ABSTRACT
Quality evaluation of agricultural products has historically been primarily based on the surface appearance. In the case of fruit products the surface should be the appropriate color and free of defects, such as scars, bruises, and insect damage. However, the nutritional and sensory qualities of a fruit product are often based on the internal chemical and physical properties of the product. Good quality fruit should have the appropriate maturity, texture, chemical composition, structure, and
6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 149 6.2 Principles of Magnetic Resonance ............................................................... 150
6.2.1 Phenomena of Magnetic Resonance ................................................. 150 6.2.2 Bloch Model ...................................................................................... 151 6.2.3 Magnetic Resonance Imaging .......................................................... 155
6.3 Equipment ..................................................................................................... 158 6.4 Applications .................................................................................................. 159
6.4.1 Processing Tomato Peelability .......................................................... 162 6.4.2 Mandarin Seed Count ....................................................................... 164 6.4.3 Olive Accession Evaluation Using Relaxation Time Analysis ......... 166
6.5 Perspectives on Magnetic Resonance Sensors ............................................. 171 6.5.1 Cost-Effectiveness ............................................................................ 172 6.5.2 Performance ...................................................................................... 172 6.5.3 Parameter Optimization ................................................................... 173
References .............................................................................................................. 175
the absence of defects (e.g., bruises, browning, mold, insect damage). Measurement of the internal quality is currently performed on a subsample of the product that is destructively analyzed. This subsample approach is suboptimal because the range of individual variations within the batch yield many fruit that differ from the desired quality speci€cations. This has naturally given rise to the need to develop nondestructive methods to quantify fruit quality.
