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Noninvasive, Nondestructive Measurement of Tomato Concentrate Spoilage in Large‐Volume Aseptic Packages
Author(s) -
Martin Michele N.,
Balcom Bruce J.,
McCarthy Michael J.,
Augustine Matthew P.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/1750-3841.14778
Subject(s) - food spoilage , materials science , magnet , nuclear magnetic resonance , detector , optics , physics , genetics , quantum mechanics , bacteria , biology
Low frequency nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is used to noninvasively and nondestructively detect spoiled tomato concentrate stored in >200 L metal‐lined containers. It is shown that longitudinal and transverse NMR relaxation times change as the tomato concentrate spoils. A rapid, viscosity‐dependent spoilage detection method that takes advantage of the inherent inhomogeneity in single‐sided NMR instruments is proposed. Here, the effective transverse magnetization decay rate is used as a parameter to determine tomato concentrate spoilage. Three different low frequency, single‐sided NMR instruments are described and compared to determine the optimum sensor for spoiled tomato concentrate detection in large‐format, metal‐lined, aseptic containers. The most effective NMR sensor for this application is temperature stable and has large magnetic field gradients and a homogeneous magnetic field region offset >0.5 cm from the magnet surface. Practical Application This manuscript describes a noninvasive and nondestructive tomato concentrate spoilage detector for application to large‐format, sealed, commercial storage bins.