Black Walnut Shell and Meat Discrimination using Hyperspectral Fluorescence Imaging

Abstract: Black walnuts have a rich and unique flavor and are very healthy for humans to eat. However, the black walnut shell is especially hard and hazardous to the consumer if it is mixed with the meat in the walnut processing plant. Currently, human intervention is still necessary to manually pick up the walnut shell fragments in order to reach the strict USDA regulations. Therefore, there is a need to develop an effective method to automatically detect the walnut shell from the meat.