Non-destructive Quality Monitoring of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

  • O. P. Chauhan Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
  • S. Lakshmi Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
  • A. K. Pandey Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
  • N. Ravi Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
  • Natarajan Gopalan Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
  • R. K. Sharma Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
Keywords: Fruits, Vegetables, Non-destructive techniques, Postharvest, Quality

Abstract

Quality determines the shelf life as well as selling price of fresh fruit or vegetable and therefore, quality monitoring and testing of fresh commodities have paramount importance in their postharvest handling and supply chain management. Most of the methods used to assess fruits and vegetables quality are destructive in nature. Now-a-days, various mechanical, optical, electromagnetic, and dynamic non-destructive methods are gaining importance due to ease in operations, faster turn over and reliability. Some of the non-destructive techniques (NDT) are currently being used in laboratories, research institutions and food packaging and processing industries, whereas, some methods are still at developmental stage. Various NDT with respect to their principle and applications such as impact test, electronic nose, time-resolved reflectance spectrometry (TSR), near infrared spectroscopy (NIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-Ray, ultra sonic, acoustic impulse response method, electrical conductivity methods etc., are discussed in this review.

Author Biographies

O. P. Chauhan, Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
Dr O.P. Chauhan received his MSc and PhD in Food Technology from GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. Presently working as Scientist E and Head Department of Fruits and Vegetables Technology at DFRL, Mysuru. Has contributed towards manuscript writing and compilation of data
S. Lakshmi, Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
Ms Lakshmi S. received her MSc (Food Science and Nutrition) from University of Mysuru. Presently working as project assistant in the Department of Fruits and Vegetables Technology at DFRL, Mysuru. Has contributed towards literature collection and manuscript preparation.
A. K. Pandey, Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
Mr A.K. Pandey received his MSc (Food Science and Technology) from BHU, Varanasi. Presently working as JRF in the Department of Fruits and Vegetables Technology at DFRL, Mysuru. Has contributed towards literature collection and manuscript preparation.
N. Ravi, Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
Mr N. Ravi received his MSc in Chemistry from Kuvempu University, Shimoga. Presently working as TO A in the Department of Fruits and Vegetables Technology at DFRL, Mysuru. Has contributed towards data collection for the manuscript
Natarajan Gopalan, Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
Dr Natarajan Gopalan received his PhD (Zoology) and PDF from OUHSC, USA. Presently working as Scientist ‘F’ at DFRL, Mysuru. He is having vast experience in vector borne diseases diagnosis and monitoring, new process preparation of large scale recombinant proteins for therapeutic and diagnosis purposes and novel therapeutic paradigms to inflammation for digestive diseases like colon and pancreatic cancers.
R. K. Sharma, Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysuru - 570 011, India
Dr R. K. Sharma received his MPharm (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) from Panjab University and PhD from University of Delhi. He is currently Director, Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore. He has made significant contributions in new drugs, novel drugs delivery systems, herbal radioprotectors, herbal biothreat mitigators and nutraceuticals.
Published
2017-05-31
How to Cite
Chauhan, O., Lakshmi, S., Pandey, A., Ravi, N., Gopalan, N., & Sharma, R. (2017). Non-destructive Quality Monitoring of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables. Defence Life Science Journal, 2(2), 103-110. https://doi.org/10.14429/dlsj.2.11379