ABSTRACT
294Non-destructive testing (ND) is a method of evaluation of quality of a food product without damaging the material or its suitability for further use. The quality of a food product can be defined as sweetness, absence of physical damage, maturity, etc. Such qualities can be predicted in terms of various physical properties namely, size, shape, color, density, electrical properties, etc. Currently, several ND methods like ultrasonic, infrared (RI) spectrometry, x-ray, magnetic resonance, etc. have been tried at laboratory/commercial level. Each of these methods has its own flaws. To overcome such limitations, two different approaches can be adopted namely, (a) identification of new physical parameters which can correlate with the internal quality more accurately and robustly and (b) development of estimation systems involving more than one physical properties which in combination can predict one or more important internal quality of a fruit or vegetable. Two important ND’s for determination of quality of fresh fruits and vegetables have been discussed in this communication. Multi-spectral or hyper spectral image analysis can be used for characterizing size, shape, color, etc. of a fresh fruit/vegetable. Another technique is to use one or more electrical properties like capacitance, resistivity, and inductance to predict internal quality. For either of these techniques, an important aspect is analyzing the data acquired which determines the success of the ND.
