This research work plays an important role in transforming current conventional methodology in fruit quality definition and evaluation into scientific and technological objectives and implementation. Conventional definition in evaluating fruit quality is based on its physical attributes such as colour, size, shape and percentage of physical defects. While the conventional practice is dominating fruit industry, the efforts to transform this conventional definition towards a more valuable and scientific interpretation has been put forth by various research groups worldwide. For every presented variable, evaluating or quantifying methodologies will be introduced and promoted by scientific societies. Similarly to fruit quality evaluation, several methodologies have been introduced, based on its physical or intrinsic definition. Despite many efforts that have been carried out in this research area, gaps still exist for the new research to take place especially in the area related to development of low cost measuring system, miniature and mobile system, online monitoring system with rapid time of measurement and high accuracy and precision measurement algorithm. Hence, this book is written particularly to explore the ability of visible and near infrared spectroscopy in quantitatively determining fruit intrinsic qualities with in-depth case studies on two prominent tropical fruits, Sala mango and B10 carambola.

Abundance of variety of fruits is produced in most parts of the tropical countries. However, facilities for effective storage of these fruit are not readily available making them appear edible on the surface but in most casesthe quality of their tissue and juice indicatesthat they are internally defective. Present procedures for assessing fruit quality are X-ray, impedance, image analysis, laser spectroscopy, sonic, ultrasonic and reflectance spectroscopy but to date no further applications are known that have takenunique advantages of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This study, applied Magnetic resonance imagingas an effective non-destructive technique to determine the internal quality of selected tropical fruits. In this thesis, two types of tropical fruits, namely oranges and banana are considered for theirinternal tissue evaluation. Collected data using MRI equipment were Fourier transformed to obtain related MR images once the K-space has been fully assembled. The MRimages of fruit obtained from proposed image processing methods were used as features to recognize their internal quality. The variances determined and features obtained were applied to the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) code developed in MATLAB using fruit MRI intensity features as inputs. The obtained results have shown that the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm (LM)with Mean Square Error (MSE) and R-value of0.0814and0.9379for Orange and 0.0693 and 0.9989 for Banana fruit respectivelyproduced the best performance fitness for the assessment of internal quality of the fruits. These support the view that a combination of ANN and MRI hasthe capability of identifying the defect as well as being able to perform better than other non-destructive techniques.

The most comprehensive resource available on the many applications of portable spectrometers, including material not found in any other published work Portable Spectroscopy and Spectrometry: Volume Two is an authoritative and up-to-date compendium of the diverse applications for portable spectrometers across numerous disciplines. Whereas Volume One focuses on the specific technologies of the portable spectrometers themselves, Volume Two explores the use of portable instruments in wide range of fields, including pharmaceutical development, clinical research, food analysis, forensic science, geology, astrobiology, cultural heritage and archaeology. Volume Two features contributions by a multidisciplinary team of experts with hands-on experience using portable instruments in their respective areas of expertise. Organized both by instrumentation type and by scientific or technical discipline, 21 detailed chapters cover various applications of portable ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), infrared and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, Raman and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, smartphone spectroscopy, and many others. Filling a significant gap in literature on the subject, the second volume of Portable Spectroscopy and Spectrometry: Features a significant amount of content published for the first time, or not available in existing literature Brings together work by authors with assorted backgrounds and fields of study Discusses the central role of applications in portable instrument development Covers the algorithms, calibrations, and libraries that are of critical importance to successful applications of portable instruments Includes chapters on portable spectroscopy applications in areas such as the military, agriculture and feed, hazardous materials (HazMat), art conservation, and environmental science Portable Spectroscopy and Spectrometry: Volume Two is an indispensable resource for developers of portable instruments in universities, research institutes, instrument companies, civilian and government purchasers, trainers, operators of portable instruments, and educators and students in portable spectroscopy courses.

Tropical and sub-tropical fruits have gained significant importance in global commerce. This book examines recent developments in the area of fruit technology including: postharvest physiology and storage; novel processing technologies applied to fruits; and in-depth coverage on processing, packaging, and nutritional quality of tropical and sub-tropical fruits. This contemporary handbook uniquely presents current knowledge and practices in the value chain of tropical and subtropical fruits world-wide, covering production and post-harvest practices, innovative processing technologies, packaging, and quality management. Chapters are devoted to each major and minor tropical fruit (mango, pineapple, banana, papaya, date, guava, passion fruit, lychee, coconut, logan, carombola) and each citrus and non-citrus sub-tropical fruit (orange, grapefruit, lemon/lime, mandarin/tangerine, melons, avocado, kiwifruit, pomegranate, olive, fig, cherimoya, jackfruit, mangosteen). Topical coverage for each fruit is extensive, including: current storage and shipping practices; shelf life extension and quality; microbial issues and food safety aspects of fresh-cut products; processing operations such as grading, cleaning, size-reduction, blanching, filling, canning, freezing, and drying; and effects of processing on nutrients and bioavailability. With chapters compiled from experts worldwide, this book is an essential reference for all professionals in the fruit industry.

Tropical Fruit Processing focuses on the improved food preservations methods of tropical fruits for lesser developed and developed countries. This book covers four tropical fruits, namely, guava, mango, papaya, and passion fruit. These fruits have the greatest growth potential based on the knowledge and technology acquired in their cultivation, processing, and preservation. Each chapter in this book discusses the botany, cultivars, horticulture, harvesting, handling, storage, composition, packing, and processing of the fruit. A variety of processed products from these fruits, such as jellies, jams, preserves, purees, sauces, and juices, are also covered. Furthermore, this book describes various food preservation methods including dehydration, concentration, and canning. This book is an invaluable resource for scientists, technologists, manufacturers, students, and others concerned with cultivating, processing, manufacturing, research, development, or marketing of foods.

Agri-product such as grains, fruits and vegetables play a very important role in people's daily life. The agri-product quality directly affects human life and health. Agri-product quality refers to the quality characteristics acceptable to consumers, which mainly includes external factors such as size, shape, color, defect and texture, and internal factors such as physical properties, chemical composition and tissue diseases. Generally speaking, variety, climate, soil, cultivation techniques, diseases and pests are all factors that affect the agri-product quality. Traditional methods for agri-product quality evaluation are time-consuming, complex, and expensive. With the continuous development of modern science and technology, rapid and nondestructive detection technologies are applied to evaluate the quality of agri-product. These technologies could obtain the optical, acoustics and electrical properties of a specific substance and then reveal the appearance and internal quality of the agri-product. Furthermore, the trend today is that consumers have become more exigent for information about the products they purchase, which makes the nondestructive detection technology has more important application value in the field of agri-product quality evaluation.