PhD in phytosanitary inspection of horticultural products based on innovative X-ray imaging and...

Infestations of horticultural products by pests directly lead to food losses due to internal damage and is a main concern in phytosanitary measures for export to distant markets. A correct status of pests and diseases and methods to guarantee the absence of the pathogenic organisms (or to minimize the risk of their presence in or on the product for export) is a recurring element in export files and procedures. However, based on current crop protection schemes and (the lack of efficient) control techniques, the strict phytosanitary requirements can often only be met by including very laborious, time-consuming (and therefore expensive) controls in the procedures. To improve management of phytosanitary risks, an efficient system for the rapid and early detection of target organisms after harvest/storage is required. It has been shown that X-ray imaging could detect larvae in horticultural products to some extent. Still, limitations in both image quality and image processing techniques hamper good classification and the processing speed and practical scale-up remain a problem. In this PhD, new developments in X-ray methods (computed tomography, multi-sensor imaging, phase contrast imaging, spectral X-ray imaging) are explored together with advanced image processing approaches including novel deep learning methods. Applications in different products will be targeted.