Abstract
Hot air–assisted radio frequency drying (HARFD) is a recently developed food dehydration method to enhance thermal efficiency while retaining the quality of the fresh produce. This investigation is aimed at exploring the potential for the application of portable near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for rapid real-time assessment of the quality of apple slices during HARFD. Both moisture content (MC) and vitamin C content (VCC) were selected as the critical indicators to assess the quality of the dried apple slices. Principal component regression (PCR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), and back propagation-artificial neural network (BP-ANN) models were developed and compared to establish the relationships between the NIR spectrum and the selected quality indicators of dried products. Model fitting results indicate that the BP-ANN model achieved the highest prediction accuracy for MC (lowest RMSEP = 0.331 and highest \({R}_{P}^{2}\)=0.976) and VCC (lowest RMSEP = 0.605 and highest \({R}_{P}^{2}\)=0.933) of apple slices during HARFD. This work highlights the use of portable NIR spectroscopy as an efficient and non-destructive tool for smart prediction of the quality parameters of apple slices during the HARFD process via optimized statistical modeling.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The data are available from the corresponding author upon suitable request.
References
Abdullah, H. M., Islam, M. N., Saikat, M. H., & Bhuiyan, M. A. (2024). Precision agriculture practices from planting to postharvest: Scopes, opportunities, and challenges of innovation in developing countries. Remote Sensing in Precision Agriculture, 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91068-2.00014-X
Ai, Z., Zhu, G., Zheng, Z., Xiao, H., Mowafy, S., & Liu, Y. (2023). Successive two-stage hot air-drying with humidity control combined radio frequency drying improving drying efficiency and nutritional quality of Amomi fructus. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 16(1), 149–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-022-02928-8
Alves, A., Santos, A., Rozenberg, P., Pâques, L. E., Charpentier, J. P., Schwanninger, M., & Rodrigues, J. (2012). A common near infrared—based partial least squares regression model for the prediction of wood density of Pinus pinaster and Larix× eurolepis. Wood Science and Technology, 46, 157–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-010-0383-x
Beć, K. B., Grabska, J., & Huck, C. W. (2020). Biomolecular and bioanalytical applications of infrared spectroscopy–A review. Analytica Chimica Acta, 1133, 150–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2020.04.015
Bobasa, E. M., Phan, A. D. T., Manolis, C., Netzel, M., Smyth, H., Cozzolino, D., & Sultanbawa, Y. (2020). Effect of sample presentation on the near infrared spectra of wild harvest Kakadu plum fruits (Terminalia ferdinandiana). Infrared Physics & Technology, 111, 103560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2020.103560
Bobelyn, E., Serban, A. S., Nicu, M., Lammertyn, J., Nicolai, B. M., & Saeys, W. (2010). Postharvest quality of apple predicted by NIR-spectroscopy: Study of the effect of biological variability on spectra and model performance. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 55(3), 133–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2009.09.006
Cao, X., Islam, M. N., Duan, Z., Pan, X., Xu, W., Wei, X., & Zhong, S. (2020). Chlorogenic acid osmosis of snakehead fish: A novel approach to maintain quality and suppress deterioration during storage. International Journal of Food Properties, 23(1), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912.2020.1732409
Carbas, B., Machado, N., Oppolzer, D., Queiroz, M., Brites, C., Rosa, E. A., & Barros, A. I. (2020). Prediction of phytochemical composition, in vitro antioxidant activity and individual phenolic compounds of common beans using MIR and NIR spectroscopy. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 13, 962–977. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-020-02457-2
Chakravartula, S. S. N., Cevoli, C., Balestra, F., Fabbri, A., & Dalla Rosa, M. (2019). Evaluation of drying of edible coating on bread using NIR spectroscopy. Journal of Food Engineering, 240, 29–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2018.07.009
Cortés, V., Blasco, J., Aleixos, N., Cubero, S., & Talens, P. (2019). Monitoring strategies for quality control of agricultural products using visible and near-infrared spectroscopy: A review. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 85, 138–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2019.01.015
Dag, D., Farmanfarmaee, A., Kong, F., Jung, J., McGorrin, R. J., & Zhao, Y. (2023). Feasibility of simultaneous drying and blanching inshell hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L.) using hot air–assisted radio frequency (HARF) heating. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 16(2), 404–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-022-02946-6
