Abstract: An apparatus for non-destructive measurement of internal properties of individual vegetable or fruit pieces comprises: LEDs constructed and arranged to emit radiation into a vegetable or fruit product; pick-up structure constructed and arranged to pick up radiation, emitted by the LEDs, that has entered the vegetable or fruit product and then exited the vegetable or fruit product; a hollow cylinder between the LEDs and the pick-up structure for preventing radiation emitted by the LEDs from directly reaching the pick-up structure; a spectrometer; structure for conveying to the spectrometer the radiation picked up by the pick-up structure; and structure for processing a spectrum frequency and amplitude data as produced by the spectrometer upon the radiation picked up by the pick-up structure being analyzed by the spectrometer.

Abstract: Instrument for measuring the properties of vegetable products, comprising:—an energy source adapted to direct a radiation against the fruit,—means for picking up the radiation being re-emitted by said fruit,—a spectrograph analysing said radiation,—means for conveying said radiation into the spectrograph,—means for processing the data generated by the spectrograph, in which the energy source comprises a plurality of LEDs contained in a single portable casing provided with a handgrip and a probing head. The spectrograph and the processing means are physically separated from said portable casing, to which they are electrically and optically connected via at least a multiple optical/electric connection. The LEDs are provided in closed-loop arrangements on the surface of the probing head and said means for picking up the re-emitted radiation are arranged at the centre of the rings formed by the LEDs that emit radiations whose respective emission spectra are contiguous.