Assessment of enzymatic browning in blanched potato slices using combined hyperspectral imaging and hyperspectral...

Inadequate blanching in fresh-cut potatoes causes browning during storage, but it cannot be detected immediately post-processing. Moreover, browning patterns during storage vary with blanching conditions. Therefore, predictive models based on hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and hyperspectral microscopy imaging (HMI) were developed to investigate blanching-dependent alterations in polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and total phenolic content (R_p ² = 0.71-0.87). HSI visualization maps showed a spatial concordance between regions exhibiting high residual PPO and storage-induced browning. HMI maps revealed mild and extensive browning in untreated samples due to an intact cellular structure delaying PPO-phenolic compound interactions, and strong but localized browning in insufficiently blanched samples due to partial cell disruption, which facilitated enzyme-substrate interactions. Contrastingly, sufficiently blanched samples did not exhibit browning due to PPO inactivation. These results suggest that HSI and HMI integration can function as a monitoring tool for early detection of browning and improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms.