Melon-checkers swap hands for 'eyes'
Yomiuri Shimbun 7-Jun-2004
Melons are being shipped from Asahimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, that have been selected using a new system that determines when they are best to eat by rating their sweetness and ripeness. The melon-evaluating devices, whose light sensor-based system has replaced the labors of human melon-checkers who learned to judge fruit through years of experience, was jointly developed by Ibaraki Asahimura Agricultural Cooperative (JA) and Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo-based Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. Unfortunately, consumers wishing to know exactly when to start melon-munching will have to make do with checking only the sweetness rating because, taking an extremely cautious attitude in this, the first year of the new system's operation, JA has decided not to publish ripeness ratings. Still, consumers can find out just how sweet a melon is by checking the number printed on the fruit against data stored on the JA Web site.
Until now, the only way to test a melon's ripeness was to tap or sniff it.
