Mealiness Detection in Agricultural Crops: Destructive and Nondestructive Tests: A Review

Abstract

Mealiness is known as an important internal quality attribute of fruits/vegetables, which has significant influence on consumer purchasing decisions. Mealiness has been a topic of research interest over the past several decades. A number of destructive and nondestructive techniques are introduced for mealiness detection. Nondestructive methods are more interesting because they are rapid, noninvasive, and suitable for real-time purposes. In this review, the concept of mealiness is presented for potato, apple, and peach, followed by an in-depth discussion about applications of destructive and nondestructive techniques developed for mealiness detection. The results suggest the potential of electromagneticbased techniques for nondestructive mealiness evaluation. Further investigations are in progress to find more appropriate nondestructive techniques as well as cost and performance.

Modification of the Sensory Profile and Volatile Aroma Compounds of Tomato Fruits by the Scion × Rootstock Interactive Effect

“…There is a lack of data on the effect of tomato grafting on flesh mealiness , as assessed by trained panels. In the literature, much attention has been given to understanding the basis and development of mealiness and many questions still need to be answered ( Crisosto and Labavitch, 2002 ; Devaux et al, 2005 ; Toivonen and Brummell, 2008 ; Arefi et al, 2015 ). Fruit mealy texture is most likely caused by cell separation instead of cell rupture ( Arefi et al, 2015 ), as indicated by the high correlation of mealiness and the number of fragments and cells produced ( Devaux et al, 2005 ).…”

“…In the literature, much attention has been given to understanding the basis and development of mealiness and many questions still need to be answered ( Crisosto and Labavitch, 2002 ; Devaux et al, 2005 ; Toivonen and Brummell, 2008 ; Arefi et al, 2015 ). Fruit mealy texture is most likely caused by cell separation instead of cell rupture ( Arefi et al, 2015 ), as indicated by the high correlation of mealiness and the number of fragments and cells produced ( Devaux et al, 2005 ). Fruit mealy texture is negatively correlated with protein and uronic acid content and positively correlated with pectin content ( Brownleader et al, 1999 ; Devaux et al, 2005 ).…”

“…Linking chemically assessed volatile compounds with tomato flavor by sensory analysis has been a subject for several studies, while consumer preference studies highlight fruit texture (excluding overall flavor) as an influencing trait for purchasing decisions ( Causse et al, 2010 ). Indeed, an integrated perception of odor and taste is distinctly linked to texture by the mechanism of tissue disruption and the mode of cellular component release, thus influencing juiciness and the overall fruit flavor ( Auerswald et al, 1999a ; Baldwin et al, 2000 ; Arefi et al, 2015 ). Quantitative descriptive analysis can provide a set of attributes describing external appearance and texture-related properties such as skin thickness, pulp firmness, mealiness and juiciness.…”

Inferring ethylene temporal and spatial distribution in an apple orchard (Malus domestica Borkh): a pilot study for optimal sampling with a gas sensor

“…Maturity indices can be obtained via destructive and nondestructive methods and take into account chemical composition (e.g., total acidity), physical properties [e.g., firmness (Zhang et al 2008)], fruit physiological changes [e.g., ethylene emission rate (Kathirvelan and Vijayaraghavan 2017)], and chronological features [e.g., days after blooming (Knee 2002)]. Destructive methods are methods which the fruits or vegetable are subject to a test that degrades, e.g., penetration, compression, the product leaving it not consumable, while non-destructive methods use remote sensing techniques, e.g., acoustic impulse response, near-infrared (Arefi et al 2015).…”

Towards real-time speckle image processing for mealiness assessment in apple fruit

“…[1] However, some drawbacks including being destructive and time-consuming limited its application for online monitoring of mealiness. To overcome these problems, non-destructive assessment of mealiness in apples has been investigated using ultrasonic [5] , nuclear magnetic resonance\magnetic resonance imaging [6,7] , near-infrared spectroscopy [8] , chlorophyll fluorescence [3,9] , hyperspectral scattering imaging [4,10] , and laser-light backscattering imaging [11] which a comprehensive review of them is given in Arefi et al [12] Currently efforts are still being continued to achieve mealiness detection systems of better performance in terms of accuracy, time, and cost.…”