ABSTRACT
With an ever-increasing volume in the throughput of the food industry, profit margins dictate that it is no longer acceptable for large errors to occur, as the result would be significant. This is evident in the cooking of largc batches of various food types in industrial ovens of lengths up to 20 metres Fig.l. The conveyor belts of these ovens may be fully loaded with food for maximum efficiency and the cost of an error in one batch would be intolerable for the producer. Automation in the cooking of the food is critical in order to control oven temperature, conveyor belt speed, height of steamers etc. so that the food is cooked to the highest quality. There is a need for monitoring the food as it passes through the oven and determining that all the processing parameters are correct, the most important of these being the food's core temperature and the colour of the food (both intemal and extemal).
