Infrared predicts consumer taste perception of strawberry

Added on 26 July 2023

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Infrared predicts consumer taste perception of strawberry

Sometimes a breeder or grower wants to know quickly whether, for example, a strawberry will appeal to the consumer during the breeding process or just before harvest. In such a case, a consumer panel is not the ideal solution: it requires a relatively large amount of time and organisation. The Greenhouse Horticulture and Flower Bulbs Business Unit of Wageningen University & Research is investigating whether it is possible to predict taste non-destructively with the help of spectral light and data models.

The taste of a product is determined by various parameters, such as the brix content, firmness, acidity and moisture of a product. These properties can be measured by, for example, examining a strawberry in a lab. But this process is laborious and time consuming. That is why WUR is looking for a method to predict consumer’s taste perception in a non-destructive way.

To this end, WUR is working with four partners (breeding company Fresh Forward, strawberry grower Brookberries, logistics company Bakker Barendrecht and IT company OneThird) to develop a model based on spectral light, consumer panels, and lab research. A near-infrared sensor is used to collect the spectral information of different strawberry varieties. The members of the WUR consumer panel give these varieties a taste score between 0 and 100. And in the laboratory, WUR examines the physical composition of the strawberries.