The Use of Non-destructive Methods to Analyse Fruit Quality

This article is divided into three parts. The first part, the most important one, deals with spectroscopic methods. Different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum are useful for fruit quality characterisation, in particular the visible and near-infrared regions. Concerning the visible one, studies have been carried out on apple, apricot, cherry, mango, peach, red table grape and tomato, when the near-infrared one has been used on apple, apricot, bayberry, citrus, kiwi, lemon, mango, peach, pear, red bell pepper and tomato. Results of other spectroscopic methods such as time-domain reflectance spectroscopy, multiand hyperspectral imaging, fluorescence, nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging were obtained on apple, grape berry, kiwifruit, mandarin, olive, papaya, peach, pear, plum and tomato. The second part concerns the studies of mechanical properties based on impact, acoustic and ultrasonic responses, which were developed and tested on apple, avocado, peach, pear, plum, tomato and watermelon. The third part presents the analysis of volatile compounds using the principle of electronic nose applied on apple, mandarin, peach, pear and tomato. According to the researched fruit quality traits, the adequate methods will be different for the assessment of colour, firmness, soluble solids or volatiles or for the detection of internal defects like brown heart. However, methods are developed to improve the fruit management and thus the general fruit quality for consumers. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________