Smart storage technologies applied to fresh foods: A review

ABSTRACT

Fresh foods are perishable, seasonal and regional in nature and their storage, transportation, and preservation of freshness are quite challenging. Smart storage technologies can online detection and monitor the changes of quality parameters and storage environment of fresh foods during storage, so that operators can make timely adjustments to reduce the loss. This article reviews the smart storage technologies from two aspects: online detection technologies and smartly monitoring technologies for fresh foods. Online detection technologies include electronic nose, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), hyperspectral imaging and computer vision. Smartly monitoring technologies mainly include some intelligent indicators for monitoring the change of storage environment. Smart storage technologies applied to fresh foods need to be highly efficient and nondestructive and need to be competitively priced. In this work, we have critically reviewed the principles, applications, and development trends of smart storage technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Cold chain
• fresh foods
• smart
• storage technology

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by National Key R&D Program of China (Contract No. 2017YFD0400901), Jiangsu Province (China) Key Project in Agriculture (Contract No. BE2015310217), Jiangsu Province “Collaborative Innovation Center for Food Safety and Quality Control” Industry Development Program, Jiangsu Province Infrastructure Project (Contract No. BM2014051), all of which enabled us to carry out this study.