Innovative non-destructive

technologies for quality monitoring of

pineapples: Recent advances and
applications
Maimunah Mohd Ali; Norhashila Hashim; Siti Khairani Bejo et al.

2023

We summarise relevant projects and activities on New Approach

Methodologies coordinated by the European Food Safety Authority,
which is the agency of the European Union that contributes to the
safety of the European food and feed chain

Abstract
Pineapples are important tropical fruits which serve as a vital source of minerals and have
excellent nutritional composition. The quality evaluation of pineapple is an important factor
in consumer preference, postharvest handling, and the commercial value of the fruit. In this
review, the external and internal quality attributes of pineapples are presented. This review
also discusses the application of chemometrics and data mining which have been used to
evaluate the quality attributes of pineapples. In this sense, non-destructive technologies
have gained interest to ensure fruit quality evaluation since it offers a safer and more
reliable way that is cost-effective without damaging the fruit. Special attention is focused on
the emerging non-destructive technologies along with a comprehensive review of the
applications of these technologies. Spectroscopy-based, computer vision, imaging-based,
acoustic, ultrasound, and instrument-based sensing technologies are innovative non-
destructive technologies that can be used as promising alternatives to the conventional
method to effectively monitor the quality of pineapples. The challenges and future trends in
the quality evaluation of pineapples using non-destructive technologies have been
addressed.

Study subjects
5 studies

Four databases were searched and 55 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in
a qualitative synthesis. Most of the studies examined the impact of sourdough products
on the satiety cascade parameters, of which five studies reported higher satiety or
lower hunger after sourdough products consumption. Two examined ad-libitum energy
intake founding either no effect or lower energy intake

Scholarcy Synopsis
Non-destructive technologies have gained interest to ensure fruit
quality evaluation.
This review also discusses the application of chemometrics and data
mining which have been used to evaluate the quality attributes of
pineapple.

In ‘Innovative non-destructive technologies for quality monitoring of pineapples’, a research

group led by Maimunah Ali from the Universiti Putra Malaysia (2023) noted that pineapples
are important tropical fruits which serve as a vital source of minerals and have excellent
nutritional composition.
Quality evaluation of pineapple is an important factor in consumer preference, postharvest
handling, and the commercial value of the fruit.
Non-destructive technologies for evaluating pineapple quality are gaining popularity
because they offer various advantages including high efficiency.
Pineapple is a perennial monocotyledonous plant in the Bromeliaceae family.
Non-destructive technologies have gained interest to ensure fruit quality evaluation since it
offers a safer and more reliable way.

The researchers evaluated 5 studies.

They contend that there are limited studies assessing the effectiveness of UV-LED on
products to enhance food safety.
More attention should be paid to the underlying mechanism of quality changes induced by
UV- LEDs.
UV- LEDs can negatively affect some physicochemical attributes of food.

Scholarcy Highlights
 Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a perennial monocotyledonous plant in the
Bromeliaceae family which is grown in several tropical and subtropical nations,
including the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, India, and China
(Hossain, 2016; Mohd Ali et al, 2020)
 Pineapples are important tropical fruits which serve as a vital source of minerals and
have excellent nutritional composition
 The quality evaluation of pineapple is an important factor in consumer preference,
postharvest handling, and the commercial value of the fruit
 Non-destructive technologies have gained interest to ensure fruit quality evaluation
since it offers a safer and more reliable way that is cost-effective without damaging the
fruit
 In addition to the established non-destructive technologies, recent interests have
concentrated on the cutting-edge techniques coupled with chemometrics and data
mining to validate the evaluation of the fruit quality
 We summarise relevant projects and activities on New Approach Methodologies
(NAMs) coordinated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which is the agency
of the European Union that contributes to the safety of the European food and feed
chain

Scholarcy Summary

Background
Pineapples are important tropical fruits which serve as a vital source of minerals and have
excellent nutritional composition.

The quality evaluation of pineapple is an important factor in consumer preference,

postharvest handling, and the commercial value of the fruit

Scope and approach

The external and internal quality attributes of pineapples are presented.

This review discusses the application of chemometrics and data mining which have been
used to evaluate the quality attributes of pineapples.

In this sense, non-destructive technologies have gained interest to ensure fruit quality
evaluation since it offers a safer and more reliable way that is cost-effective without
damaging the fruit

Key findings and conclusions

Special attention is focused on the emerging non-destructive technologies along with a
comprehensive review of the applications of these technologies.