Elik, A. (2021). Hot air-assisted radio frequency drying of black carrot pomace: Kinetics and product quality. Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 73, 102800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2021.102800
Fan, K., Zhang, M., & Mujumdar, A. S. (2019). Recent developments in high efficient freeze-drying of fruits and vegetables assisted by microwave: A review. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 59(8), 1357–1366. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2017.1420624
Feng, M., Chitrakar, B., Chen, J., Islam, M. N., Wei, B., Wang, B., & Xu, B. (2022). Effect of multi-mode thermosonication on the microbial inhibition and quality retention of strawberry clear juice during storage at varied temperatures. Foods, 11(17), 2593. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11172593
Gil, K. A., Wojdyło, A., Nowicka, P., Montoro, P., & Tuberoso, C. I. G. (2022). Effect of apple juice enrichment with selected plant materials: Focus on bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity. Foods, 12(1), 105. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12010105
Golic, M., & Walsh, K. B. (2006). Robustness of calibration models based on near infrared spectroscopy for the in-line grading of stonefruit for total soluble solids content. Analytica Chimica Acta, 555(2), 286–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2005.09.014
Gong, C., Liao, M., Zhang, H., Xu, Y., Miao, Y., & Jiao, S. (2020). Investigation of hot air–assisted radio frequency as a final-stage drying of pre-dried carrot cubes. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 13, 419–429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-019-02400-0
Grassi, S., & Alamprese, C. (2023). Spectroscopic non-targeted techniques in combination with linear discriminant analysis for wine vinegar authentication. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-023-03143-9
Hasanzadeh, B., Abbaspour-Gilandeh, Y., Soltani-Nazarloo, A., Cruz-Gámez, E. D. L., Hernández-Hernández, J. L., & Martínez-Arroyo, M. (2022). Non-destructive measurement of quality parameters of apple fruit by using visible/near-infrared spectroscopy and multivariate regression analysis. Sustainability, 14(22), 14918. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214918
Islam, M. N. (2022). Chemometrics in nondestructive quality evaluation. Nondestructive quality assessment techniques for fresh fruits and vegetables (pp. 331–355). Springer Nature Singapore: Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5422-1_14
Islam, M. N., Nielsen, G., Stærke, S., Kjær, A., Jørgensen, B., & Edelenbos, M. (2018a). Novel non-destructive quality assessment techniques of onion bulbs: A comparative study. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 55, 3314–3324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-018-3268-x
Islam, M. N., Nielsen, G., Stærke, S., Kjær, A., Jørgensen, B., & Edelenbos, M. (2018b). Noninvasive determination of firmness and dry matter content of stored onion bulbs using shortwave infrared imaging with whole spectra and selected wavelengths. Applied Spectroscopy, 72(10), 1467–1478. https://doi.org/10.1364/AS.72.001467
Jiang, Q., Zhang, M., Mujumdar, A. S., & Wang, D. (2023). Non-destructive quality determination of frozen food using NIR spectroscopy-based machine learning and predictive modelling. Journal of Food Engineering, 343, 111374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2022.111374
Jin, W., Mujumdar, A. S., Zhang, M., & Shi, W. (2018). Novel drying techniques for spices and herbs: A review. Food Engineering Reviews, 10, 34–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12393-017-9165-7
Jin, W., Zhang, M., & Mujumdar, A. S. (2024). A high-efficiency radio-frequency-assisted hot-air drying method for the production of restructured bitter melon and apple chips. Foods, 13(2), 197. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13020197
Kapoor, R., Malvandi, A., Feng, H., & Kamruzzaman, M. (2022). Real-time moisture monitoring of edible coated apple chips during hot air drying using miniature NIR spectroscopy and chemometrics. Lwt, 154, 112602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2021.112602
Khorasani, M., Amigo, J. M., Sun, C. C., Bertelsen, P., & Rantanen, J. (2015). Near-infrared chemical imaging (NIR-CI) as a process monitoring solution for a production line of roll compaction and tableting. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 93, 293–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpb.2015.04.008
Li, M., Wijewardane, N. K., Ge, Y., Xu, Z., & Wilkins, M. R. (2020a). Visible/near infrared spectroscopy and machine learning for predicting polyhydroxybutyrate production cultured on alkaline pretreated liquor from corn stover. Bioresource Technology Reports, 9, 100386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biteb.2020.100386
Li, P., Li, S., Du, G., Jiang, L., Liu, X., Ding, S., & Shan, Y. (2020b). A simple and nondestructive approach for the analysis of soluble solid content in citrus by using portable visible to near-infrared spectroscopy. Food Science & Nutrition, 8(5), 2543–2552. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsn3.1550
