The increasing demands on the quality and consumption safety of grain imply, for food economy, increased expenditures for product and process supervision. Within the framework of the control of goods received and quality of the processing industries, various laboratory methods are applied at present to check the properties of the products and the observance of the standards. The control of the goods received decides whether the supplied goods will be accepted and allocated the status "healthy and customary" or whether the goods before storage in the silo have to be subjected to a special treatment in order to reduce impurities, moisture, etc. The evaluation of the quality features is especially important in order to store together grain of special quality grades or to process with regard to the desired quality grade of the final product.

Visual Analyses for the Quality ­Assessment

Physical, chemical, and sensory analyses are performed as well as visual analyses for the quality assessment of grain. Experienced specialists examine in random samples the condition of the kernels. Anomalies of the kernels and clear discolourations are indicative of a microbial infestation. Of special importance and frequency are weed moulds of the fusarium genus. These mould fungi are producing mycotoxins and in brewer's malt they are connected with the gushing of beer.

Permanent Control of Food and Feed as to the Mycotoxin Contamination

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolic products which are produced during the growth of mould fungi on grain. Grain contaminated by mycotoxins as food or feed can cause acute intoxications or chronic diseases of humans and animals. Regulations and quality standards as part of the consumer protection law prescribe a permanent control of food and feed as to the mycotoxin contamination. Mycotoxins are determined according to chromatographic and immunochemical methods, respectively. These methods require a high expenditure of personnel and time. Generally they are not performed in the laboratories of the respective company but by special analytical service companies.
The visual assessment of grain (analysis of foreign matter) cannot be replaced completely by other laboratory methods (physico-chemical and microbiological methods).

This kind of inspection requires qualified personnel who can assess correctly the condition of the grain. In connection with the visual assessment a number of problems impair significantly this kind of inspection. The quality assessment not always can be defined by a clear "yes/no" answer, but the grain characteristics have flowing grades. Further, the result is determined by the subjectivity of the inspector.
Therefore, a system according to which the formation, structure and colour of the grain can be determined automatically, and the occurrence and concentration of fusariospores can be assessed, should be useful. Anomalies of the grain and fusarium infestation can be determined visually by a microscopic image acquisition unit. In the receiving inspection the characteristics are an important indication of an increased microbial load. By appropriate combination of characteristics they can serve as additional "marker for a potential mycotoxin load" of the respective grain portion. The advantage of such a system is the fact that the samples can be analysed independently without qualified personnel, that the results are independent of subjective factors and thus reproducible. By archiving the digital images an additional documentation for the quality proof of the respective grain batch is possible within the control and supervision conception of the company. Supervision functions of the control of goods receipt and quality can be automated, quantified and standardised. This will result in savings of time, personnel and costs of the analyses.
For the application of the system decision support for the kind and intensity of the cleaning regime to be applied and the storage of the received grain will be available to the user. Mixes with healthy batches and resulting quality losses can be eliminated at simultaneous objective documentation of the analytical results (QS systems, retraceability, right of recourse).

A System Was Developed that Can Carry out the Following Tasks:

• automatic assessment of kernel samples without human assistance,
• evaluation of the quality of kernel samples at the site,
• quantitative determination of the percentage of kernels of a certain quality grade with computer display,
• beside the possible visual assessment, information on the microbiological impurities of the kernels, in correlation with hygiene relevant parameters (such as the mycotoxin content) in order to perform the necessary treatment of the grain more targeted and tailored to the batch.
• objective and reproducible assessment of the sample and a reproducible quality certificate for the sample.

The System Consists of: