Quality measurement of fruits and vegetables

To investigate and control quality, one must be able to measure quality-related attributes. Quality of produce encompasses sensory attributes, nutritive values, chemical constituents, mechanical properties, functional properties and defects. Instrumental measurements are often preferred to sensory evaluations in research and commercial situations because they reduce variations in judgment among individuals and can provide a common language among researchers, industry and consumers. Essentially, electromagnetic (often optical) properties relate to appearance, mechanical properties to texture, and chemical properties to flavor (taste and aroma). Instruments can approximate human judgments by imitating the way people test the product or by measuring fundamental properties and combining those mathematically to categorize the quality. Only people can judge quality, but instruments that measure quality-related attributes are vital for research and for inspection. © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.