Assessment of Egg Quality and Hatchability using Hyperspectral Imaging

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The ability to assess egg quality rapidly and effectively is an important goal of egg packing houses and egg processing plants. The candling technique that is currently widely used can be laborious and not adaptable to on-line implementation. In-fertile eggs that are identified and removed on time can pose significant safety and economic problems for hatcheries. Thus, the development of an efficient, non-destructive and accurate method for assessing quality and detect fertility and the hatchability of eggs especially at the transfer stage would be very advantageous to the poultry industry. In the proposed research, the potentials of hyperspectral imaging techniques will be exploited to develop techniques for egg quality assessment and prediction of hatchability. The goals of the study are to obtain hyperspectral images of egg at the VIS/NIR wavelengths and to correlate these images with corresponding changes in various internal egg quality attributes related to albumen and yolk quality, and the presence of blood or meat spots, freshness parameters (Haugh Units and pH), fertility and hatchability of intact eggs. Predictive models and algorithms will be developed using statistical methods and advanced artificial intelligence based techniques to classify eggs and predict egg fertility and hatchability. The novel hyperspectral imaging system will be based on the information collected using wider range of spectrum (400 to 1700 nm) than has currently been reported in the literature for egg quality evaluation. The technology that will be developed will greatly reduce subjectivity in detecting embryo development and in assessing quality, fertility and hatchability of eggs and it will also replace the highly time consuming and tedious candling method currently used to determine various egg quality attributes. The research team has expertise covering food engineering, hyperspectral imaging and poultry science. Highly qualified personnel will be trained. The industrial partner is in a unique position to facilitate introduction of the technology to the industry.