Hyperspectral Imaging and Deep Learning for Quality and Safety Inspection of Fruits and Vegetables: A Review

Quality inspection of fruits and vegetables linked to food safety monitoring and quality control. Traditional chemical analysis and physical measurement techniques are reliable, they are also time-consuming, costly, and susceptible to environmental and sample changes. Hyperspectral imaging technology combined with deep learning methods can effectively overcome these problems. Compared with human evaluation, automated inspection improves inspection efficiency, reduces subjective error, and promotes the intelligent and precise fruit and vegetable quality inspection. This paper reviews reports on the application of hyperspectral imaging technology combined to deep learning methods in various aspects of fruits and vegetables quality assessment. In addition, the latest applications of these technologies in the fields of fruit and vegetable safety, internal quality, and external quality inspection are reviewed, and the challenges and future development directions of hyperspectral imaging technology combined with deep learning in this field are prospected. Hyperspectral imaging combined with deep learning has shown significant advantages in fruit and vegetable quality inspection, especially in improving inspection accuracy and efficiency. Future research should focus on reducing costs, optimizing equipment, personalizing feature extraction, and model generalizability. In addition, the development of lightweight models and the balance of accuracy, the enhancement of the database and the importance of quantitative research should also be brought to attention. These efforts will promote the wide application of hyperspectral imaging technology in fruit and vegetable inspection, improve its practicability in the actual production environment, and bring important progress for food safety and quality management.