Cereal Grain Quality Assessment
Cereal crop quality is a key factor for food manufacturers in order to meet consumer needs.
Use spectral imaging to asses the quality fast and non-destructive way without time-consuming sample preparation and without use of any chemicals. Here are some of the most common properties that are assessed when looking at the cereal grain quality:
• Size and shape distribution
• Purity and admixture percentage
• Color, seed coat, surface chemistry
• Germination and pre-harvest sprouting
• Mechanical damage
• Pathogens
• Adulteration and fraud detection
• Broken, skinned and cracked kernels
• Fusarium and other molds
Examples of Cereal Crops Analysis
With the VideometerLab with Autofeeder you can classify and analyze among other the following cereal crops:
Durum Wheat Analysis
Durum quality is not only important for the final quality of pasta and couscous, but for all stakeholders in the supply chain.
Here is a review of quality perceived by seed companies, grain dealers, farmers, milling industry, pasta industry and consumers. VideometerLab measures a number of important quality parameters throughout the whole supply chain.
• Purity
• Mold and infections, primarely fusarium
• Adulteration with, for example, common wheat
• Size and shape distribution, uniformity
• Vitreous vs. non-vitreous kernels, vitreousness
Above we see durum wheat to the left and common wheat to the right. The top row shows the samples in normal color, and the bottom row shows the spectral fingerprint for durum calculated from the spectral image. There is a dramatic increase in contrast between the two grain types and spectral imaging provides a way to obtain significantly better detection of grain types and impurities.
Oat Analysis
The quality of oats is similar to other cereals. Here, we show an example of Fusarium spp. detection.
On the image, the lighter colors show 6 Fusarium spp. infected kernels, the blue colors indicate uninfected ones.
Maize or Corn Quality Inspection
With more than 1.000 million tons of maize produced worldwide each year (AMIS, 2019), CODEX’ regulations are becoming increasingly more rigorous in regards to maize safety and quality control (CODEX STAN 153-1985).
General recommendations state that “maize shell shall be safe and suitable for human consumption” (CODEX STAN 153-1985). More specifically, this means that only high-quality kernels with specific percentages for moisture, broken kernels, foreign materials, and damaged kernels may be sold to be consumed.
The VideometerLab Autofeeder uses spectral imaging to optimize the quality inspection of corn, by efficiently analyzing an average sample of 300 g in 5 minutes, aiding corn producers and traders across the globe with the inspection of their harvest.
Videometer’s instrument is a unique solution for corn quality control. With its 19-20 spectral wavelengths, the VideometerLab Autofeeder can produce both visual and numerical classifications of maize kernels in the following fractions, making quality inspection more efficient and precise.
Unique solutions for corn quality control
• Healthy maize kernels
• Broken maize kernels
• Mold damaged maize kernels
• Fermented maize kernels
• Insect damaged maize kernels
• Admixture and glumes
• Breeding seeds (coated with pesticide)