Acoustic Emission and Near-Infra Red Imaging Methods for Nondestructive Apple Quality Detection and Classification

The need to develop nondestructive techniques in the Agrifood industry is becoming more apparent because of the increasing difficulty of securing labor, the increased innovation around artificial intelligence (AI), sensor technology and machine learning, the efficiency of the system, less risk, reduced cost on the long term, and the reliability of the system among others. Apple is one of the most important and highly valued products and its most devastating pest is the codling moth that often defies the manual random method of sorting especially in organic apple farming. The industry is wary of organisms of quarantine concerns like CM being transferred across borders. The application of nondestructive detection and classification methods has the potential to address some of the inadequacies in conventional random manual methods of sorting for pests. This chapter reviewed two important nondestructive methods, acoustic sensing and hyperspectral imaging that are complementary, and present some of the challenges that need to be addressed.