The DigiEye. System. A complete non-contact colour measurement and imaging solution.

Transcription

1 The DigiEye There could be food and drink that cannot be measured for colour using the DigiEye System System A complete non-contact colour measurement and imaging solution. it s just that we haven t found any yet!

2 The Challenge of Managing Colour and Appearance of Food The visual aspect of food, its colour and overall appearance, is one of the most important factors influencing the consumer. There is a direct correlation between colour appearance and the product s quality, maturity and the perception of being fit for purpose.

3 The Challenge of Managing Colour and Appearance of Food This correlation has a significant impact on how produce and ingredients should be controlled for colour throughout the supply chain. It has never been more important to control colour and appearance from source to store in order to: Minimise wastage & control costs Maximise retail revenues Protect the integrity of the brand Realise supply chain efficiencies

4 Food Colour Quality Control attempts so far Visual assessment only at best, in a lighting cabinet. However, this is often not true = uncontrolled viewing conditions. Visual assessment is a very subjective process with the decision influenced by: The person making the decision. The type and quality of the illumination being used. The angle of observation.

5 Food Colour Quality Control attempts so far Spectrophotometers In search of improved accuracy and consistency, some organisations have tried to address this using spectrophotometers & the use of instrumental pass/fail tolerances Work well on flat, solid and opaque samples within a size range to fit the measuring aperture (3 to 25mm) However, very few food products truly fit this criteria

6 Food Colour Quality Control attempts so far Spectrophotometers This example shows the issues faced by having a restricted aperture size Note that the colorimetric data depends very much on where you take the measurement The colour history shows that all 4 of these measurement show very different results This would make objective pass/fail decisions very difficult if not impossible

7 Food Colour Quality Control attempts so far Spectrophotometers Because the sample has to be presented to the instrument, it has to be destroyed/manipulated and placed in Petri dishes for measurement however the destroyed sample often bears very little resemblance to the final product. Spectrophotometers give us measurement data only no indication of appearance. We must not measure for the sake of measuring...the result must always have a strong correlation to the final inspection of the product by the consumer...

8 Food Colour Quality Control attempts so far In addition, further subjectivity is introduced into the QC process by inaccurate and inconsistent product (photographic) standards Low quality cameras - meaning poor image quality Images produced by unskilled photographer No printer calibration used Uncontrolled Illumination leading to.. Inaccurate colour reproduction Lightness variations across the image Impossibility of creating the same image twice

9 Food Colour Quality Control the solution... Digitally capturing and measuring.. - Colour & Appearance Non-contact colour & appearance measurement High resolution colour calibrated images. Precise, consistent and repeatable results. Measurement area up to A4 Measures colour in context not in isolation. Colour as seen by the consumer.

10 What is DigiEye? DigiEye is a digital colour imaging system with many proven applications in the Food industry. Characterized SLR Camera. - Recording colour data at millions of points. Calibrated Monitor & Printer. - Accurate on-screen product representation. - Colour accurate photographic images. Enclosed DigiEye Cube. - Eliminating all ambient light. - Product capture in consistent lighting. - LED corrected daylight simulator. - Both angled and diffuse lighting.

11 History of DigiEye DigiEye technology born out of collaboration between VeriVide & Derby University. VeriVide manufactures equipment for visual assessment of colour and appearance. Based in Leicester, England. Officially launched the DigiEye unit in Initial uptake was for digital fastness grading in Textile sector. Active in the Food Sector since 2008.

12 Food Colour Quality Control the solution... Non-contact colour & appearance measurement No part of the sample to be measured needs to be in contact with the lens - Samples are positioned below the camera inside the DigiEye drawer - Because of this we are able to measure many more different types of sample Additional benefits of non-contact measurement are - No distortion of the samples - No need to prepare or destroy the sample to make it measureable - Can measure solids, liquids, irregular shapes & 3D samples without any change to the hardware

13 Food Colour Quality Control the solution... Pixel level colour information This is a biggest advantage of using a camera for colour QC DigiEye selection tools give high level of control over the colour measurement - Select only the areas that we want to measure Measure what matters! - Discarding anything that adversely influences the colour measurement texture etc We don t rely on averaging everything in the measurement region

