Nondestructive determination of freshness indicators for tilapia fillets stored at various temperatures by hyperspectral imaging coupled with RBF neural networks.

This study develops a reliable radial basis function neural networks (RBFNNs) to estimate freshness for tilapia fillets stored under non-isothermal conditions by using optimal wavelengths from hyperspectral imaging (HSI). The results show that, for tilapia fillet stored at -3, 0, 4, 10, and 15 °C and non-isothermal conditions, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), total aerobic counts (TAC), and the K value increase whereas sensory scores decrease with increasing storage time. To simplify the models, nine optimal wavelengths were selected by using the successive projections algorithm (SPA), following which SPA-RBFNN models were built based on the selected wavelengths and the values of TVB-N, TAC, K, and sensory evaluations for tilapia fillets store isothermally. The ability of the models based on HSI to predict the freshness indicators were verified for tilapia fillets stored under non-isothermal conditions. HSI thus has an excellent potential for nondestructive determination of freshness in tilapia fillets.