METHOD TO EVALUATE THE QUALITY OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND RELATIVE DEVICE

Abstract: Method and device to evaluate the quality of food products, particularly fruit and vegetable products from which it is possible to extract a colored juice, comprising a step to evaluate the presence and percentage of coloring substances in the juice by means of emitting an optical signal through the sample of juice, with the consequent monitoring of a significant colorimetric parameter, and a step to correlate the percentage of coloring substances in the sample with a defined quality and commodity class of said fruit or vegetable product from which the juice is obtained.

Description: "METHOD TO EVALUATE THE QUALITY OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND RELATIVE DEVICE" * * * * * FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention concerns a method to evaluate the quality of food products from which it is possible to extract a colored juice. The invention also concerns the device suitable to achieve the method. The invention is applied mostly, but not exclusively, in the field of wine-making, to perform a rigorous and selective evaluation of the quality of a sample of grape juice in order to discriminate the quality level of the grapes from which the juice has been obtained, and to allow it to be classified according to its actual polyphenol composition and characteristics . The invention can also be applied substantially to every type of fruit or vegetable product from which it is possible to extract a colored juice, such as for example citrus fruits, pears, apples, pineapples, tropical fruits, carrots, tomatoes and others . BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the state of the art, and in the field of evaluating the quality of grape juice obtained from a particular batch of grapes, and/or of the grapes themselves from which the juice comes, the most commonly used procedure at present provides to analyse the sugar content of the sample. This procedure is sometimes integrated, or more rarely replaced, by an analysis of the titratable acidity of the sample, in order to obtain further information and to allow to classify the sample more reliably and more rigorously into a certain class of commodity. However, analysing the titratable acidity requires equipment which is not always available and times which are sometimes not compatible with the requirements of the producing companies . Moreover, the factors which determine the quality of the grapes, and in general of fruit and vegetable juices, are not limited only to the presence and percentage of sugars and/or acids dissolved in the juice; they are also linked to the presence of particular substances, mainly such as polyphenolic substances and aromatic substances. At present, however, the percentage of these substances in the grapes is never quantified when the technological procedures to transform the grapes into wine are begun. Therefore, the commodity classification of the various qualities of grapes is not rigorous and does not give an efficient, selective and objective discrimination into a plurality of quality levels according to the actual composition characteristics of the juices obtained from the various batches of grapes . Various solutions have been proposed in the state of the art which exploit a colorimetric analysis of a juice, usually carried out with sources of light operating in the region of infra-red, in order to determine some characteristics thereof. For example, the article "Continuous Colorimetry" by F. M. Clydesdale, taken from the journal "Instrumentation in the Food and Beverage Industry", vol. 2, 1973, pages 33-43, describes a method of spectrophotometric analysis made on a plurality of samples of blueberry juice in order to verify the content of colored pigments in said samples. The purpose of the analysis is to select, in an analytical manner, samples of juice which answer desired visual criteria of color. This document does not teach to construct quality classes of the product from which the juice is obtained according to colorimetric analyses. The article "Application for Near Infrared Spectroscopy for Predicting the Sugar Content of Fruit Juices", taken from the Journal of Food Science, vol. 49, 1984, pages 995- 998 describes a method of spectrophotoscopic analysis to analytically find the content of sugars in juice. In this case too there is no reference to a classification of the basic food product according to the colorimetric analysis . The document WO-A-95/21242 describes a method to determine the colors of beer, and its level of bitterness, by illuminating the beer with a light of a particular wavelength, causing its iso-α-acids to fluoresce, monitoring the level of fluorescence and comparing it with known reference parameters . This document does not teach a method to classify a food product made of juice either. Moreover, none of the known solutions provides to integrate the color data with existing instruments, for example with those which monitor the sugar level of the juice. The present Applicant has devised and embodied this invention to overcome these shortcomings in an economical, functional and extremely practical manner. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is set forth and characterized in the respective main claims, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the idea of the main embodiment. The purpose of the invention is to achieve a method, and relative device, suitable to perform an objective evaluation of the quality of a juice so as to allow the selective discrimination of a plurality of quality levels relating to the basic product from which the juice is obtained according to the actual composition characteristics of the said juice. A further purpose is to achieve a device suitable to perform this quality evaluation which is economical, practical and compatible with existing equipment. According to the invention, the method to evaluate the quality of juices, obtained for example from grapes, or more generally from any fruit or vegetable product from which colored juice can be extracted, provides to evaluate the presence and percentage of coloring substances in the juice by means of emitting an optical signal which passes through the sample of juice and then to monitor a significant colorimetric parameter. To be more exact, the invention provides to emit a beam of light directed towards the sample of juice to be analysed, to receive the optical signal transmitted through this sample, arid to process the optical signal received to acquire information relating to the presence and percentage of coloring substances. According to the presence and percentage of these coloring substances, the invention provides to construct an analytical classification of the basic fruit or vegetable product to sub-divide said product, for example, grapes, into a plurality of quality classes. In a preferential embodiment, the device which achieves the method according to the invention comprises: a source of light associated with a fibre-optic transmission mean, or guide, suitable to convey the beam of light through the sample of juice to be analysed, a reception element consisting of a fibre-optic spectrometer suitable to measure the transmittance or absorbance of the juice to be analysed, and a processing unit, equipped with specific software, suitable to receive the information relating to the optical parameters taken from the reception element and to supply the estimation of the content of coloring substances in the juice, from which the phenol quality of the basic fruit