NZ Baking Industry

New laser system to speed up bakers’ volume tests

Foodnavigator.com (09/01/09) reports that a new system to analyse the volume of baked goods has been developed by Stable Micro Systems which claims it can speed up the testing process to help ensure consistency of production. The Volscan Profiler is a laser based instrument which can measure the volume of a typical loaf of bread in under 60 seconds. The profiler can be used as an alternative to more traditional methods of measuring dough volume, such as seed displacement. Jo Smewing (Applications Manager, SMS) states that with the profiler, a 95 percent accuracy test of standard loaf takes about 60 seconds. The target market is millers, bakeries, food ingredient suppliers and food research institutions or universities where it can be used for process control, quality assurance and R&D.