MOON KIM: "We were requested, we were asked, to develop a method to detect contamination in produce. So we started with the apple as the model sample."

The scanner uses a high-speed camera placed over the conveyer belt that moves the produce along. As the apples move along the belt, the scanner captures images of each piece of fruit.

The system is equipped with an ultraviolet lamp and a halogen lamp that produces near-infrared light. A spectrograph device can use the near-infrared light bouncing off an apple to show evidence of damage. The ultraviolet light can show contaminants.

Moon Kim says the team hopes the system will be available before long.

MOON KIM: "We are targeting for development in commercial plants for the next several years."

The scanner can direct a sorting machine to separate the bad apples from the good ones. The system is currently able to show the surface of only half the apple as it speeds by. The inventers hope to improve the process so it can show the whole surface.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can watch captioned videos of our reports at the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube. I’m Bob Doughty.