Computer vision system based on conventional imaging for non-destructively evaluating quality attributes in fresh and packaged fruit and vegetables

Quality assessment of fresh fruit and vegetables is an arduous and complex process which needs very intensive labour of correlation among sensory and subjective determinations and conventional destructive methods. Consumers' requests for fruit and vegetables with high quality in terms of appearance, nutritional value and safety have prompted industries and researchers to develop rapid, precise and low-cost techniques for food analysis. Among innovative techniques, image analysis by computer vision systems based on conventional imaging (CVS-CI) have proved to be effective and suitable for application at industrial level. This review summarizes developments on CVS-CI technology for the evaluation, along the entire distribution chain, of external defects, colour changes and internal chemical-physical attributes of fresh fruit and vegetables, with or without the presence of plastic packaging. The most interesting researches carried out during the last ten years on CVS-CI employments are reported and discussed. The description of each application points out the performances obtained, the hardware components, the image processing techniques used to extract information from the images acquired, the classification/regression models used to grade products and to estimate their quality traits. Finally, future perspectives and possible new applications of CVS-CI in postharvest field are proposed.