A hyperspectral imaging system for identification of faecal and ingesta contamination on poultry carcasses

A method and system for detecting faecal and ingesta contaminants on poultry carcasses were demonstrated. A visible/near infrared monochromator, which measured reflectance and principal component analysis were first used to identify key wavelengths from faecal and uncontaminated skin samples. Measurements at 434, 517, 565 and 628 nm were identified and used for evaluation with a hyperspectral imaging system. The hyperspectral imaging system, which was a line-scan (pushbroom) imaging system, consisted of a hyperspectral camera, fibre-optic line lights, a computer and frame grabber. The hyperspectral imaging camera consisted of a high-resolution charge coupled device (CCD) camera, a prism-grating-prism spectrograph, focusing lens, associated optical hardware and a motorised controller. The imaging system operated from about 400 to 900 nm. The hyperspectral imaging system was calibrated for wavelength, distance and percent reflectance and analysis of calibrated images at the key wavelengths indicated that single-wavelength images were inadequate for detecting contaminants. However, a ratio of images at two of the key wavelengths was able to identify faecal and ingesta contaminants. Specifically, the ratio of the 565-nm image divided by the 517-nm image produced good results. The ratio image was then further processed by masking the background and either enhancing the image contrast with a non-linear histogram stretch, or applying a faecal threshold. The results indicated that, for the limited sample population, more than 96% of the contaminants were detected. Thus, the hyperspectral imaging system was able to detect contaminants and showed feasibility, but was too slow for real-time on-line processing. Therefore, a multivariate system operating at 565 and 517 nm, which should be capable of operating at real-time on-line processing speed, should be used. Further research with such a system needs to be conducted.