Developments in Monitoring and Control of Food Processes

Recent developments in advanced control techniques have opened up novel possibilities for food process control. Food processes have been particularly difficult to automate and control owing to nonuniformity and variability in raw-materials, and lack of sensors for real-time monitoring of key process variables and quality attributes. Model-based control, distributed control systems together with field communication protocols, and other computer-aided advanced control strategies are already widely used in chemical process industries, and have proven themselves in selected food processing applications. The benefits of advanced control techniques include reduced costs, increased quality, and improved safety. Fuzzy logic and neural networks provide convenient means for dealing with uncertainties and highly non-linear events typical of biological processes. Nevertheless, replacing the human expert by computer-aided systems in bioengineering has been slower than in other process industries, and there are few published landmark cases. This paper discusses the potential of such novel tools in food process control.