A Computer Vision System for the Assessment of Ice Cream Melting Behavior

Melting behavior is one of the most important quality indices of ice cream. It is usually evaluated by gravimetric methods and expressed in terms of starting time and rate of melting. However, the aspect of ice cream during melting is also important because shape retention is linked to a good structure of the product. The protocol proposed here illustrates a computer vision system (CVS) that can be used to support the already existing gravitational methodology to calculate two new melting indices related to shape retention and melting rate. Pictures of ice cream during melting are taken every 15 min for a total of 90 min. Afterward, digital images are elaborated using a purposely developed image processing method to calculate ice cream area, height, and width. The ratio between height and width at each melting time, referred to the ratio at time 0 (Rt/R0), is an index of the shape retention of ice cream, while the area at the different melting times referred to the area at time 0 (At/A0) is related to the melting rate. This computer vision system allows the obtaining of highly sensitive and reliable results, and it can be applied not only to ice cream but also to different food matrices, such as whipped milk cream or egg albumen.