This is a collaborative post.
It would be an absolute horror story for anyone who has chosen to be vegan to find out that the food they thought was safe is not free from animal products. The chance of this happening is especially high with food companies that also handle ingredients of animal origin.
While there are real challenges in guaranteeing the complete absence of these contaminants in food labelled as vegan, Machine Vision systems significantly lower that risk until it is almost negligible. Companies such as Multipix create Machine Vision solutions that capture, process, inspect and give feedback to ensure the highest possible quality.
How do Machine Vision Systems Keep Vegan Food Free from Contaminants?
Machine Vision systems capture visual information from the environment, process these images, and prepare the information for various applications. In keeping vegan food free from contamination, Machine Vision works in the following ways:
Labelling
Labelling is crucial in ensuring that your food is exactly what it says. Mislabeled food can cause dangerous allergic reactions and distress among vegan consumers. Machine Vision systems are essential to ensuring that all foods labelled as vegan are vegan and free from animal products.
Any mislabeled products, either due to human or machine error, are easily identified and removed from the line. Any products that have misaligned or unreadable labels are also removed to provide full surety to the consumers.
Ingredient List
The ingredient list is arguably the most important part of ensuring you know what you are eating. Machine Vision systems quickly and accurately analyse ingredient lists and ensure that any product with a listed non-vegan ingredient is spotted and removed from the line.
Besides, all other ingredients are easily tracked and traced throughout the production process to ensure no mix-up. This level of careful monitoring is impossible to achieve without using Machine Vision systems.
Safety Inspection
Although intelligent and easily trained, humans do not make the best and most consistent safety inspectors. They are easily distracted and can miss some things, even with hyperfocus. On the other hand, machines are diligent and do not get tired or bored.
Machine vision systems, such as those employed by Multipix Imaging, can inspect finished products from all angles, even in fast-moving lines, and spot any contamination. Lab tests have shown that Machine Vision systems have been able to identify objects as small as 1.5mm.
This precise, accurate, and focused safety inspection is especially useful in factories that handle other foods with animal-derived ingredients. Cross-contamination is easily identified and dealt with.
People choose to be vegan for several reasons, including wanting to prevent the exploitation of animals and dietary and health concerns. No matter the reason, anyone who has made this choice would love and rightly expect the assurance that any food they purchase, labelled vegan, is free from animal products or other contaminants. Machine Vision systems help guarantee a future where we can all trust that we eat exactly what we choose.
