## 1 Introduction  
Tomato (_Solanum Lycopersicum_ L.) is the second most important vegetable crop after potato. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2023) [1], Asia accounts for about 64% of world production. About 190 million tonnes of tomatoes are produced annually, led by China, followed by India and Turkey ([[https://www.fao.org/home/en/](https://www.fao.org/home/en/)]([https://www.fao.org/home/en/](https://www.fao.org/home/en/))) (accessed on 26 December 2024) [1]. Greece ranks 24 th with an annual production of 909,470 tonnes. Although the tomato is classified as a vegetable, it is botanically a fruit, as it consists of seeds and the surrounding parts, the ovary, and the flowering plant. It belongs to the Solanaceae family, is classified as a climacteric fruit, and its origin remains unclear. It is rumored to originate from the Andean region, i.e., several Latin American countries such as Chile, Colombia, and Peru [2]. The cultivated tomato was probably introduced from Mexico to Spain in the 16 th century, following the discovery and conquest of America by the Spanish, and spread from there to the rest of Europe [3]. Tomatoes are an important source of minerals, vitamins, essential amino acids, carbohydrates, and fiber. According to the literature, tomato consumption can prevent the development of pathological conditions and lower the likelihood of heart diseases and different types of cancer [4; 5; 6], due to its high concentration of antioxidant compounds such as vitamin C, vitamin E, phenolic compounds, and carotenoids [5; 7]. As for the tomato peel, it is highly nutritious because, in addition to antioxidants such as phenolic acids, ascorbic acid, and lycopene, it contains essential fatty acids and several minerals such as kalium, calcium, and magnesium [8]. Fruit and vegetable producers, food retailers, scientists, and consumers are increasingly interested in the scientific, nutritional, and economic aspects of the post-harvest management of fruit and vegetables to maintain or improve their quality, delay spoilage, and prevent microbial contamination. As tomatoes are a perishable fruit, postharvest losses remain a major issue in global food supply chains, often resulting in substantial economic and nutritional waste due to spoilage during storage and distribution [9; 10]. Developing reliable and rapid tools to monitor tomato quality in real time is essential for mitigating these losses. Numerous scientific studies have already documented the effect of a number of post-harvest manipulations on extending the preservability and improving the quality of tomato fruit, including the storage conditions (temperature, humidity, and duration) [9; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19], the transport distance and duration [9], the ripening or maturation stage of the fruit during the harvest [12; 14; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23], the use of edible films as packaging material [24; 25; 26; 27; 28], the presence or absence of suitable packaging [16; 29], the post-harvest processing approaches [30; 31; 32; 33; 34] and more. However, most of these studies focus on individual techniques or assess only specific quality parameters, limiting their ability to provide a complete picture of tomato quality dynamics over time. Moreover, destructive methods commonly used are often time-consuming and not suitable for real-time or continuous monitoring. In addition to the above studies, the development of a methodology to evaluate different post-harvest treatments of fruit and vegetables is of particular interest, offering the possibility of predicting their storability in combination with their quality, in order to select the best practices [35; 36]. This study addresses these gaps by integrating non-destructive image analysis and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy with traditional spectrophotometric and physicochemical assays, combined with machine learning techniques for predictive modeling.