Chocolate Quality Assessment Based on Chemical Fingerprinting Using Near Infra-red and Machine Learning Modeling
by
Thejani M. Gunaratne 1
, Claudia Gonzalez Viejo 1, Nadeesha M. Gunaratne 1, Damir D. Torrico 1,2, Frank R. Dunshea 1 and 
Sigfredo Fuentes 1,*
Thejani M. Gunaratne 1, Claudia Gonzalez Viejo 1, Nadeesha M. Gunaratne 1, Damir D. Torrico 1,2, Frank R. Dunshea 1 and Sigfredo Fuentes 1,*
1
School of Agriculture and Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
2
Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Foods 2019, 8(10), 426; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods8100426
Received: 1 September 2019 / Revised: 13 September 2019 / Accepted: 18 September 2019 / Published: 20 September 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Implementation of Artificial Intelligence in Food Science, Food Quality, and Consumer Preference Assessment)
Chocolates are the most common confectionery and most popular dessert and snack across the globe. The quality of chocolate plays a major role in sensory evaluation. In this study, a rapid and non-destructive method was developed to predict the quality of chocolate based on physicochemical data, and sensory properties, using the five basic tastes. Data for physicochemical analysis (pH, Brix, viscosity, and color), and sensory properties (basic taste intensities) of chocolate were recorded. These data and results obtained from near-infrared spectroscopy were used to develop two machine learning models to predict the physicochemical parameters (Model 1) and sensory descriptors (Model 2) of chocolate. The results show that the models developed had high accuracy, with R = 0.99 for Model 1 and R = 0.93 for Model 2. The thus-developed models can be used as an alternative to consumer panels to determine the sensory properties of chocolate more accurately with lower cost using the chemical parameters.
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Keywords:
sensory; physicochemical measurements; artificial neural networks; near infra-red spectroscopy
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MDPI and ACS Style
Gunaratne, T.M.; Gonzalez Viejo, C.; Gunaratne, N.M.; Torrico, D.D.; Dunshea, F.R.; Fuentes, S. Chocolate Quality Assessment Based on Chemical Fingerprinting Using Near Infra-red and Machine Learning Modeling. Foods 2019, 8, 426.
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