Development of a Freshness Index for Fruit Quality Assessment—Using Bell Pepper as a Case Study

Assessment of a computed tomography imaging spectrometer using an optimized expectation-maximization algorithm

We designed and built a homemade computed tomography imaging spectrometer (CTIS) of 250×250pixels of spatial resolution and 2 nm spectral resolution. The optical design considers a CTIS optical array coupled to a digital reflex camera. We reconstructed the intensity spectra of a fluorescent source, the diffuse reflectance of a ColorChecker, and samples of Capsicum annuum of three different colors, using the expectation-maximization sequential algorithm, optimized utilizing an array of indices to reduce the reconstruction time. The results obtained with a ColorChecker indicate a high positive correlation of 0.9745 with an average residual difference of 1.31% concerning the spectra obtained with a commercial integrating sphere spectrometer. The feasibility of the proposed CTIS system shows how to detect and evaluate the physiological changes resulting from the decomposition of the green fruit of the Capsicum annuum in a range from 500 to 650 nm.