or vegetable product can be found. The use of a fibre-optic source is not absolutely necessary to achieve the invention, but it is preferential, since it guarantees that the analysis is immediate and therefore the results are too. In one embodiment of the invention, the source of light consists of a tungsten lamp and the fibre-optic spectrometer is suitable to discriminate light signals at least in the range of frequencies between 190 nm and 850 ran, that is, substantially in the field of the visible and the ultraviolet. According to the signal received and its position in the spectrum of frequencies discriminated by the fibre-optic spectrometer, the processing unit is able to quantify the content of coloring substances (for example the anthocyanins, or the red and/or yellow polymers) contained in the grape juice, and consequently is able to classify the basic product, for example the grapes, into a defined quality and commodity level . By means of this evaluation criterion, which can integrate or replace the procedures of sugar or acid classification which are already used, it is possible to discriminate grapes or other fruit and vegetable products more rigorously and selectively than happens in the state of the art . It is therefore possible to devise a scale comprising a plurality of quality levels inside which the various products from which the juices analysed are obtained can be placed according to their content in terms of coloring substances. In a preferential embodiment, the device which achieves the colorimetric evaluation of the grapes or other juice products is integrated into the existing equipment suitable to carry out the analysis of the sugar content of the juice. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The attached Figures are given as a non-restrictive example and show a preferential embodiment of the invention as follows: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the method according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic view of a device suitable to achieve the method according to the invention; Figs. 3a and 3b show two experimental graphs relating to the correlations between a colorimetric parameter monitored by means of the method according to the invention and the presence of coloring substances in the grapes from which the sample of juice analysed is obtained. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to Fig. 1, a method to evaluate the quality of juice products, in this case grape juice, according to the invention provides a first step 10 to select the sample of grapes to be analysed, followed by a step 11 to obtain the sample of juice on which the colorimetric analysis is made . The sample of juice can be subjected to the colorimetric analysis at a desired step in the process of transforming the juice into must. For example, the must can be analysed when it is in the cell 12 of the refractometric station 13 where the sugar analysis is carried out, or during the step 14 when it is loaded into the tanks, or again it is possible to analyse the must obtained after a procedure 15 of sampling the grapes. According to another embodiment, the colorimetric analysis is made on the juice at any intermediate step 16 whatsoever during its transformation into must. According to the invention, the method provides a step 17 to emit an optical signal through the sample of juice to be analysed by means of a suitable source of light 18, and a step 19 to acquire the optical signal transmitted through the sample of juice. The acquisition step is made, in this case, by means of a fibre-optic spectrometer 20 suitable to measure a significant colorimetric parameter, such as the absorbance and/or transmittance of the sample of juice analysed. The optical signal acquired by the spectrometer 20 is subjected to a processing procedure 21, made by a processing unit 22 equipped with the specific software. The processing unit 22 is associated with or incorporates a data bank 23 containing a memorized archive which holds a plurality of correlation parameters, for example obtained experimentally, which correlate the optical and colorimetric parameters acquired on the sample analysed with the organic and composition characteristics of the sample of grapes analysed. For example, this processing allows to follow a procedure 24 of correlating the optical signal acquired with the presence and percentage of the coloring substances, for example the anthocyanins or the red and/or yellow polymers, in the juice; or it allows to follow a procedure 25 of correlating the optical signal with the cell maturity of the grape skins . The processing of the optical signal by the processing unit 22 thus allows to achieve a quality classification 26 of the grapes, and possibly also of the relative juice, based on the actual organic and composition characteristics thereof . By means of a prior procedure 27 of devising a quality scale, suitable to associate a specific class to a determined percentage range of coloring substances in the juice, the processing unit 22 can follow a display procedure 28 by means of which the quality class to which the grapes from which we have obtained the specific sample of juice analysed belongs is identified and displayed. The display 128 of the percentage and/or absolute content of coloring substances in the specific sample of juice may also be provided. The diagram shown in Fig. 2 shows the example of the case where the quality analysis made by monitoring an optical signal transmitted through a sample of juice is made on a cell 12 associated with the refractometric station 13 in which the analysis of the sugar content of the juice is made. This embodiment is extremely practical and economical since it exploits most of the equipment already existing and used for quality analysis of the grape juice. In this case, the device 29 suitable to achieve the analysis comprises a source of light 18, for example consisting of a tungsten lamp 30, suitable to emit a beam of light which is channeled into a guide 32 and sent inside the cell 12 containing the sample of juice 31 to be analysed. The optical signal 33 monitored after it has passed through the juice 31, which can be channeled through the same guide 32 or by means of another suitable conductor, is acquired by a fibre-optic spectrometer 34 suitable to monitor the characteristic optical parameters, such as for example its transmittance and/or absorbance, and sent to the processing unit 22. According to the data supplied by the memorized archive 23, the processing unit 22 is able to classify the juice analysed according to the composition characteristics and to construct a quality classification of the initial grapes with a desired number of quality levels established in advance . The processing unit 22 is thus suitable to display the quality class 35a, 35b, 35c... (in this case from I to V) corresponding to the specific type of grape or juice analysed. The graphs given as examples in Figs. 3a and 3b, obtained experimentally, show the correlation between the colorimetric parameter a*, relating to the color quality of the optical signal, and the percentage of anthocyanins present in the grapes, expressed in milligrams per liter, examined for two different types of grape, respectively Corvina and Rondinella. Processing the optical signal 33 by means of fibre-optic monitoring hence allows to classify the sample of grape according to the actual content of coloring substances, and therefore to classify the sample qualitatively, associating a quality level of the initial grapes to every percentage quantity range of these substances in the juice.

