PREDICTING STORED PERIOD AND SHELF LIFE POTENTIAL OF LAMB’S LETTUCE USING VIS/NIR REFLECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY

Lamb’s lettuce (Valerianella locusta L.) delivered to the vegetable auctions is not always fresh.
The product can be stored for a certain time depending on the time of year.
Stored and freshly harvested material is visually not distinguishable, but the shelf life potential of the first is limited.
This leads to losses in distribution and a lower quality for consumers.
The aim of this work was to develop a fast non-destructive methodology that uses visible/near infrared (Vis/NIR) reflectance spectroscopy that can determine whether lamb’s lettuce has been in storage and give an idea about the remaining shelf life potential.
The Vis/NIR reflectance spectra were linked to the time in storage and to the quality of the samples at the end of a shelf life holding period by partial least squares regression (PLS). The prediction of the remaining shelf life potential was not successful based on colorimetric quality attributes.
There was a better performance when the quality scores given by a panel of experts was used, but for the moment this prediction model lacks accuracy.
The detection and quantification of a prior storage period was validated with an external test set and the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) was 2.5 days.
Vis/NIR reflectance spectroscopy was a valid, fast and non-destructive method for determining and quantifying a storage period of lamb’s lettuce.

V International Conference Postharvest Unlimited

B.A.J.G. Jacobs, B.E. Verlinden, E. Bobelyn, A. Decombel, P. Bleyaert, J. Van Lommel, I. Vandevelde, W. Saeys, B.M. Nicolai

Valerianella locusta L., near infrared, storage, postharvest, quality

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2015.1079.23