Synchrotron-based non-destructive diffraction-enhanced imaging systems to image walnut at 20 keV Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization

Synchrotron-based planar diffraction-enhanced imaging system (Sy-DEI) and the combined system in tomography mode (Sy-DEI-CT) has been used to acquire the images of the walnut at 20 keV. Sy-DEI and Sy-DEICT systems utilize the refraction properties of the X-rays, when X-rays traversing the sample. These are identified as phase-sensitive X-ray imaging systems, which uses the phase shift rather than the absorption contrast as the imaging signal and substantially increase the image contrast. Walnut seeds are high density source of nutrients, particularly proteins and essential fatty acids. Recently, scientific evidence shows that, it offers health benefits, when used as a source of food material. Knowing the internal features by non-destructive methods are useful compared to conventional methods. Systems based on refraction properties are reliable for contrast enhancement and visibility. At 20 keV, the changes in the hard part and certain features of internal parts are clearly visible.