ANALYSIS OF VISUAL QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF WHITE SHRIMP BY MACHINE VISION

An important component of shrimp quality evaluation is determination o f visual attributes by trained inspectors. This is subjective, time co nsuming, and difficult to quantify. An automated device was developed for repeatable, objective measurement of visual quality of shrimp. The device measured the count, uniformity ratio, color, melanosis, and de tected foreign objects. Shrimp area viewed by a camera was used to est imate weight after calibration, and count and uniformity ratio was cal culated. The system quantified color changes in white shrimp during ic ed storage. Melanosis was quantified and correlated with the grading o f a trained inspector. The method objectively measured visual quality attributes of white shrimp in less than 1 min per sample.