Claims: CLAIMS 1 - Method to evaluate the quality of food products, particularly fruit and vegetable products from which it is possible to extract a colored juice, the method being characterized in that it comprises a step to evaluate the presence and percentage of coloring substances in the juice by means of emitting an optical signal through the sample of juice, with the consequent monitoring of a significant colorimetric parameter, and a step to correlate the percentage of coloring substances in the sample with a defined quality and commodity class of said fruit or vegetable product from which the juice is obtained. 2 - Method as in Claim 1, characterized in that it provides to emit a beam of light directed towards the sample of juice to be analysed, to receive the optical signal transmitted through the sample of juice by means of a fibre-optic spectrometer, and to process the optical signal received by means of a processing unit to evaluate the percentage of coloring substances in the juice, to define the quality class to which the fruit or vegetable product from which said sample has been obtained belongs and to display said quality class. 3 - Method as in Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that said emission of a beam of light is performed on a sample of juice contained in a cell (12) of a refractometric station (13) used for analysis of the sugar content of the juice. 4 - Method as in Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that said emission of a beam of light is performed on a sample of juice taken from different points up to the loading of the tank. 5 - Method as in Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that said emission of a beam of light is performed on a sample of juice in line in the different steps of transforming the juice . 6 - Method as in Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that it provides a prior step of arranging a data bank (23) containing a memorized archive carrying correlation parameters which correlate the optical and colorimetric parameters acquired on the sample of juice analysed with the organic and composition characteristics of the fruit or vegetable product from which the juice has been extracted. 7 - Method as in Claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that it provides a prior step (27) of devising a quality scale suitable to associate a specific quality and commodity class of said fruit or vegetable product to a determined percentage range of coloring substances in the sample of juice analyzed. 8 - Device to evaluate the quality of food products, particularly fruit and vegetable products from which it is possible to extract a colored juice, characterized in that it comprises means (18, 32) to emit and transmit a beam of light through a sample of juice (31) to be analysed, reception means (34) suitable to measure at least an optical parameter characteristic of said sample of juice (31) and processing means (22) suitable to receive the information relating to said optical parameters measured, to supply the estimate of the percentage content of coloring substances in said sample of juice (31) and to correlate said percentage content to a defined quality and commodity class of said fruit or vegetable product from which the sample of juice (31) has been extracted. 9 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that said emission means (18) consist of a tungsten lamp (30) . 10 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that said transmission means (32) consist of a fibre-optic guide. 11 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that said reception means (34) consist of a fibre-optic spectrometer. 12 - Device as in Claim 11, characterized in that said fibre-optic spectrometer is suitable to discriminate the frequencies of the optical signal received in a range of between 190 nm and 850 nm. 13 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that said processing means (22) consist of a processing unit associated at least with a data bank (23) comprising a memorized archive of parameters of correlation between the optical signal received and the percentage content of coloring substances in the sample of juice (31) . 14 - Device as in Claim 8, characterized in that it is suitable to be integrated into the refractometric station (13) which makes the analysis of the sugar content of the sample of juice (31) .

Inventors: CARCERERI DE PRATI GIUSEPPE, CELOTTI EMILIO, CARCERERI DE PRATI, GIUSEPPE, CELOTTI, EMILIO
Applicants: CARCERERI DE PRATI GIUSEPPE, CELOTTI EMILIO, UNIV DEGLI STUDI UDINE, CARCERERI DE PRATI, GIUSEPPE, CELOTTI, EMILIO, UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI UDINE
Application year: 2000
Main classification: G01J3
IPC codes: G01J3, G01N21, G01N33