Recent advance in nondestructive imaging technology for detecting quality of fruits and vegetables: a review

As an integral part of daily dietary intake, the market demand for fruits and vegetables is continuously growing. However, traditional methods for assessing the quality of fruits and vegetables are prone to subjective influences, destructive to samples, and fail to comprehensively reflect internal quality, thereby resulting in various shortcomings in ensuring food safety and quality control. Over the past few decades, imaging technologies have rapidly evolved and been widely employed in nondestructive detection of fruit and vegetable quality. This paper offers a thorough overview of recent advancements in nondestructive imaging technologies for assessing the quality of fruits and vegetables, including hyperspectral imaging (HSI), fluorescence imaging (FI), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), thermal imaging (TI), terahertz imaging, X-ray imaging (XRI), ultrasonic imaging, and microwave imaging (MWI). The principles and applications of these imaging techniques in nondestructive testing are summarized. The challenges and future trends of these technologies are discussed.