Non-destructive testing of fruits using electrical impedance tomography: A preliminary study

Most of the methods available for quality assessment of fruits are destructive. Some non-destructive methods like X-ray, MRI, Fluorescence spectroscopy are very expensive which adds to the selling price of the fruits, hence a cost-effective method to assess the quality of fruits becomes more important. Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is an emerging imaging technique that has gained lot of popularity in recent years owing to its non-invasive, low cost and real time monitoring feature. In this paper we have discussed the potential of using EIT for non-destructive testing of fruits. Preliminary studies are carried out to image the inhomogeneities in fruits like watermelon, muskmelon etc. The application for EIT is further extended to detect raw tomatoes among ripe tomatoes.