Liu, W., Zhang, M., Bhandari, B., & Yu, D. (2021). A novel combination of LF-NMR and NIR to intelligent control in pulse-spouted microwave freeze drying of blueberry. Lwt, 137, 110455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2020.110455
Liu, Y., Shao, L., Gao, J., Guo, H., Chen, Y., Cheng, Q., & Via, B. K. (2015). Surface photo-discoloration and degradation of dyed wood veneer exposed to different wavelengths of artificial light. Applied Surface Science, 331, 353–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.01.091
Mahmood, N., Liu, Y., Munir, Z., Zhang, Y., & Niazi, B. M. K. (2022). Effects of hot air assisted radio frequency drying on heating uniformity, drying characteristics and quality of paddy. Food Science and Technology, 158, 113131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2022.113131
Mahmood, N., Liu, Y., Saleemi, M. A., Munir, Z., Zhang, Y., & Saeed, R. (2023). Investigation of physicochemical and textural properties of brown rice by hot air assisted radio frequency drying. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-023-03001-8
Malvandi, A., Feng, H., & Kamruzzaman, M. (2022). Application of NIR spectroscopy and multivariate analysis for non-destructive evaluation of apple moisture content during ultrasonic drying. Spectrochimica Acta Part a: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 269, 120733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.saa.2021.120733
Mancini, M., Mazzoni, L., Leoni, E., Tonanni, V., Gagliardi, F., Qaderi, R., & Mezzetti, B. (2023). Application of near infrared spectroscopy for the rapid assessment of nutritional quality of different strawberry cultivars. Foods, 12(17), 3253. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12173253
Meenu, M., Cozzolino, D., & Xu, B. (2023). Non-destructive prediction of total phenolics and antioxidants in hulled and naked oat genotypes with near-infrared spectroscopy. Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-023-02009-0
Niu, X., Zhao, Z., Jia, K., & Li, X. (2012). A feasibility study on quantitative analysis of glucose and fructose in lotus root powder by FT-NIR spectroscopy and chemometrics. Food Chemistry, 133(2), 592–597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.01.064
Onwude, D. I., Hashim, N., & Chen, G. (2016). Recent advances of novel thermal combined hot air drying of agricultural crops. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 57, 132–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2016.09.012
Ostrovský, I., Čabala, R., Kubinec, R., Górová, R., Blaško, J., Kubincová, J., & Lorenz, W. (2011). Determination of phthalate sum in fatty food by gas chromatography. Food Chemistry, 124(1), 392–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.06.045
Peng, J., Yin, X., Jiao, S., Wei, K., Tu, K., & Pan, L. (2019). Air jet impingement and hot air-assisted radio frequency hybrid drying of apple slices. Lwt, 116, 108517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2019.108517
Pissard, A., Marques, E. J. N., Dardenne, P., Lateur, M., Pasquini, C., Pimentel, M. F., & Baeten, V. (2021). Evaluation of a handheld ultra-compact NIR spectrometer for rapid and non-destructive determination of apple fruit quality. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 172, 111375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2020.111375
Porep, J. U., Kammerer, D. R., & Carle, R. (2015). On-line application of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in food production. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 46(2), 211–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2015.10.002
Qiu, L., Zhang, M., Mujumdar, A. S., & Chang, L. (2022). Convenient use of near-infrared spectroscopy to indirectly predict the antioxidant activitiy of edible rose (Rose chinensis Jacq “Crimsin Glory” HT) petals during infrared drying. Food Chemistry, 369, 130951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130951
Rowe, P. I., Künnemeyer, R., McGlone, A., Talele, S., Martinsen, P., & Seelye, R. (2014). Relationship between tissue firmness and optical properties of ‘Royal Gala’apples from 400 to 1050 nm. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 94, 89–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2014.03.007
Sentellas, S., Núñez, Ó., & Saurina, J. (2016). Recent advances in the determination of biogenic amines in food samples by (U) HPLC. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 64(41), 7667–7678. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.6b02789
Shafiee, S., & Minaei, S. (2018). Combined data mining/NIR spectroscopy for purity assessment of lime juice. Infrared Physics & Technology, 91, 193–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2018.04.012
Soponar, F., Moţ, A. C., & Sârbu, C. (2008). Quantitative determination of some food dyes using digital processing of images obtained by thin-layer chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A, 1188(2), 295–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2008.02.077
