JPH0114920Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea]

<Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a quality determination device for growing fruits and vegetables or harvested fruits and vegetables. Specifically, it detects ethylene gas generated by fruits and vegetables to determine their ripeness, and determines the ripeness stage. The purpose of this is to select a shipping destination that meets the requirements. <Prior Art> It is known that when fruits and vegetables begin to undergo after-ripening called climacteric rise, the ethylene gas concentration inside the fruits and vegetables increases rapidly. For example, in the Bulletin of the Agricultural Products Distribution Technology Research Group, Vol. 5, No. 12, Page 55, published by the Agricultural Products Distribution Technology Research Group, it is reported that the concentration of cantaloupe before the start of climacteric is 0.04 ppm, and after the start of climacteric, it is 3.0 ppm. Conventional techniques for easily detecting such a rapid increase in ethylene gas concentration using a reaction reagent and determining the ripeness of fruits and vegetables include Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-52561 and Japanese Patent Application No. 59-58991. There is a detailed statement. JP-A No. 58-52561 discloses a method for determining the ripeness of fruits and vegetables by pasting or enclosing detection paper on the surface of the fruit or vegetable skin with a detection paper impregnated with a reaction reagent. Further, Japanese Patent Application No. 59-57991 discloses a detector in which the surface of a granular carrier is coated with a reaction reagent and is packaged with an air-permeable packaging material. <Problem that the invention is trying to solve> JP-A-58-52561 can determine ethylene gas with a concentration of 100 ppm or more, but cannot determine ethylene gas with a concentration lower than that, so the above-mentioned method cannot be used. The disadvantage is that it is not possible to detect the start of a climacteric rise. Further, the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 59-57991 allows ethylene gas to be detected over time, and has the disadvantage that detection takes time. <Means for Solving the Problem> The present invention has an ethylene gas detection agent installed in a recess provided at the bottom of a transparent tray that is attached to the surface of fruits and vegetables and has a space in which ethylene gas generated from the surface of the fruits and vegetables can be stored. The above-mentioned drawbacks can be solved by producing a fruit and vegetable quality determining tool, which is characterized in that the fruit and vegetable quality determining tool is filled with a container and the upper part is sealed with a breathable sheet. This will be explained in detail using drawings. The present invention is composed of an ethylene gas collecting tray 2 made of a transparent thin plastic film sheet formed into a shallow circular shape, and a ring-shaped adhesive paper 4 for attaching the tray to the peel of fruits and vegetables. The drug 1, which reacts with ethylene gas to develop a color, is held in a conical recess 6 provided in the center of the tray 2 via breathable sheets 3, 3'.
The size of the gas collection tray depends on the target fruits and vegetables.
It is desirable to collect the gas emitted from as wide a surface area as possible, although this varies depending on the degree of ripeness and the shape of the epidermis. In reality, the diameter is preferably about 1.95 to 7.98 mm so that gas generated from a surface area of about 5 to 50 cm ² of the epidermis can be collected. The material is not particularly limited as long as it is transparent, but synthetic resin sheets such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyurethane, polyacetal, and polyphenol are suitable. The ring-shaped adhesive paper is used to easily attach and fix the gas collection tray to the surface of fruit and vegetable peels, and its materials include cloth, paper, and foam sheets such as foamed polyethylene, foamed polypropylene, and foamed urethane. Materials that are soft and can sufficiently deform to the uneven shape of fruit and vegetable peels are suitable, such as rubber sheets such as rubber sheets, soft vinyl chloride, and natural rubber. The adhesive is not particularly limited as long as it has the strength to prevent the tray from peeling off and satisfies the standards of the Food Sanitation Act. Here, the breathable sheets 3, 3' are cloth, paper,
Non-woven fabric, perforated plastic film, or a laminated sheet of these can be used, and the air permeability should be about 0.1 to several tens of thousands of seconds/100 c.c. using a Galley air permeability meter.
As the agent that reacts with ethylene gas to develop color, silica gel particles having a particle size of 40 to 60 mesh and whose surfaces are coated with an acidic aqueous solution of ammonium molybdate containing a palladium sulfate catalyst are suitable. The reaction formula when this reagent undergoes a color reaction with ethylene gas is as follows. 3( _NH4 ) _2O・_7MoO3
→Mo ₂ O ₃・3MoO ₃・6H ₂ O Ammonium Molybdate Molybdenum Blue In addition, fruits and vegetables that are the target of the present invention are suitable for those whose ethylene gas concentration increases during climacteric. Fruits include peaches, plums, melons,
Examples include pears, oysters, apples, avocados, mandarin oranges, kiwi fruits, sudachi, papaya, etc. Relatively large vegetables such as mushrooms are suitable. <Operation> Next, the operation of the present invention will be explained. Ethylene gas generated from the pericarp surface 8 surrounded by the ethylene gas collecting tray 2 is collected in a space 7 surrounded by the tray and the pericarp. The captured ethylene gas gradually reacts with the ethylene detection agent held in the center of the gas collection tray, causing the ethylene detection agent to change color. That is, as the size of the tray 2 becomes larger, the amount of ethylene gas collected becomes larger, so that discoloration can be achieved in a short time and a determination can be made in a short time. In this case, the relationship between the amount of ethylene gas and the color change time of the ethylene detection agent is inversely proportional, and the larger the amount of ethylene gas, the shorter the time required for color change. Regarding this point, please refer to Example 1. <Example> Example 1 225 ml of ammonium molybdate aqueous solution prepared by dissolving 228 g of ammonium molybdate in water from step 4.
and 1.0g of palladium sulfate in concentrated sulfuric acid with a concentration of 95.0%.
Palladium sulfate concentrated sulfuric acid aqueous solution 225 dissolved in 100ml
ml and 400 ml of water were mixed to prepare a reagent. Next, using a fluidized bath granulator, this reagent was coated on the surface of 40 to 60 meshes of purified white silica gel with a solid content ratio of 0.01%, and vacuum-dried to obtain the detection agent of the present invention (light yellow). Pack 0.1 g of this detection agent into a glass capillary tube with both ends lightly sealed with cotton plugs, assemble an experimental set as shown in Figure 3, and flow ethylene gas at various concentrations.
The relationship between color change time and ethylene gas amount was investigated and the results shown in Table 1 were obtained.

