Noninvasive, Nondestructive Measurement of Tomato Concentrate Spoilage in Large-Volume Aseptic Packages

Low frequency nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is used to noninvasively and nondestructively detect spoiled tomato concentrate stored in >200 L metal-lined containers. It is shown that longitudinal and transverse NMR relaxation times change as the tomato concentrate spoils. A rapid, viscosity-dependent spoilage detection method that takes advantage of the inherent inhomogeneity in single-sided NMR instruments is proposed. Here, the effective transverse magnetization decay rate is used as a parameter to determine tomato concentrate spoilage. Three different low frequency, single-sided NMR instruments are described and compared to determine the optimum sensor for spoiled tomato concentrate detection in large-format, metal-lined, aseptic containers. The most effective NMR sensor for this application is temperature stable and has large magnetic field gradients and a homogeneous magnetic field region offset >0.5 cm from the magnet surface. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This manuscript describes a noninvasive and nondestructive tomato concentrate spoilage detector for application to large-format, sealed, commercial storage bins.