Development and Prediction of a Non-Destructive Quality Index (Qi) for Stored Date Fruits Using VIS–NIR Spectroscopy and Artificial Neural Networks

This study proposes a novel non-destructive approach to assessing and predicting the quality of stored date fruits using a composite quality index (Qi) modeled via visible– near-infrared (VIS–NIR) spectroscopy and artificial neural networks (ANNs). Two lead- ing cultivars, Sukkary and Khlass, were stored for 12 months using three temperature regimes (25 ◦C, 5 ◦C, and −18 ◦C) and five types of packaging. The samples were grouped into six moisture content categories (4.36–36.70% d.b.), and key...