Waste minimisation is said to be at the heart of a sandwich bun inspection system developed by the US based Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).

The institute said they have developed a production-line system that automatically inspects the quality of sandwich buns exiting the oven, through the use of an imaging system, which adjusts oven temperatures if it detects unacceptable buns.

According to the research team, by creating a more accurate, uniform and faster assessment process, the system is able to minimize waste and lost product.

GTRI research scientist Colin Usher said that the project began in 2007 with the need to improve quality control processes for large-volume sandwich bun producers.

He said that while the system does not allow bakers to bake buns faster, it does ensure that all of the product baked is within the colour specification.