Non-destructive determination of acid-brix ratio of tomato juice using near infrared spectroscopy

Summary Consumer's acceptance of tomato juice depends on its sourness to sweetness ratio and measuring this is important for quality control and marketing. Traditional methods destroy the samples, are time consuming and cannot be used in continuous packing or bottling systems. A non-destructive method of quality evaluation, using near infrared (NIR) techniques, was tested, by using a portable NIR measuring unit. Spectra of tomato juice of known acid and brix values were determined and, in the wavelength range 703–1124 nm (NIR), a calibration model for acid–brix ratio (ABR) was developed, by using unscrambler software. When used to predict ABR of tomato juice statistical analysis showed minimal standard error (0.009) and satisfactorily high correlation coefficients (0.92) over the wavelength range 1059.5–1124.8 nm, for both calibration and prediction. These values were hardly different from analytical results and the NIR model has potential for non-destructive prediction of ABR of tomato juice.