Optical Monitoring of Fresh and Processed Agricultural Crops. Contemporary Food Engineering. (Electronic book text)

This work offers a deeper insight into advances in non-invasive sensory technology. In an age of heightened nutritional awareness, assuring healthy human nutrition and improving the economic success of food producers are top priorities for agricultural economies. In the context of these global changes, new innovative technologies are necessary for appropriate agro-food management from harvest and storage, to marketing and consumer consumption. "Optical Monitoring of Fresh and Processed Agricultural Crops" takes a task-oriented approach, providing essential applications for a better understanding of non-invasive sensory tools used for raw, processed, and stored agricultural crops. This authoritative volume presents interdisciplinary optical methods technologies feasible for in-situ analyses, such as: vision systems; VIS/NIR spectroscopy; hyperspectral camera systems; scattering; time and spatial-resolved approaches; fluorescence; and, sensorfusion.This work is written by an internationally recognized team of experts. Using a framework of new approaches, this text illustrates how cutting-edge sensor tools can perform rapid and non-destructive analysis of biochemical, physical, and physiological properties, such as maturity stage, nutritional value, and neoformed compounds appearing during processing. These are critical components to maximizing nutritional quality and safety of fruits and vegetables and decreasing economic losses due to produce decay. Quality control systems are quickly gaining a foothold in food manufacturing facilities, making "Optical Monitoring of Fresh and Processed Agricultural Crops" a valuable resource for agricultural technicians and developers working to maintain nutritional product value and approaching a fine-tuned control process in the crop supply chain.