Lettuce quality inspection app with AI quality control:

Lettuce quality inspection app with AI quality control manages entire lettuce harvesting, washing, packing, and sales & distribution of lettuce products for improved lettuce quality inspection processes. Reduce quality inspection costs. Eliminate lettuce waste, price negotiations, and QC mistakes. Maximize lettuce quality & consistency. 

Lettuce quality inspection app with AI quality control:

Lettuce quality inspection app with AI quality control manages entire lettuce harvesting, washing, packing, and sales & distribution of lettuce products for improved lettuce quality inspection processes. Reduce quality inspection costs. Eliminate lettuce waste, price negotiations, and QC mistakes. Maximize lettuce quality & consistency.

Lettuce quality inspection app
Lettuce  Supplier quality inspection & management

Since the early 2000s, plant factory (or vertical farm) technology has been introduced for growing vegetables and soft fruits. With a well-controlled environment, new health benefits, food safety, optimized nutrients and increased shelf-life can be offered to consumers. With the progress of light emitting diode (LED) lighting efficiency and the knowledge of light-plant interaction, a better quality control can now be achieved together with improved energy efficiency. Growth strategies combining crop quality attributes (e.g., color, nutrients, shelf life) with efficient growth are key for economic viability of plant factories. Most research so far has been addressing quality and growth efficiency separately. Several strategies exist from literature to improve quality attributes, but so far not in terms of optimization of the total growth efficiency including space and energy use. We are aiming to achieve a high growth efficiency (in g mol-1) and at the same time fulfill the requirements on crop quality. 

Lettuce quality inspection app
Lettuce Quality inspections during production
View App Specifications.

After trimming outer leaves, the leaves should be a bright to dark green color (tinged with red in the red romaine cultivars) with the inner leaves of the head being yellow or light green. The bright to dark green of romaine leaves is indicative of higher vitamin A and vitamin C contents relative to iceberg lettuce types. Leaves should be crisp and turgid, and free from insects, decay or mechanical damage (U.S. Grade No. 1). Different romaine varieties may vary in sweetness and bitterness.

Temperature & Controlled Atmosphere
Optimum Temperature

0°C (32°F) is required to optimize the postharvest life of romaine lettuce. A shelf-life of around 21 days is expected at this temperature. At 5°C (41°F) a shelf-life of about 14 days can be expected as long as no ethylene is in the environment. Water spray-vacuum cooling or hydrocooling are often used for romaine lettuce, but forced-air cooling may also be used.

Lettuce quality inspection app
Lettuce  Quality control & management

Freezing Injury. Freeze damage can occur in the field and cause separation of the epidermis from the leaf. This weakens the leaf and leads to bacterial decay during storage. Freeze damage can occur during storage if the lettuce is held at <-0.2°C (31.7°F). This appears as darkened translucent or water-soaked areas that will turn slimy and deteriorate rapidly after thawing.

Relative Humidity

>95%

Rates of Respiration

Romaine lettuce heads have moderate respiration rates, but they are generally higher than rates for iceberg lettuce:

Temperature 5°C (41°F) 10°C (50°F) 15°C (59°F) 20°C (68°F)
ml CO2/kg·hr 9-12 15-20 19-25 30-38
To calculate heat production multiply mL CO2/kg·hr by 440 to get Btu/ton/day or by 122 to get kcal/metric ton/day.

Lettuce quality inspection app
Daily Lettuce  packhouse hygiene checklist

Some benefit to shelf-life can be obtained with low O2 atmospheres (1-3%) at temperatures of 0-5°C (32-41°F). Low O2 atmospheres will reduce respiration rates and reduce the detrimental effects of ethylene. Intact heads are not generally benefited by atmospheres containing CO2 and injury may occur with >5% CO2 (see physiological disorders, brown stain). Cut Romaine lettuce, however, is commonly packaged in low O2 (<1%) and high CO2 (7-10%) atmospheres because these conditions control browning on the cut surfaces. On salad pieces, cut surface browning occurs more rapidly and more extensively than do symptoms of brown stain caused by CO2. Cut iceberg lettuce tolerates higher CO2 concentrations than cut romaine lettuce.