Assessment of fresh fruit and vegetable quality with non-destructive methods

Abstract

It has been estimated that more than 30% of agricultural and food products are wasted in preharvest and postharvest stages. But these losses are avoidable with proper evaluation of harvesting period, maturity, and quality parameters during shelf life. Recent efforts have focused on employing non-destructive methods for the evaluation of the quality parameters of fruits and vegetables. These methods are classified into three groups—vision-based, spectroscopic, and mechanical methods—that involve hyperspectral and multispectral imaging techniques, visible near infrared (vis/NIR) spectroscopy, near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging (NMR, MRI) spectroscopy, X-ray computed or micro-computed tomography, chlorophyll fluorescence, terahertz radiation (T-Ray), and acoustic and ultrasonic impulses and vibrations. Non-destructive methods are not only applicable for the determination of internal quality, but also for the determination of the maturity, decay, contamination, or the classification of fruits and vegetables. In this chapter, fruit and vegetable preharvest and postharvest quality assessment with non-destructive techniques are summarized.