【table】

[Table] In other words, the amount of ethylene gas passing through the detection agent needs to exceed a certain level for the detection agent to change color, and the time required for the change in color becomes shorter as the amount of ethylene gas passing through increases. Example 2 and Comparative Example "Yubari melon" is characterized by its strong aroma and juiciness, but it is also known to have the property of rapidly ripening in 3 to 4 days. For this reason, it is highly desirable to know the ripeness of melons before shipping them. The effectiveness of the present invention was confirmed using this melon. (a) An ethylene gas collection tray with a depth of 5 mm and a diameter of 3 cm was molded from a transparent polypropylene sheet with a thickness of 0.2 mm. The center of the tray has a diameter of 0.5
A semicircular recess with a depth of 2 mm and a depth of 2 mm was provided, and 0.1 g of an ethylene detection agent manufactured using the method shown in Example 1 was filled.
The opening was sealed by thermal adhesion using a polyester/polypropylene nonwoven fabric (Melfit, manufactured by Teijin). Next, the outer periphery of the quality determining device was adhered to the surface of the melon peel using a ring-shaped adhesive paper made of foamed polyethylene (Sponge Tack, manufactured by Kuramoto Sangyo). (b) A semicircular tray with a diameter of 0.5 cm and a depth of 2 mm and a slight brim on the outer periphery was molded from a transparent polypropylene sheet with a thickness of 0.2 mm, and 0.1 g of the ethylene detection agent manufactured using the method shown in Example 1 was poured into the tray. The upper part was sealed by thermal bonding using a polyester/polypropylene nonwoven fabric (Melfit, manufactured by Teijin). Next, the outer periphery was attached to the surface of the melon peel using adhesive paper as in (a). The melons used in the test were samples with a diameter of 10 cm, a weight of 2 kg, and a fruit color of 7 to 8 parts before thinning, which is estimated to be at the appropriate ripeness immediately after the onset of climacteric growth.
The results were as shown in Table-2. In Example (a), the quality could be determined more quickly than before, but in Comparative Example (b), it took more than 4 hours for the detecting agent to clearly change color.

[Table] <Effects of the invention> The fruit and vegetable quality determination device of the present invention has a space that can store the ethylene gas generated from the surface of fruits and vegetables, so it can uniformly judge the quality of fruits and vegetables even if it is attached to any location on the fruit. can. In addition, since the ripeness can be determined in a short time, the sorting work at the time of shipment from agricultural cooperatives, etc. becomes easier. It is possible to select an appropriate shipping destination according to the stage of delivery, reducing losses during distribution. Furthermore, the fruit and vegetable quality determining device of the present invention does not require complicated molding, and is therefore easy to manufacture.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Both FIGS. 1 and 2 show embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows an outline of the experimental apparatus. Figure 1a,
Fig. 2b shows a plan view and a sectional view of the present invention, Fig. 2 shows a cross-sectional explanatory drawing attached to the surface of a fruit or vegetable peel, and Fig. 3 shows a schematic assembly diagram of the experimental apparatus. 1...Ethylene detection agent, 2...Gas collection tray, 3...Breathable sheet, 4...Ring-shaped adhesive paper, 5...Gas collection tray flange, 6...Ethylene detection agent storage section , 7... Space formed by the gas collection tray and the surface of the pericarp, 8... The surface of the fruit or vegetable peel, 9... Ethylene gas cylinder, 11... Flow meter, 12... Cotton plug, 13... Glass tube.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An ethylene gas detection agent is stored and filled in a recess provided at the bottom of a transparent tray that is attached to the surface of fruits and vegetables and has a space where ethylene gas generated from the surface of the fruits and vegetables can be stored, and the upper part is covered with a breathable sheet. An instrument for determining the quality of fruits and vegetables, characterized by being sealed with.