Application of Computer Microtomography and Hyperspectral Imaging to Assess the Homogeneity of the Distribution of Active Ingredients in Functional Food

Abstract

Functional foods represent one of the most intensively investigated and widely promoted areas in the food and nutrition sciences’ market today. The purpose of this work is to determine the possibility of using computed microtomography to assess the homogeneity of distribution of active pharmaceutical ingredients (vitamins K and D and calcium) throughout chocolate. Algorithms for analyzing of microtomographic images were proposed to quantify the distribution of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) in chocolate: the Gray Level Co-Occurrence Matrix, quadtree decomposition and hyperspectral imaging. The use of the methods of analysis and processing of microtomographic images allows for a quantitative assessment of the homogeneity of the distribution of components throughout the sample, without a 3D reconstruction process. In computer microtomography analysis, it is possible to assess the distribution of those components whose density differs by at least a unit in the accepted scale of gray levels of images and for grain sizes not smaller than the voxel size. The proposed image analysis algorithms, Gray Level Co-Occurrence Matrix, quadtree decomposition and hyperspectral imaging, allow for the assessment of distribution of active ingredients in chocolate.