Automatic detection of abnormally soft tomatoes

Abnormally soft tomatoes look similar to healthy tomatoes and hence they cannot be separated in visual inspection. It is also a common reason for negative feedback from customers who buy organic or premium-class tomatoes. To solve this quality problem, we have made spectral transmittance measurements of abnormally soft and healthy tomatoes in visual and near infrared wavelengths. The analysis indicates that the spectral data makes it possible to automatically detect abnormally soft tomatoes.