Abstract: The invention provides an ultrasonic method of inspecting contents (fluid food, for instance) of a package by disposing an ultrasonic transmitter-receiver system on at least one side of the package and evaluating the occurrence or degree of degradation of the contents on the basis of output data from the system. The invention also provides an ultrasonic apparatus for inspecting contents of a package which comprises a shaking device for feeding and shaking the package, an ultrasonic device disposed independently and downstream of the shaking device, and a guide device for feeding the package downstream of the shaking device to the ultrasonic device and further downstream.

Abstract: There is disclosed an apparatus and method for inspecting the contents, such as food, of a package, particularly a light-opaque package, for degradation or the degree of degradation by means of ultra-soft X-rays. The inspection apparatus generally comprises a shaking unit for shaking the package and a main inspecting unit disposed downstream and independently of the shaking unit. The assessment of degradation of the degree of degradation can be made according to the state of dispersion, after shaking, of the package head space in the X-ray image information. The method and apparatus eliminate losses arising from destructive inspection.