We would like to take this opportunity to make our food processing customers aware of an exciting new, market-leading feature recently added to the robust Series 9 non-contact, on-line near-infrared (NIR) food moisture gauge.
Series 9 Non-Contact, On-Line NIR Food Moisture Gauge
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Features
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Since its launch in March 2020, the Series 9 has successfully been used by companies within the food processing industry to simultaneously measure moisture, fat/oil, protein and degree of bake/brownness (DOB).
The DOB feature, measures the change in bake or brownness of the surface of baked or fried products, using the principle of the Maillard reaction. However, the food processing industry has also expressed a need for other accurate colour measurements.
The new Series 9 now has the capability to provide repeatable, numeric colour readings simultaneously with other critical constituent measurements such as moisture, fat/oil, and protein, which when combined can be confidently used as part of a process control strategy to deliver consistent product quality every time.
Industry-standard colour scales, which can be selected for each product from the Series 9 simple user interface, include:
- CIE L*, a*, b*
- Tristimulus X, Y, Z
- RGB
- CIELCH L*, C*, h
- ΔE* & ΔEcmc
- Degree of roast (DOR) in coffee
CIE L*, a*, b* Colour Space
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Fig 1. shows the CIE L*, a*, b* colour space. It expresses colour as three values: L* for perceptual lightness and a* and b* for the four unique colours of human vision; red, green, blue and yellow.
Fig 2. shows an example of a Series 9 Gauge Control Interface (GCI) screen showing measurements of moisture, protein, L* (from black to white), a* (from green to red) and b* (from blue to yellow).
Tristimulus X, Y, Z
Tristimulus X, Y, Z colour is based on the three primary colour (RGB) receptors of the human eye and quantified into coordinate values of X, Y, and Z, see Fig 3.
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Fig 4. |
Fig 4. shows three pictures of cashew nuts of various colours and the corresponding Tristimulus X, Y, Z and CIE L*, a*, b* readings.
This Series 9 is the only on-line measurement gauge on the market with this unique colour measurement feature and examples of possible applications include:
- Biscuits
- Breakfast cereal
- Nuts
- Crisps
- Crackers
If you would like to find out more about the exciting new colour measurement feature on the new Series 9 and how it could help you to improve the quality and consistency of your products, please contact our NDC Product Specialist, Kevin Goodison or download a datasheet.
