Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, SF&AT, Massey University, Auckland 0632, New Zealand.
New Zealand Product Accelerator, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Mar 16;22(6):2290. doi: 10.3390/s22062290.
Quality assessment of fruits, vegetables, or beverages involves classifying the products according to the quality traits such as, appearance, texture, flavor, sugar content. The measurement of sugar content, or Brix, as it is commonly known, is an essential part of the quality analysis of the agricultural products and alcoholic beverages. The Brix monitoring of fruit and vegetables by destructive methods includes sensory assessment involving sensory panels, instruments such as refractometer, hydrometer, and liquid chromatography. However, these techniques are manual, time-consuming, and most importantly, the fruits or vegetables are damaged during testing. On the other hand, the traditional sample-based methods involve manual sample collection of the liquid from the tank in fruit/vegetable juice making and in wineries or breweries. Labour ineffectiveness can be a significant drawback of such methods. This review presents recent developments in different destructive and nondestructive Brix measurement techniques focused on fruits, vegetables, and beverages. It is concluded that while there exist a variety of methods and instruments for Brix measurement, traits such as promptness and low cost of analysis, minimal sample preparation, and environmental friendliness are still among the prime requirements of the industry.
水果、蔬菜或饮料的质量评估包括根据外观、质地、风味、含糖量等质量特征对产品进行分类。糖含量（通常称为 Brix）的测量是农产品和酒精饮料质量分析的重要组成部分。破坏性方法对水果和蔬菜的 Brix 监测包括涉及感官小组的感官评估、折射计、比重计和液相色谱仪等仪器。然而，这些技术是手动的，耗时的，最重要的是，在测试过程中水果或蔬菜会受损。另一方面，传统的基于样本的方法涉及从水果/蔬菜汁生产和酿酒厂或啤酒厂中的罐中手动收集液体样本。劳动力效率低下可能是此类方法的一个主要缺点。本文综述了不同破坏性和非破坏性 Brix 测量技术在水果、蔬菜和饮料方面的最新进展。虽然存在各种用于 Brix 测量的方法和仪器，但快速、低成本的分析、最小的样品制备和环境友好性等特点仍然是行业的主要要求。
