<p><P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a quality prediction device for easily and accurately predicting quality evaluation of food products at the equivalent level to that of a sensory test by an appraiser without depending on the appraiser. <P>SOLUTION: A quality prediction device 1 includes: a feature-amount extraction section 11 for extracting a feature amount of a spectrum of each food sample from results of an instrumental analysis on a plurality of food samples; a feature-amount-evaluation-value determination section 12 for determining a feature-amount evaluation value for evaluating the order of the feature amounts of the spectra classified according to wavelength; a correlation-degree calculation section 13 for determining a correlation degree between the feature-amount evaluation value and a quality evaluation value by a tester; a correlation-degree determination section 14 for determining whether the absolute value of the correlation degree is larger than a threshold value; an effective wavelength determination section 15 for determining the wavelength of the feature amount evaluation value used for determining the correlation degree by the correlation degree calculation section 13 as an effective wavelength when the absolute value of the correlation degree is determined larger than the threshold value; and a model formula formation section 16 for determining a quality prediction value of each food sample using the effective wavelength. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT</p>
