ELSEVIER zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA J~wxtrl of Food Eyjrwcri~fg 30 ( 1096) 107~~207 Puhlishcd by Elscvier Science L.imWxi Printed in Great Britain 0260-87741Yh $ IS.00 + Il.00 PII:SO260-8774tY6)00048-9 Integration of Visible/NIR Spectroscopy and Multispectral Imaging for Poultry Carcass Inspection B. Park,* Y. R. Chen & R. W. Huffman Instrumentation and Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, zyxwvutsrqponm 1JS Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 207052350. USA (Received 2X February 1995: revised vcrson received 16 April 1996: accepted 5 June 1096) zyxwvutsr ABSTRACT An integrated system w hich consisted of a visihlelnear-infvared (NIR) spectroscopic subsystem and an intensijied multispectral imaging subsystem was tested for its accuracy in separating abnormal (unwholesome) from normal poultry carcasses. The spectroscopic subsystem measured reflectance spectra of the poultry carcasses at wavelengths from 471 to 965 nm. For the multispectral imaging subsystem, the gruy-level intensity of whole carcasses was measured using six different optical jilters of 542, 571, 641, 700, 720 and 847 nm wavelengths. The results of the test showed that, with the integrated system, there were no abnormal carcasses being misclassijied as normal carcasses. W hen individual subsystem was used for classijication, the error of the spectroscopic subsystem was 2.6% and that of the multispectral imaging subsystem was 3.9% Thus, the integrated system could be used for separating carcasses into normal and abnormal streams. W ith perfect selection of normal carcasses in the normal carcass stream, the inspector needs only to inspect the abnormal carcass stream. Thus, the through- put of carcass of the processing line per inspector could be greatly increased. Published by Elsevier Science Limited INTRODUCTION Poultry products have increased in popularity with US consumers in recent years. The number of chickens slaughtered at federally inspected establishments has increased from 2.8 billion in 1965 to 7 billion birds in 1993 (USDA, FSIS, 1994). Among the chickens, about 3.8 million birds were condemned because they had septicemia or were cadavers. Septicemia is a systemic disease caused by pathogenic microorganisms and/or their toxins in the blood. It may result in a variety of visible changes in the carcass and viscera of the affected bird including swollen, watery ‘“To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: (301) 504-8450. Fax: (301) SO4-9466. E-mail: bpark@asrr.arsusda.gov lY7