Internal characteristics visualization of fresh agricultural products using traditional and ultrafast electron beam x-ray Computed Tomography (CT) imaging

Fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts represent a large, highly important, and growing industry. Nonetheless, little is known about their in vivo characterization and morphology, the effect of mechanical harvesting, peelability, postharvest mold, physiological decay, and internal quality. Currently, destructive techniques can be employed to evaluate samples for internal product attributes. However, clearly not all produce can be evaluated. Thus, there is a need to develop a nondestructive technique able to assess fresh agricultural commodity internal components, especially disorders. In this study, medical grade computed tomography (CT) was used to obtain transversal two-dimensional (2D) images from several fresh agricultural product phenomena. Phenomena included the internal decay of chestnuts (Castanea spp.), internal defects in pickling cucumbers (Cucumis sativus), translucency disorder in pineapples (Ananas comosus), pit presence in sweet (Prunus avium) and tart cherries (Prunus cerasus var. Montmorency), and plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar) infestation of tart cherries. In addition, ultrafast limited-angle-type x-ray CT scanner was also used to visualize internal characteristics of fresh chestnuts. The 2D CT x-ray images and postprocessing threedimensional CT image reconstruction indicate that CT can be used as an accurate in vivo insight of fresh intact agricultural products. Results suggest potential for nondestructive in-line sorting of the internal quality of several agricultural products. The long-term objective is that the fresh product industry will then be able to detect internal quality attributes of fresh agricultural commodities, at a relatively early stage, after validation under commercial conditions.