Physics in London on 15 December 2004. The event was co-sponsored by the Measurement, Sensors, Instrumentation and NDT Professional Network of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Measurement Science and Technology Panel of the Institute of Measurement and Control.The special feature in this issue (on pages 229–287) brings together a collection of some of the papers that were presented at the event. Also included in the special feature are two relevant papers that were submitted through the usual route. Technical topics covered, though wide ranging as reflected in part by the diversity of the papers, demonstrate recent developments and possible approaches that may offer solutions to a broad range of sensing and measurement problems in the food and beverage industries. The first paper, reported by Sheridan et al, is concerned with the quality monitoring of chicken, sausages and pastry products during their cooking processes using an optical fibre-based sensing system. Carter et al describe how digital imaging and image processing techniques have been applied to achieve the classification and authentication of rice grains. The challenges in the measurement and control of final moisture content in baked food products such as bread and biscuits are addressed and discussed by McFarlane. Juodeikiene et al report their progress in the development of acoustic echolocation-based techniques for the evaluation of porosity and structures of cereal products. Acoustic techniques have also been deployed for the liquid density analysis of sucrose and alcoholic beverages, as explained by Turton et al. Similarly, Cegla et al report on bulk velocity and attenuation measurements in non-Newtonian liquids using a 'dipstick' type acoustic sensor, where glycerol and honey were used as test liquids. The adulteration of dairy products has been a major concern in the food and beverage industries in recent years. The paper by Mabrook et al describes the latest developments in single-frequency electrical conductance measurements for the detection of added water in dairy products such as milk and cream. Last but not least is a paper by Taifi et al on the application of ultrasonic techniques in the continuous monitoring of milk coagulation and syneresis in cheese manufacturing.I hope you enjoy reading the papers and find them both interesting and informative. As guest editor, I would like to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the authors, referees and publishing staff of Measurement Science and Technology for their contributions and support, which made this special feature possible.