Sensors for the food industry

This article presents an overview of the results of a five-year research project on sensors for the food industry in Japan. This project was a government-sponsered research programme involving the food industry and the instrumentation industry, coordinated by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The programme focussed on 17 food processing operations and quality control tasks, where the need for an on-line (or rapid at-line) measurement had been established. The instrument development work employed biosensors pH and gas sensors, optical-imaging devices, as well as near-infrared, microwave, ultrasound and mechanical resonance techniques, together with robotics and advanced data-processing techniques.