Our cereal quality research programme aims to develop greater understanding of the underlying factors determining and affecting cereal quality using conventional cereal quality analysis techniques. In addition, non-destructive techniques such as X-ray microcomputed tomography are applied to characterise the microstructure of cereal grains as well as the bubble structure of doughs and baked products. Technology for automated grading of cereals for rapid defect detection is investigated.

Vibrational spectroscopy (i.e. conventional near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as well as NIR hyperspectral imaging in conjunction with chemometrics techniques are used for quantitative, qualitative and authentication studies. Advanced image analyses are applied to study spatially resolved hyperspectral images (chemical maps) of food and agricultural products. The Vibrational Spectroscopy Unit of the Central Analytical Facility (CAF) of Stellenbosch University is housed in the Department of Food Science.