Basics of electronic, nondestructive technologies for the assessment of physical characteristics of foods

Abstract

Increasing awareness of quality and enhanced perspicacity of consumers are leading a strong drive for improved quality of fruits and vegetables, in both the fresh market and the food industry. In this sense, food technologists as well as agricultural engineers are interested in physical properties of food materials in order to determine how foods or fruits will handle during processing, to get an indication of the product quality, and to understand why consumers prefer certain foods or fruits. Quality of produce encompasses sensory properties, nutritive values, chemical constituents, mechanical properties, functional properties, and lack of defects, each of which has been the subject of many studies.