F-750 Produce Quality Meter Archives

Can Ethylene in Greenhouses Harm Your Crop Yield?

Vegetable growers should monitor ethylene, as it can cause stunting, defects, delayed flowering, and a significant reduction in yield. The extent of damage depends on the species, greenhouse type, temperature, ethylene concentration, exposure duration, and plant stage. Ethylene concentrations in greenhouses and indoor environments must be below 20 nmol⋅mol−1 (0.020 ppm or parts per million)… Continue reading…

What Is Titratable Acidity and Why Is It So Important in Fresh Produce?

Titratable acidity (TA) is measured as it is an indicator of quality, maturity, and taste in fresh produce. Measuring titratable acidity in the fresh produce supply chain can ensure quality, shelf-life, consistency, and consumer satisfaction. It is used to determine harvest time, quality control, sorting, grading, and regulatory compliance. Titratable acidity is a crucial intrinsic… Continue reading…

WEBINAR: Half a Million Fruit Quality Scans: What the Data Says About the Future of Freshness

Fruit quality can feel unpredictable, even when teams rely on long-standing testing methods. Over the past decade, Felix Instruments has scanned more than half a million individual fruits across crops such as avocado, mango, citrus, grape, apple, and more, building a large real-world dataset that reveals just how variable internal quality can be. In this… Continue reading…

Cherry Harvest Time: How to Know the Best Day to Pick Sweet Cherries

Sweet cherries’ harvest maturity can be estimated by chronology and physical attributes like skin color, weight, size, and firmness. Internal quality parameters like soluble solids content, titratable acidity, and taste can also be used as harvest maturity indices. Skin color is considered the best indicator for the optimum harvest maturity of cherries. Simultaneous non-destructive estimation… Continue reading…

What Is Dry Matter Content and Why It’s Crucial for Fresh Produce Quality?

Dry matter is measured on farms to monitor maturity and determine the optimal harvest time for climacteric fruits and vegetables. In the postharvest stage, dry matter is used for quality control for sorting and grading fresh produce. Dry matter determines the storage, transport, and ripening conditions to achieve optimum quality and extended shelf life. Wholesalers,… Continue reading…

How Is Non-Destructive Quality Assessment of Fresh Produce Changing the Supply Chain?

The standard quality parameters monitored are color, texture, sugar, titratable acidity, and dry matter content. Several destructive methods of estimation exist for the parameters. Near-infrared spectroscopy is currently the only non-destructive method for quality control of sugars, titrable acidity, internal color, and dry matter content. Near-infrared spectroscopy can precisely and rapidly estimate all quality parameters,… Continue reading…

Advances in Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for Root Crop Quality Detection

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is an interesting technology because it can detect quality nondestructively, rapidly, and precisely. NIR spectroscopy can correctly estimate internal quality parameters like protein, sugar, water content, starch, and anthocyanins. NIR spectroscopy helps in the early detection of potato diseases and their severity. NIR spectroscopy for root crops has been applied in laboratories,… Continue reading…

What Is the Best Blackberry Harvest Maturity Index for Quality?

Color is the chief harvest maturity index. Other appearance parameters, such as firmness, size, and weight, are also used. Chemical harvest maturity indices, especially the latter, are crucial, including total soluble solids (sugar content), titrable acidity, and taste. Blackberries for processing require different harvest maturity indices and increasingly use dry matter. Harvest maturity indices are… Continue reading…

How Does Bruise Susceptibility in Fresh Produce Impact Quality and Harvest Timing?

Bruise susceptibility varies based on the species, cultivar, and physical and physiological properties of fresh produce. The critical bruising threshold estimates the bruise susceptibility of fruits at different firmness. A critical bruising threshold has been used to develop a harvest maturity index that identifies the minimum firmness (or maximum maturity) for harvesting stone fruits. Bruising… Continue reading…

How to Determine the Right Avocado Harvest Maturity Index for Optimal Quality

Physical and chemical parameters and crop chronology are used as harvest maturity indices for avocados. Physical quality parameters, especially appearance, are commonly used worldwide. Dry matter content measured by near-infrared spectroscopy-based devices has become the industry standard maturity index. Sugar content is not a reliable avocado harvest maturity index. Avocado fruits go through four stages… Continue reading…