Felix Instruments, Camas Wash., has made upgrades to its Avocado Quality Meter.
The meter, released in January, allows growers and packers to estimate the dry matter of hass avocados while still on the tree without damaging the fruit. Using near-infrared light, it tests the maturity of avocados without the lengthy process of traditional methods, which use microwave ovens or food dehydrators, according to a news release. That involves weighing the avocados, drying them and reweighing them, destroying them in the process.
The upgrade to the F-751 Avocado Quality Meter allows it to measure to an accuracy of within 1.15 dry matter units on a single fruit and 0.83 dry matter units in lots of five, according to the release.
The company is working with Jorge Osuna-Garcia at the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agricolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), in Mexico City. Feliz Instruments scientists have made multiple visits to Mexico to collect data and meet with growers to test the meter, Scott Trimble, marketing director, said in the release.
“Our mission is to always be improving and optimizing our tools,” Trimble said in the release. “With that in mind, we’re producing an incredible instrument now and we are continuing to work on making it even better.”
The company is working with growers of other commodities that rely on brix and dry matter to determine maturity.
“We’re deep in development and working with a collection of worldwide partners with the goal of launching additional commodity specific quality meters this year,” Trimble said in the release.
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