Spectroscopy-based, computer vision, imaging-based, acoustic, ultrasound, and instrument-

based sensing technologies are innovative non-destructive technologies that can be used as
promising alternatives to the conventional method to effectively monitor the quality of
pineapples.

The challenges and future trends in the quality evaluation of pineapples using non-
destructive technologies have been addressed
Introduction
Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a perennial monocotyledonous plant in the Bromeliaceae
family which is grown in several tropical and subtropical nations, including the Philippines,
Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, India, and China (Hossain, 2016; Mohd Ali et al, 2020).

Pineapple is a tropical fruit that is consumed fresh, canned, as juice, frozen, crystallised,
pickled, and can be used in the manufacture of sweets, ice creams, yoghurts, candies, and
cakes (Elizabeth & Tijesuni, 2020)

It could be used as a raw material for the extraction of alcohol and livestock products, for
the usage of industrial waste.

The conventional methods for quality evaluation which include chemical, physiological,
sensory, microbiological, and physical analyses offer labour intensive, destructive,
expensive, time-consuming, and require skills in analytical routine analysis.

The significant and well-established non-destructive technologies can offer insightful data
regarding the quality attributes of the fruit.

In addition to the established non-destructive technologies, recent interests have

concentrated on the cutting-edge techniques coupled with chemometrics and data mining
to validate the evaluation of the fruit quality.

Aligned with future developments and technology, the use of non-destructive technologies
could be applied to the agricultural industry as a reliable technique which can be used in
detecting pineapple quality and could be further applied to other agricultural and food
products

Quality evaluation
The preservation of pineapple quality in terms of external and internal aspects is important
in order to avoid economic losses.

Quality evaluation is a thorough review of internal and external characteristics that are
perceivable to humans and viewed from different perspectives.

There is a need to ensure high-quality fruits since there is always a Chemometrics and data
mining.

Chemometrics is the use of statistical, mathematical, and logical approaches to build

correlations and extract pertinent information from the dataset obtained through chemical
analyses.

Non-destructive technologies for evaluating pineapple quality are gaining popularity

because they offer various advantages including high efficiency, simultaneous multiple
measurements, and real-time decision making compared to the conventional approaches.
The assessment of quality attributes of pineapples using non-destructive technologies has
been explored rapidly in order to enhance the monitoring performance of the whole
process.

The non-destructive technologies applied for the quality

Challenges and future trends

The evaluation of the quality of pineapple is crucial for fruit products and processing in
order to avoid economic loss.

The physical, chemical, and nutritional changes of pineapples are important aspects that
could affect the quality of the fruit.

These emerging non-destructive technologies have demonstrated potential solutions for

assessing the quality monitoring of pineapples in terms of improving processing time and
energy.

The pineapple industry has a major impact on current advancements in the local as well as
international commercial industries.

This review has discussed the recent non-destructive evaluation of pineapple quality.

In terms of providing good quality fruit for the pineapple industry, the non-destructive
technologies have presented the prospective and the importance of those applications in
gaining new knowledge.

Spectroscopy-based technologies including NIR spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, Author

contributions

Future work
Multifunctional systems can be developed for innovative applications in food packaging and
active food preservation. Our opinion on future research needs and considerations related
to tannin-containing biopackaging is stated.

The flavor components of different condiments and their concentrations displayed a large
difference, the potential factors affecting flavor formation were elucidated. Potential
problems need to be further revealed including future research point of flavor components
detection and possible synthesis pathways were reviewed.

Raw materials, microbial composition, fermentation processing, environment and climate,

fermentation period and salinity are all closely related to the flavor formation, and are
possible reasons for those huge difference in flavor components. Future studies need to be
conducted to elucidate the biosynthetic pathway and metabolism of flavor compounds in
TFBCs, to establish an efficient method for the separation, identification and quantification
of flavor components, and to regulate the synthesis of flavor compounds effectively.
There are limited studies assessing the effectiveness of UV-LED on products to enhance
food safety. Further studies are required to explore the impact of sublethal exposure to UV-
LEDs and the potential consequences of UV-LED exposure in different microorganisms at
various wavelengths. UV-LEDs can negatively affect some physicochemical attributes of
food. More attention should be paid to the underlying mechanism of quality changes
induced by UV-LEDs.