Abstract
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is the main leafy vegetable produced in Brazil. Since its production is widespread all over the country, lettuce traceability and quality assurance is hampered. In this study, we propose a new method to identify the geographical origin of Brazilian lettuce. The method uses a powerful data mining technique called support vector machines (SVM) applied to elemental composition and soil properties of samples analyzed. We investigated lettuce produced in São Paulo and Pernambuco, two states in the southeastern and northeastern regions in Brazil, respectively. We investigated efficiency of the SVM model by comparing its results with those achieved by traditional linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The SVM models outperformed the LDA models in the two scenarios investigated, achieving an average of 98 % prediction accuracy to discriminate lettuce from both states. A feature evaluation formula, called F–score, was used to measure the discriminative power of the variables analyzed. The soil exchangeable cation capacity, soil contents of low crystalized Al and Zn content in lettuce samples were the most relevant components for differentiation. Our results reinforce the potential of data mining and machine learning techniques to support traceability strategies and authentication of leafy vegetables.
Highlights
IntroductionSince the consumption per capita of fruits and vegetables is about 40 kg per yr–1 in Brazil, much less than 143 kg per yr–1 consumed in a developed country, such as the United States (Mainville and Peterson, 2005), lettuce is an important source of vegetable–based nutrients for the Brazilian population
Lettuce is among the most consumed vegetables worldwide and is considered the most produced and consumed leafy vegetable in Brazil
We proposed a novel methodology to determine the geographical origin of Brazilian lettuce based on their elemental composition and soil properties through the use of support vector machines (SVM), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and feature selection
Summary
Since the consumption per capita of fruits and vegetables is about 40 kg per yr–1 in Brazil, much less than 143 kg per yr–1 consumed in a developed country, such as the United States (Mainville and Peterson, 2005), lettuce is an important source of vegetable–based nutrients for the Brazilian population. Growers can sell to a diversity of buyers, including intermediaries (purchase at farm gate), small supermarkets, large supermarket chains, wholesale markets, processors, and directly to consumers. This fragmented production chain makes the traceability and quality assurance of lettuce a difficult task. Most farmers neglect to use methods and techniques that add value to the product, such as food safety, traceability of inputs, improvements of handling and planting, among others (Carvalho et al, 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
