Prediction of fruit quality based on the RGB values of time–temperature indicator

Abstract

Time–temperature indicators (TTIs) are cost‐efficient tools that may be used to predict food quality. In this paper, a diffusion TTI was used to predict fruit quality during storage. Both the color changing characters of TTI and the quality parameters, including weight loss, soluble solids content, vitamin C content, titratable acidity, and antioxidant capacity of three kinds of fruits (kiwifruit, strawberry, and mango), were investigated for storage temperatures (5, 10, 15, and 20 °C). The relationships between the color changing properties and fruit quality parameters have been built based on the activation energy (Ea). The results showed that the storage temperature and time had significant effects on the color changing of TTI and fruit quality. The RGB value of TTI decreased with time, and the higher the storage temperature, the faster the RGB value reduced. Also, the higher the storage temperature, the faster the fruit quality changed and the poorer they were. Furthermore, all of the differences of Ea between TTI color response and fruit quality change are less than 25 kJ/mol, which indicates that the TTI can be used to predict these fruit quality. Finally, prediction models were built and validated based on the RGB values of TTI. It provides the possibility for low‐cost quality monitoring and has more application potential in food quality predicting. Practical Application By monitoring the color change of diffuse time–temperature indicator (TTI) and the quality change of fruit, the feasibility of TTI for fruit quality monitoring was determined and the quality prediction model was established. The diffusion TTI and fruit quality prediction model can realize the monitoring and predicting of fruit quality based on the TTI, which provides a basis for the combination of TTI Quick Response Code and fruit quality monitoring, with a view to achieving fruit quality status by scanning the Quick Response Code of TTI with mobile phones in the future. This method may provide a new solution to monitor the fruit quality during storage and distribution based on visualization technology that can simplify the methods of detecting fruit quality and achieve fast quality detection. It provides the possibility for low‐cost quality monitoring and has more application potential in food quality predicting. Further studies on diffusion TTI are needed to develop its application in more field of food and make the diffusion TTI an intelligent mean for food quality monitoring and predicting.

A comprehensive review of intelligent packaging for fruits and vegetables: Target responders, classification, applications, and future challenges

“…The developed TTI can be appended to food packaging for non‐destructive, non‐contact indication of fruit quality variations, which is a prospective intelligent packaging for fruits and vegetables. A diffusion‐based TTI has also been applied to forecast the quality of fruits (kiwis, strawberries, and mangoes) during storage (Yang & Xu, 2021). This diffusion TTI is composed of a functional layer and an indicator layer, with the middle indicator layer's color shift indicating the impact of the surrounding temperature.…”

“…The TTI described above falls into this category, which employs real‐time monitoring systems to provide the effects of time–temperature fluctuation on food quality. For instance, a project has been successful in monitoring the quality of kiwifruit, strawberries, and mangoes during storage using the color change of a prepared diffusion‐based TTI in combination with a developed quality prediction model (Yang & Xu, 2021). Meanwhile, the project serves as a basis for integrating TTI rapid response codes with fruit quality detection in commerce, in an attempt to obtain fruit quality status through scanning.…”

Principle, development and application of time–temperature indicators for packaging

“…Among various sensors for fruits and vegetates, TTIs turns out to be very advantageous and promising. [101][102][103] So far, diffusion-based, 104 enzyme-based, 105,106 and chemical [107][108][109] TTIs have been explored…”

Informative and corrective responsive packaging: Advances in farm‐to‐fork monitoring and remediation of food quality and safety

“…For diffusion‐based TTIs, their color changes occur when the ink reaches a different layer with the temperature increasing to a specific level (Soltani Firouz et al., 2021). Yang and Xu (2021) developed a diffusion‐based TTI to monitor fruit quality based on red, green, and blue (RGB) values along the supply chain, then established and validated several prediction models. This sensor achieved accurate predictions because of the slight differences of Ea between color changes and quality parameters of fruits, such as weight loss and antioxidant capacity.…”