Sun, Q., Zhang, M., Mujumdar, A. S., & Yang, P. (2019). Combined LF-NMR and artificial intelligence for continuous real-time monitoring of carrot in microwave vacuum drying. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 12, 551–562. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-018-2231-1
Sun, Q., Zhang, M., Mujumdar, A. S., & Yu, D. (2022). Research on the vegetable shrinkage during drying and characterization and control based on LF-NMR. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 15(12), 2776–2788. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-022-02917-x
Talari, A. C. S., Martinez, M. A. G., Movasaghi, Z., Rehman, S., & Rehman, I. U. (2017). Advances in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy of biological tissues. Applied Spectroscopy Reviews, 52(5), 456–506. https://doi.org/10.1080/05704928.2016.1230863
Tian, H., Zhang, L., Li, M., Wang, Y., Sheng, D., Liu, J., & Wang, C. (2019). WSPXY combined with BP-ANN method for hemoglobin determination based on near-infrared spectroscopy. Infrared Physics & Technology, 102, 103003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2019.103003
Tjandra Nugraha, D., Zinia Zaukuu, J. L., Aguinaga Bósquez, J. P., Bodor, Z., Vitalis, F., & Kovacs, Z. (2021). Near-infrared spectroscopy and aquaphotomics for monitoring mung bean (Vigna radiata) sprout growth and validation of ascorbic acid content. Sensors, 21(2), 611. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21020611
Uddin, M. S., Hawlader, M. N. A., & Zhou, L. (2001). Kinetics of ascorbic acid degradation in dried kiwifruits during storage. Drying Technology, 19(2), 437–446. https://doi.org/10.1081/DRT-100102916
Wang, D., Zhang, M., Adhikari, B., & Zhang, L. (2023). Determination of polysaccharide content in shiitake mushroom beverage by NIR spectroscopy combined with machine learning: A comparative Analysis. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 122, 105460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2023.105460
Wang, W., Wang, W., Wang, Y., Yang, R., Tang, J., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Hot-air assisted continuous radio frequency heating for improving drying efficiency and retaining quality of inshell hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L. cv. Barcelona). Journal of Food Engineering, 279, 109956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2020.109956
Yang, M., Xu, D., Chen, S., Li, H., & Shi, Z. (2019). Evaluation of machine learning approaches to predict soil organic matter and pH using Vis-NIR spectra. Sensors, 19(2), 263. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19020263
Zang, Y., Wang, J., Wu, X., Chang, R., Wang, Y., Luo, H., & Deng, M. (2023). The analysis and rapid non-destructive evaluation of Yongchuan Xiuya quality based on NIRS combined with machine learning methods. Processes, 11(9), 2809. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11092809
Zeng, S., Zhang, Z., Cheng, X., Cai, X., Cao, M., & Guo, W. (2024). Prediction of soluble solids content using near-infrared spectra and optical properties of intact apple and pulp applying PLSR and CNN. Spectrochimica Acta Part a: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, 304, 123402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.saa.2023.123402
Zhang, M., Tang, J., Mujumdar, A. S., & Wang, S. (2006). Trends in microwave-related drying of fruits and vegetables. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 17(10), 524–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2006.04.011
Zhang, W., Lin, M., He, H., Wang, Y., Wang, J., & Liu, H. (2023). Toward achieving rapid estimation of vitamin C in citrus peels by NIR spectra coupled with a linear algorithm. Molecules, 28(4), 1681. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28041681
Zhou, L., Wang, X., Zhang, C., Zhao, N., Taha, M. F., He, Y., & Qiu, Z. (2022). Powdery food identification using NIR spectroscopy and extensible deep learning model. Food and Bioprocess Technology, 15(10), 2354–2362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-022-02866-5
Zou, X., Zhao, J., Mel, H., Mao, H., Shi, J., Yin, X., & Li, Y. (2010). Independent component analysis in information extraction from visible/near-infrared hyperspectral imaging data of cucumber leaves. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 104(2), 265–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemolab.2010.08.019
Funding
The authors received financial supports from the National Key R&D Program of China (no. 2017YFD0400901) and special funds for the Taishan Industry Leading Talents Project, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory Project of Advanced Food Manufacturing Equipment and Technology (no. FMZ202003), which enabled them to carry out this study.
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Jin, W., Zhang, M., Mujumdar, A.S. et al. Application of Portable NIR Spectroscopy for Instant Prediction of the Product Quality of Apple Slices During Hot Air–Assisted Radio Frequency Drying. Food Bioprocess Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-024-03343-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-024-03343-x