Combating JPEG bloat with Image Events?

I am re-sizing numerous TIFF files, and creating compressed JPEG’s from them. Unfortunatly, I run across certain images that seem to have 2 or 3 MB of extra “bloat”. I’m not sure if this is a color profile or EXIF data or what. Is it possible to strip all un-necessary data out of the image when using Image Events?

The pertinent part of my script is:

               if width > maxSize or height > maxSize then
                   scale imageFile to size maxSize
               end if
               save imageFile as JPEG in saveFolder

The whole script:

set inputFolder to quoted form of POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Select folder which contains the art file(s)" without invisibles)
set theFiles to paragraphs of (do shell script "mdfind -onlyin " & inputFolder & " 'kMDItemContentType = \"public.tiff\"'")
runConversion(theFiles)

on runConversion(theItems)
   set saveFolder to choose folder with prompt "Save resized pictures where?" without multiple selections allowed and invisibles
   tell application "Image Events"
       launch
       set maxSize to 1200
       if (count items of theItems) is greater than 0 then
           repeat with anItem in theItems
               set imageFile to (open POSIX file (contents of anItem) as alias)
               set {width, height} to dimensions of imageFile
               if width > maxSize or height > maxSize then
                   scale imageFile to size maxSize
               end if
               save imageFile as JPEG in saveFolder
               close imageFile
           end repeat
       else
           display dialog "Nothing to convert."
       end if
       quit
   end tell
end runConversion

Model: MacBook Pro
AppleScript: 1.10.7
Browser: Firefox 2.0.0.3
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

I found that the embedded color profiles in each image were sometimes up to 5MB in size! This made what should have been a 64KB thumbnail into a 5MB+ file.

The newest version of my script removes the color profiles, and seems to be working well:

-- clear out and re-create our temporary directory structure
do shell script "rm -R -f /Users/Shared/Image_Import"
do shell script "mkdir /Users/Shared/Image_Import"
do shell script "mkdir /Users/Shared/Image_Import/big"
do shell script "mkdir /Users/Shared/Image_Import/thumbs"

set inputFolder to quoted form of POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Select folder which contains the art file(s)" without invisibles)

-- this section allows me to store the cd/dvd/folder path in a FileMaker database for reference
-- just remove this section if not using FileMaker
tell application "FileMaker Pro"
	set contents of cell "g_import_path" of ¬
		current record of layout "Tools_Image Import_detail" to inputFolder
end tell

-- process the images and thumbnails
set theFiles to paragraphs of (do shell script "find " & inputFolder & " | grep .tif")
runConversion(theFiles)

on runConversion(theItems)
	set bigFolder to POSIX path of ("/Users/Shared/Image_Import/big")
	set thumbFolder to POSIX path of ("/Users/Shared/Image_Import/thumbs")
	tell application "Image Events"
		launch
		set maxSize to 1200
		set thumbSize to 300
		if (count items of theItems) is greater than 0 then
			repeat with anItem in theItems
				set imageFile to (open POSIX file (contents of anItem) as alias)
				set {width, height} to dimensions of imageFile
				if width > maxSize or height > maxSize then
					scale imageFile to size maxSize
				end if
				save imageFile as JPEG in bigFolder
				if width > thumbSize or height > thumbSize then
					scale imageFile to size thumbSize
				end if
				save imageFile as JPEG in thumbFolder
			end repeat
		else
			display dialog "Nothing to convert."
		end if
		quit
	end tell
	-- remove profiles from images (they sometimes add 5MB!)
	do shell script "sips --deleteProperty profile " & POSIX path of bigFolder & "/*.jpg"
	-- remove profiles from thumbnails (they sometimes add 5MB!)
	do shell script "sips --deleteProperty profile " & POSIX path of thumbFolder & "/*.jpg"
end runConversion