Balanced sampling of boxes from batches for assessing quality of fruits and vegetables in EU countries

Sara Franceschi (), Gianni Betti, Lorenzo Fattorini, Francesca Gagliardi and Gianni Montrone
Additional contact information
Sara Franceschi: University of Siena
Lorenzo Fattorini: University of Siena
Francesca Gagliardi: University of Siena
Gianni Montrone: Quality Assurance, Conad del Tirreno

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 2022, vol. 56, issue 4, No 45, 2839 pages

Abstract: Abstract The best evaluation for the proportion of defective units in a batch of fruits and vegetables can be achieved by an exhaustive checking of all the boxes in the batch, that is prohibitive to perform in most cases. Usually, only a sample of boxes is checked. In EU countries, EU regulations establish to estimate the proportion of defective units in a batch by the proportion of defective units in the sample, without giving any rule for selecting boxes. Therefore, results are highly dependent on the subjective choice of boxes. In the present study, an objective design-based approach is considered to select boxes from batches, adopting balanced spatial schemes with equal inclusion probabilities. The schemes are able to select samples of boxes evenly spread throughout the batch also ensuring good statistical properties for the proportion of defective units in the sample as estimator of the proportion of defective units in the batch. The performance of these strategies is evaluated by means of a simulation study performed on real and artificial batches of apples, peppers and strawberries. A case study is considered to estimate the proportion of defective units in a batch of courgettes stored in a distribution center of a supermarket chain in Central Italy.

Keywords: Equal probability sampling; EU regulation; Horvitz-Thompson estimator; Monte Carlo simulation; Sample proportion of defective units; Spatial balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-021-01247-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:56:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s11135-021-01247-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11135-021-01247-y

Access Statistics for this article

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology is currently edited by Vittorio Capecchi

More articles in Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().