Frozen and defrosted fruit revealed with X-ray dark-field radiography

A novel non-destructive method for distinguishing frozen and defrosted fruit and berries using X-ray dark-field radiography is proposed. In this proof-of-principle study we are able to discern between the raw and frozen state of two kinds of berries and a piece of mandarin as well as between the raw and defrosted state of one of the berries. Contrast-to-noise (CNR) values of around 2.5 are obtained with X-ray dark-field radiography whereas almost no contrast is found with conventional X-ray radiography with CNR values around 0.2.