14 Food Colour Quality Control the solution... DigiEye is not restricted by surface texture or substrate type DigiEye s measurement area is much larger than a spectro (approx 320x200mm) DigiEye s measurement repeatability is equal to that of a bench-top spectro DigiEye outputs all commonly used colorimetric data formats & colour difference Measurements agree strongly with customers visual perception, and provide both colour and appearance information

15 I believe DigiEye is well placed to become the default color measurement system for the Food Industry. System in the USA Systems in the US, UK, Switzerland & Germany System in the UK Systems throughout the UK Two Systems in the UK System in Sweden System in Finland System in Germany Systems in the UK, Poland & The Netherlands System in Colombia System in the US System in Scotland System in Germany System in Colombia System in Norway System in Turkey System in Sweden Systems in the UK & Hungary

16 Illumination - Angled vs. Diffuse Illumination can be either diffuse or angled depending on application Diffuse Angled Illumination Highlights Flattens surface the images. details. Ideal Ideal for for accurate colour measurement appearance for photographic standards

17 Photographic standards for the food industry This image was taken by a Pack photographer Note - All chocolate should be the same colour Colour variation due to artistic lighting

18 Photographic standards for the food industry DigiEye Bespoke Form Design Simple Layout Minimal training required Clear and concise Easy to create Dedicated viewing solution

19 Photographic standards for the food industry DigiEye Image quality equal to / better than professional photographer Completely controlled illumination Limiting colour variation Maximising repeatability No image reprocessing colour accurate first time Quick and easy to use No photographic training required Communicate colour accurate standards between sites Adjustable illumination angle for absolute realism Calibrated images and printers On-site imaging system

20 DigiEye quality control DigiEye is the complete QC solution for the food industry Compare the colour difference between the original standard and current production Allows greater consistency of manufacture Add objectivity to assessment Colour measurement not influenced by surface structure

21 DigiEye QC Colour difference assessment Original image Single number difference scale Graded image Perfect match equals value of 5 As difference increases value decreases. If the tone differs then this is reported with a verbal description Under or over baked products will become off-tone

22 DigiEye QC Colour measurement DigiEye is able to measure multiple colours in one selection. Multiple components can be measured in situ, without destroying the product. No restriction on how many colours can be measured in one selection. Measuring the components in situ gives a much better representation of the true colour. All measured colours can be saved directly to the DigiEye database

23 DigiEye QC Colour measurement We can see that the colour of the Salmon flesh is very different between the two fillets. Using a traditional instrumental system the sinew & texture would influence the colour measurement. Note that not all the fillet is measured. We have excluded any elements that would have a negative influence on the colour We can now repeat the measurement on the second Fillet and compare

24 DigiEye QC Percentage distribution Two steaks packaged together in a large UK supermarket. Visually very different What can we quantify? - We can measure the percentage of the steak that is fat or marbling. - We can see that this constitutes 29% of the visible surface of this steak. - By comparison the second steak is 13% fat or Marbling. - This information can be used to define objective tolerances.

25 DigiEye QC Percentage distribution We can quantify the percentage surface characteristics of non solid or liquidised products. The clustered colours are also measured Allowing for colour comparison - We can see that the fruit constitutes 27% of the visible surface of this pudding - This information can be used to define objective tolerances

26 DigiEye QC Colour measurement of liquid Allows standard/batch assessment at a standard depth Measures the surface, not influenced by suspended particles Allows creation of digital standards both colour and spectral information

27 DigiEye QC - Packaging We have the ability to measure several individual colours in one selection Here we are measuring the blue, green, yellow and red colours on the product lid This would be impossible on a traditional colour measurement instrument The diffuse illumination excludes and gloss or specular reflection on the surface This information can be used to for quick packaging QC

28 DigiEye QC Additional features & benefits Generate Virtual visible tolerances Dark Tolerance Standard Light Tolerance Create light & dark tolerances around your standard Allows you to visualise your numerical tolerances Print and use as photographic standards Instrumentally assess product using DigiEye & virtual tolerances

29 DigiEye QC Additional features & benefits Bespoke scales This is a very basic & theoretical scale for the assessment crust colour All of the colours are synthesised using DigiEye No need to test bake to determine your crust colour scale You would measure an actual product and DigiEye would compare it to the scale The system would then return a single number If this number is within your tolerance then it will be accepted

30 The DigiEye System Manufactured in the UK by VeriVide Ltd Registered under BS EN ISO 9001 Certificate No I believe DigiEye is well placed to become the default colour measurement system for the Food Industry.