This study assesses whether thermal imaging can be utilized for detecting and monitoring the level of plant product contamination with apples used as an example. The growth of Penicillium expansum, Botrytis cinerea, and Rhizopus stolonifer on apples contaminated with these fungi was investigated by measuring temperature changes using a thermovision camera. The results showed a significant relationship between the temperature of apples and the growth of microorganisms, as well as that the temperature changes occurred in two stages (temperature of the contaminated apples increased on the first day but then decreased). Significant differences were found between the temperature of the apples showing microbial growth and the noncontaminated control sample, which indicates that the thermal imaging technique has a potential application in microbial quality control. Automation of the production process and attempts on the intensification of production capacity have resulted in the need to improve individual stages of product quality control. Thermovision-based methods have a high potential in this field, as they represent an innovative and noninvasive alternative to conventional microbiological diagnostic methods.
Meat and meat products are important sources of valuable proteins and other nutrients, but they are also a conducive environment for microorganisms’ growth and can easily corrupt. In order to ensure the safety and quality of these products throughout its entire shelf-life, reliable microbial contamination assessment techniques must be used. Despite their effectiveness, traditional diagnostics methods are expensive and time consuming. Therefore, new timesaving, reliable techniques are searched for. Infrared thermography could be a good alternative method in this area. As a quick technique to detect microorganisms, it can overcome the limitations of traditional microbiological food-quality assessment methods. It has numerous advantages, such as the possibility of taking immediate temperature measurements and short processing times for obtaining a thermal image, non-contact and non-destructive measurements, and, unlike other methods, real-time measurement monitoring. Real-time monitoring is particularly important for modern production systems. The purpose of this research study is to develop a methodology for microbiological quality control of mortadella inoculated with Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 bacteria using a thermal imaging camera with an uncooled microbolometric detector. It was found that the thermal imaging measurements used in this research study enabled the distinction of contaminated samples (min. 106 CFU/g) from sterile samples. The tests should only record the temperature of the samples during the first 25 s after previously performing activations at −18°C ± 1°C for 60 s. This is where differences between the samples are most pronounced. Estimating the trend line of the sample’s cooling process is advisable.
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