Ever since childhood we have been hearing of the green Leafy vegetables. We grow up listening to mothers boasting of its health benefits. The green fresh leaves attract the consumer and also the prices shoot up exponentially. But, in this fabricated world we live in, how do we get the assurity of the freshness of the vegetables we buy ? Uptill now there was no method to detect the freshness of the green leafy vegetables. The overall appearance, the colour, which is green gives the overall satisfaction, that the leafy vegetables are fresh. What about a gadget which can detect the degree of freshness of the green leafy vegetable ? Such type of gadget to analyze the degree of freshness was always in need.
Soon such gadget shall be available in the Indian market for the help of the farmers, fresh vegetable sellers, hawkers and even with the consumers also. Scientists at Jiangnan University,China developed the monitor to analyze the degree of freshness of spinach, cabbage and lettuce after a few days on display.
The scientists at Jiangan University measured chlorophyll fluorescence every half hour for three days. The data was then analyzed and the correlation of ChlF parameters with freshness and storage time was found. Scientists identified some indexes that can be used as early detection tools to verify the freshness of leaf vegetables. The water sprayed on them makes it difficult to initially assess freshness but these indexes make it possible to assess it after 2-2.5 days on the shelves.
Vegetable freshness is very important both for the catering business and domestic consumption. Supermarkets often spray water on leaf vegetables to make them look fresh and, most of all, to make it impossible to assess how long they've been on the shelf for. Nonetheless, it's not possible to store these vegetables for too long as they can rot quickly. It is therefore important to use quick and easy monitoring tools that can assess freshness. The Research and development is in progress in view of the temperature and wetting methods to assess the freshness of leaf vegetables in changed conditions.
