Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, Ltd.

Shuji Suzuki

Kazuo Maeda

Masahiro Ito

Junji Iida

Akira Terashima

Takeo Ide

Toshiki Kishimoto

A non-destructive taste characteristics measuring apparatus comprising trays and a measuring section provided in the course of a transport path and at which light is made incident on a vegetable or fruit to measure its taste characteristics, wherein the trays are each provided with at least two tray-side light passages one opening ends of which are so made as to come in contact with the vegetable or fruit and the other ends of which stand open outward at the bottom of the tray, and the measuring section has at least two measurement-side light passages one opening ends of which are positionally adjustable to the opening ends of the tray-side light passages at its part facing the bottom of said tray, and is provided with i) a means for making light incident on the vegetable or fruit through one of the measurement-side light passages and one of the tray-side light passages and ii) a detector which the light emergent from the vegetable or fruit enters through the other tray-side light passage and the other measurement-side light passage. The apparatus enables continuous measurement of taste characteristics such as sugar content and ripeness of vegetables and fruits at a high speed and a high precision without complicating the structure.

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Chiba, Japan

Shuji Suzuki