Artificial nose can monitor fruit quality
When fruit ripens one of the most considerable changes that occur are changes in texture and development of flavours. It would be a major advantage for the future supermarket quality of fruits, if it was possible to monitor the flavour and texture of every single fruit before it is purchased by consumers. Even though this might sound unrealistic, research in ISAFRUIT has demonstrated that non-destructive methods that are fast enough to accomplish this task already exist. One of them is Near Infrared (NIR) Spectroscopy, which works by radiating fruits with light of certain wavelengths. Depending on the composition of the fruit, it will absorb the light differently and by looking at this pattern, it is possible to determine parameters such as firmness, sugar content, ripeness and the presence of diseases in the core. Another instrument with a similar potential is an artificial nose that can be used to detect fruit flavour (source: Presentation S11.044 by A. Bozzi Nising, IHC 2010 Download Abstract).
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