Journal of Food Engineering 61 (2004) 471475

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Research note

Determination of acceptable rmness and colour values of tomatoes

Ali Batu

Department of Food Engineering, Agriculture Faculty, Gaziosmanpasa University, 60240 Tokat, Turkey
Received 21 January 2003; accepted 21 April 2003

Abstract
Firmness and colour are the most important factors for determination of tomato quality. Two possible minimum rmness limits
were suggested for tomato fruits at the point of retail marketing and at home. All 100% marketable fruits should have rmness
values above 1.45 N mm
1 but the Instron values of the tomato at the home use stage should have values higher than 1.28 N mm
1 .
Minolta a =b values were less variable for mature green and breaker stages of tomatoes. Separation values between the turning and
pink stages were found to be over 0.08 Minolta a =b value. For the light red stage that is commonly marketable this was between
0.60 and 0.95. The red stage is a little overripe for normal maturity and its Minolta a =b values were found to be from 0.95 to 1.21.
2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Colour; Firmness; Lycopersicon esculentum; Tomato; USDA colour

1. Introduction
For fresh tomatoes, the two quality attributes that are
most important to buyers and consumers are texture
and skin colour (Tijskens & Evelo, 1994). Texture is
inuenced by esh rmness and skin strength (Kader,
Morris, & Chen, 1978). Softening during storage, distribution and ripening of tomatoes can be a major
problem because it may increase their susceptibility to
damage. The degree of fruit rmness has been used as an
indication of fruit quality (Burton, 1982), and rmness
may be the nal index by which the consumers decide to
purchase a given batch of tomatoes (Gormley & Egan,
1978).
There is increasing consumer concern about the eating quality of tomatoes. After harvest, ripening continues and tomatoes can become overripe very rapidly.
This can result in loss of quality and restricted shelf life
(Geeson, Browne, Maddison, Shepherd, & Guarald,
1985). The textural quality of tomatoes is inuenced by
esh rmness. Changes in rmness were highly correlated with surface appearance characteristics of tomatoes (Yang & Chinnan, 1988) which was related to

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E-mail address: abatu@gop.edu.tr (A. Batu).

0260-8774/$ - see front matter 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0260-8774(03)00141-9

colour, shape and sense of feel for rmness at the time of

purchasing.
A number of works have been published on tomato
fruit rmness measurements, and dierent instruments
for measuring rmness has been illustrated (Batu, 1998).
Satisfactory information was not found on whether the
measured rmness values of tomatoes were within the
acceptable levels or not for consumers. Tomato colour is
another important quality factor for the consumer. It
can be commonly determined instrumentally because it
gives more accurate information than other methods
(Bakker, Bridle, & Timberlake, 1986). The most common instrument used is a colour dierence meter and a
model of the Minolta Chroma Meter (Anon, 1993).
There is some contradictory information about the results of colour and rmness measurements in the literature and no satisfactory information on whether
rmness or colour values of tomatoes are within the
acceptable levels required by consumers.
The main objectives of this study were rstly to determine the minimum acceptable rmness values of tomato fruits of cultivars, Liberto and Criterium at the
time of picking and after storage, by evaluating objective tomato rmness and to relate these objective measurements to a subjective rating scale based on nger
feel rmness. A second objective was to determine the
Minolta a =b values of marketable tomatoes based on
USDA colour classication.

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A. Batu / Journal of Food Engineering 61 (2004) 471475

2. Material and methods

2.1. Plant materials
Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) were obtained from the greenhouse of the Silsoe Research Institute (UK). In the study, freshly harvested tomatoes
(cv Liberto and Criterium) at either the light red or red
stage of maturity were used. Fruit diameters were 5055
mm.

found that had the same nger feel rmness. According

to Meilgaard, Civille, and Carr (1999) nine from 15
panellists concluding that two tomatoes were dierent
gave a condence level at the 5% level of signicance.
The panel members were also asked to give a score between 0 and 100 for the level of either acceptability or
slicability in addition to the score for nger feel rmness
and softness. On this subjective basis only A, B and C
scoring tomatoes were considered acceptable for marketing. Those ve dierent acceptability levels (by nger
feel) are given in Table 1.

2.2. Classication of tomatoes as their rmness level

2.3. USDA colour classication
Forty fruits were separated into the ve rmness
classes by nger feel as A, B, C, D and E. Categorisation was tested using a triangle test method. For
triangle evaluation, three coded tomatoes were oered
to each of the 15 panellists who were asked to identify
two tomatoes that were identical to each other according to their nger feel rmness. A minimum of nine of
the 15 panellists decided that those two of three tomatoes were identical to each from such a nger feel test.
This selection was carried out 10 times for each acceptability levels of tomatoes until 20 tomatoes were

Since colour is an indicator of tomato ripeness, several subjective rating scales and colour charts have been
developed for classifying the stage of tomato ripeness.
Those included the US standards shown in Table 2.
Objective methods of colour evaluation include high
reectance measurement and light transmittance techniques. Determination of pigment content can also be
used to indicate tomato colour changes. In order to
dierentiate between these groups the triangle test
methods mentioned above were used.

