New generation NIRS sensors for quality and safety assurance in summer squashes along the food supply chain

The increasing demand of the horticultural sector in terms of quality and safety assurance stresses the need of the producers and the agri-food industry of implementing non-destructive analysis techniques. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has proven to be an increasingly practical option for satisfying this demand. Recently a new generation of NIRS instruments has been developed, being necessary their previous evaluation before their incorporation for quality and safety assurance along the food supply chain. For this purpose, 230 summer squashes, grown outdoors in the province of Cordoba (Spain), were analyzed to determine quality (dry matter content (DMC) and soluble solid content (SSC)) and safety (nitrate content) parameters using two spectrophotometers, MicroNIR (TM) Pro 1700 and Matrix-F, ideally suited for the in situ and online analysis, respectively. A linear calibration strategy - modified partial least squares regression, MPLS - were used for the development of predictive models. The results obtained showed NIRS technology, by means of new generation sensors, is a potential tool for the non-destructive measurement of DMC (RPDcv = 1.76 and RPDcv = 1.98), SSC (RPDcv = 1.62 and RPDcv = 1.63) and nitrate content (RPDcv = 1.77 and RPDcv = 1.36), for the MicroNIR (TM) Pro 1700 and Matrix-F, respectively. This would enable to improve the quality and safety control of this vegetable throughout the whole supply chain, i.e. in field and in the processing plant.