The article authored by a faculty member of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Bozorgmehr University of Qaenat was published in the journal of `Food Measurement and Characterization`. August 29, 2024.

According to the university’s public relations office, the article by Dr. Hamid Mortezapur, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Bozorgmehr University of Qaenat, titled “Monitoring pesticide residue reduction in tomatoes based on processing thermal imagery” was published in the Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization with a JCR-Q2 ranking and an impact factor of 2.9.

Nowadays, the use of agricultural pesticides to increase crop production is common. However, pesticide residues in agricultural products and food pose a serious threat to human health. Therefore, monitoring pesticide residues in crops and horticultural products is of great importance for food safety.

This article presents a method based on high-voltage electric fields to eliminate pesticide residues in tomatoes and proposes a simple approach using thermal imaging and image processing to detect contaminated areas. The research findings indicate that exposing pesticide-contaminated tomatoes to a high-voltage electric field of 4 kilovolts for 10 minutes significantly reduces contamination. Finally, the results confirm that thermal imaging can accurately detect the presence and level of pesticide residue in tomatoes.

Bozorgmehr University of Qaenat’s research management and public relations office congratulates the researchers of this paper and the university community, wishing them continued success.