Table 1
Sensory scores and description of ve dierent nger feel rmness of tomatoes
Code

OA

AS

SS

FS

SOS

Description

100

97100

100

100

80

92100

98100

97100

010

60

6085

90100

8090

020

40

2540

2040

3550

1535

20

1530

020

1030

3050

Just picked at the light red stage of maturity, very fresh and
rm, easily marketable
Picked at the light red maturation stage and stored for 23
days at 20 C at 68% RH, but they remained very rm and
there was no indication of softness by the nger touching test.
Easily marketable
Stored tomatoes, although they were slightly soft their rmness
was good enough for making salads and slicing. These are still
marketable
Stored tomatoes. They were softer than C acceptability level
and not good enough for making salads but could be used for
cooking or production of tomato paste. They have poor
market quality and are more overripe fruit
Overripe tomatoes. They were very soft and softer than D
acceptability level. They could be used for just cooking or
producing of tomato paste, and have very poor market quality

OA: overall acceptability (%), AS: acceptability level score, SS: slicability score, FS: rmness score, SOS: softness scores.

Table 2
USDA ripening classes of tomatoes (Grierson & Kader, 1986; USDA, 1976)
Colour stages

Class

Descriptiona

1
2
3
4
5
6

Mature green
Breaker
Turning
Pink
Light-red
Red

Entirely light-to dark-green, but mature

First appearance of external pink, red or greenish-yellow colour; not more than 10%
Over 10% but not more than 30% red, pink or orange-yellow
Over 30% but not more than 60% pinkish or red
Over 60% but not more than 90% red
Over 90% red; desirable table ripeness

All percentages refer to both colour distribution and intensity.

A. Batu / Journal of Food Engineering 61 (2004) 471475

2.4. Measurement of Minolta (a =b ) colour values

Skin colour values were measured using a Minolta
Chromometer Model CR 200 and average readings at
three pre-determined points on the circumference of the
fruits were recorded. The instrument was calibrated
against a standard white colour Plate (Y 93:9, x
0:313, y 0:321) (Anon, 1993). In a Minolta chromometer the a value corresponds to the degree of redness whereas the b value represents yellowness. In this
research redness values of tomatoes were recorded as
a =b values due to the convention of recording tomatoes
redness values as a=b in the Hunter system for many
years (Weatheral & Lee, 1991; Yang & Chinnan, 1988).
2.5. Firmness measurement
The relationship between subjective rmness values
which are very important for marketing, and objective
rmness evaluation (acceptability levels or nger feel
rmness) of tomatoes was investigated. The minimum
acceptable rmness values and/or marketability levels of
tomatoes were determined by using a force/deformation
test. A destructive deformation test was used by recorded
force and deformation values from force/deformation curve to determine the minimum levels of acceptable rmness of tomatoes. This test was carried out
(Batu & Thompson, 1993) by applying a ;constant 50 N
weight using an Instron Universal Testing Machine,
model 1122. In the rmness measurements a 6 mm diameter round stainless steel probe with a at end was
used and cross-head and chart speed were 20 mm min
1 .
The force (N) required to penetrate through the skin to
the tomato esh, and the deformation (mm) values

473

during penetrations were recorded. Deformation was

the distance (mm) travelled by the probe from rst
contact with the tomato skin to the bioyield point.
Firmness (N mm
1 ) was dened as the average slope of
the force/deformation curve (Adegoroye, Jollie, &
Tung, 1989).
2.6. Statistical analysis
For statistical analysis a mean of three measurements
was taken. These data were subject to analyses of variance using a Genstat statistical package. Treatment effects reported were signicant according to an F test.
Data for the dierent experiments were analysed separately. Signicant dierences between the treatments
were detected using least signicant dierences at
p < 0:05 (Steal & Torrie, 1987).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Minimum acceptable rmness levels
Maturation caused a slight softening in tomato when
compared with less mature tomato fruits. Sealed packaging of tomatoes within various lms at either 13 or
20 C delayed overripening for 60 days MAP storage. It
was indicated that they still were very rm and they had
a good nger feel rmness for marketing. After 60 days
of storage their rmness values were acceptable and
were over 1.31 N mm
1 (Batu & Thompson, 1993).
Signicant dierences in rmness values were observed for acceptability levels of both varieties of tomatoes. As shown in Fig. 1 rmness values of tomatoes

For Liberto, 1.45 Nmm-1: very firm, 1.28 Nmm-1: slightly soft but good enough for making salad
For Criterium, 1.46 Nmm-1: very firm, 1.22 Nmm-1: slightly soft but good enough for making salad
Fig. 1. The relationship between measured rmness values and subjective market acceptability levels of tomatoes. The vertical lines represent
maximum and minimum values.

