CONSUMER PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITY: APRICOTS, CANTALOUPES, PEACHES, PEARS, STRAWBERRIES, AND TOMATOES

Consumers are increasing their produce consumption; however, complaints of inconsistent produce quality and improper consumer handling practices could reduce consumer satisfaction with and demand for specific produce items. Seventy to eighty percent of consumers buy cantaloupes, peaches, pears, strawberries and tomatoes at the supermarket; only about half buy apricots at the supermarket. Apricots are not purchased at any location by almost 30% of consumers. Satisfaction with quality is highest for cantaloupes, lowest for tomatoes and apricots. Consumer complaints center around flavor and textural changes which develop in ripening. Both consumer handling practices and fresh product quality contribute to dissatisfaction.     

Chilled (5°C) and Frozen (−18°C) Storage Stability of the Purple-Hinge Rock Scallop, Hinnites multirugosus Gale

Purple-hinge rock scallops (Hinnites multirugosus), native to northeast Pacific Coast waters and under evaluation for commercial aquaculture, were harvested wild and analyzed for storage stability. Over 2 wk of chilled storage at 5°C or 5 months of frozen storage at ?18°C, scallops showed no appreciable lipid oxidation, proteolytic change, and ammonia development. Hypoxanthine fluctuated throughout fresh storage. Bacterial numbers were unchanged at ?18°C but sharply increased during the second week at 5°C. Odor of raw scallops deteriorated somewhat at week 2 of chilled storage and month 4 of frozen storage. However, when cooked, scallops showed no significant differences for most sensory characteristics or for acceptability. Cooking losses were variable. Textural shear parameters changed with weight and frozen storage.     

Illumination conditions in microsphere-assisted microscopy

White-light microsphere-assisted microscopy is a full-field and label-free imaging promising technique making it possible to achieve a subdiffraction lateral resolution. However, performance of this technique depends not only on the geometrical parameters but also on the illumination conditions of the optical system. In the present work, experimental measurements and computer simulations have been performed in air in order to determine the influence of the two diaphragm apertures of the Köhler arrangement and the spectral width of the light source on both the depth-of-focus of the microsphere and the optimization of the imaging contrast. Furthermore, the super-resolution phenomenon is demonstrated and the cumulated optical aberrations are shown through the measurement of the optical transfer function for the different arrangements of the illumination part.