The bioactive compounds present in food are associated with numerous health benefits, thanks to their antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-cancer properties.

The aim of a recent study, carried out by a group of Brazilian researchers (Canato et al., 2025), was to develop a model to estimate the levels of lycopene and beta-carotene in both fresh tomatoes and their derivatives using non-destructive spectrophotometric parameters.

Image-based systems are designed to approximate human colour perception, taking into account the non-linear nature of vision. Non-destructive methods for predicting parameters traditionally obtained by destructive analysis allow larger samples to be evaluated with sufficient precision.

The models show excellent agreement with the observed values, with correlation coefficients of 0.71 for lycopene and 0.79 for beta-carotene, as well as a minimal associated error.