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A. Batu / Journal of Food Engineering 61 (2004) 471475

were accompanied by decreasing acceptability levels

from A (freshly harvested) to E (overripe). Firmness
values of both varieties decreased with decreasing acceptability level. This reduction was between A and D
acceptability level for Liberto while between A and
C acceptability levels for Criterium. In both varieties,
there was a higher variation between maximum and
minimum rmness values at A and B acceptability
levels. Those variation levels were smaller in the acceptability C, D and E levels. The variation between
minimum and maximum values of fruits which had A
and B acceptability levels (very rm) is slightly higher
than the variations of other acceptability levels. This
variation might be due to some diculty in categorisation, especially of fruits which had A and B acceptability levels. All fruits were very rm when touched by
hand. It is very dicult to determine the texture of the
inner structure of the fruits by hand but it is possible to
determine the rmness of the fruits by very sensitive
machines. The Instron machine gives accurate values
which were varied, but all of the fruits were very rm.
Categorisation was easier for softer (C, D and E)
fruits by touch.
On the basis of objective rmness evaluation it was
found that the minimum acceptable levels or marketability scores of tomato rmness at which an individual
tomato fruit could be acceptable for sale at retail level is
about 1.45 and 1.46 N mm
1 for Liberto and Criterium varieties of tomatoes respectively. However, the
rmness values of the tomatoes generally used at home
is about 1.28 and 1.22 N mm
1 , for tomatoes that had
60% (C) acceptability score for the Liberto and Criterium varieties, respectively. Those tomatoes could be
also marketable even in supermarkets and they were
capable to being sliced easily. If the rmness values of
tomatoes are below 1.22 or 1.28 N mm
1 , they are very
dicult to sell in the supermarket and very dicult to
slice or to use them for making salads. If the rmness
values of tomatoes are higher than 1.28 N mm
1
(slightly soft) they could be used for making salads especially if their rmness is above 1.46 N mm
1 (very
rm). Such tomatoes are easily marketable at the supermarket (Batu, 1995).

values still were not determined. In this experiment, the

USDA colour classication was used and Minolta colour values were determined. The Minolta a =b values
of the tomatoes correspond to the six USDA colour
stages which are used for estimation of the colour values.
Minolta colour a =b values increased with increasing
USDA colour stages (Fig. 2). Minolta a =b values were
less variable for mature green tomatoes and were found
to be between )0.59 and )0.47. The values at the
breaker stages of tomatoes were also negative ()) and
were between )0.47 and )0.27. Separation values between the turning and pink stages were found to be 0.08.
The light red stage is the one that is commonly marketed. It was found that at this stage the Minolta a =b
values ranged from 0.60 to 0.95. The red stage of USDA
tomato colour is a little more overripe for normal maturity. Tomatoes which reached the red colour stage
might have had a long overall storage time or might
have stayed on the vine too long. The Minolta colour
values at the red stage had a Minolta a =b range from
0.95 to 1.21 (Fig. 2).
Variation in colour readings between maximum and
minimum values increased during ripening of tomatoes
and is most variable at the pink stage of maturity. This
is because of colour instability at this stage of maturity.
The colour was not completely pink at the pink stage of
maturity whereas tomatoes were predominantly green in
colour at green and breaker stages and predominantly
red in colour at the light red and red stages. It is very
dicult to say this for the pink stage. There is some
interpretation dierence between scientists; Grierson
and Kader (1986), and Yang and Chinnan (1988) dene
this stage as pink whereas Hobson and Davies (1971)
and Gould (1983) call it orange. The colour development rate of tomatoes increased with increasing maturation (Batu, 1995).

3.2. Minolta (a =b ) colour values

The a value is good parameter for red colour development and the degree of ripening in tomato while
the b parameter shows yellow discolouration (Artes,
Conesa, Harnendez, & Gil, 1999). The Minolta colour
changes of tomatoes recorded are normally as a =b
(Hobson, Adams, & Dixon, 1983; Tijskens & Evelo,
1994). Fruit colour is the one of the quality factor of
fresh tomatoes for consumers preference. Classication
of colour and ripening stages have been done for years
in many developed countries but their Minolta colour

Fig. 2. Mean of the Minolta colour (a =b ) values of tomatoes at

USDA stages (vertical lines represent maximum and minimum values).

A. Batu / Journal of Food Engineering 61 (2004) 471475

4. Conclusion
If the rmness values of tomatoes are above 1.28
N mm
1 they are suitable for making salad and even for
marketing. If the rmness value is above 1.46 N mm
1
those tomatoes are denitely very rm and easily marketable in the supermarket. When tomatoes reached the
pink or turning stage of maturity Minolta a =b values
changes from negative ()) to positive values. When
Minolta a =b values of tomatoes reached 0.60.95, they
can be marketed very easily.

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