Real-time image analysis for nondestructive detection of metal sliver in packed food

Foreign materials such as metal slivers and stones in packed food are listed safety hazards, which could lead to severe health problems. In this paper, a real time X-ray imaging inspection method is investigated for foreign material detection in chili packages. A new image segmentation method combining edge detection and region growing was successfully applied to address the challenges due to the uneven thickness of chili package.