Non-Destructive Method of Foreign Object Detection in Food Products

Millions of tons of food are processed and packaged by individuals and machines. As such, the possibility exists that food manufacturers and the suppliers will not catch every object that does not belong in the product. When a person consumes a food that has a foreign object in it, he or she may suffer a physical or emotional injury. This paper describes a working prototype that non-destructively identifies the presence of foreign object in food products. The infrared sensor module consists of a source and detector which will detect the presence of foreign object and thereby sends the signal to the PIC16F877A microcontroller which thereby indicates the defective edible and non-defective and edible food products using LED indications.