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Spectroscopy for food safety

Photonics are helping to improve quality control at every point in our food chain, improving our access to safe and nutritious food, reducing food waste, and preventing contamination and fraud that drives up consumer costs.

 

Portable near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a rapidly growing market, and with recent advances toward miniaturization, allows for non-destructive analysis in the field, with results in minutes, not weeks. Point-of-use testing enables suppliers to address issues immediately, reducing lot recalls and preventing food-borne illness.

 

48M people get sick each year in the US of foodborne illnesses—CDC

40% of all food grown and produced in the US is never eaten i

Food fraud costs the global food industry $10-40B per year ii

Application overview: spectroscopy

Barley

NIR spectroscopy can analyze the protein and moisture level in grains and is making strides toward achieving a resolution capable of detecting minor components like mycotoxins.

 

Spectroscopy is a non-destructive analytical technique used to analyze food ingredients and products by measuring how much light is absorbed or reflected from a sample. Instrument OEMs are innovating in UV-Vis, VIS, IR, NIR, and fluorescence spectroscopy, each targeting a different wavelength band.

 

NIR spectroscopy uses wavelengths from 780 nm to 2500 nm and can replace lab tests to analyze organic materials found in chemical, pharmaceutical, food and agriculture industries. Compact NIR spectrometers are now possible, lending themselves to portable instruments ideal for point-of-need use throughout our food supply.

 

Photonics in spectroscopy

Spectroscopy companies have been challenged to achieve the resolution and sensitivity needed to not only determine protein, fat, and moisture content but also to identify finer features required to identify mycotoxins, toxic chemicals produced by certain fungi or molds, that can contaminate food and cause illness. Innovations in photonics, including MEMS technology to allow for miniaturization, are helping instrumentation companies overcome miniaturization and resolution challenges.

 

Hamamatsu provides mini-spectrometers, FT-NIR engines, and diffuse reflection light sources for OEMs working on next-generation spectroscopy solutions.

 

Beyond the blog: more on spectroscopy for food safety

Spectroscopy for food safety

Spectroscopy for food safety

Analyzing food safety with spectroscopy: Identify contaminants and quantify chemical composition in food products using IR, UV-Vis, MS, and NMR techniques. Detect mycotoxins in barley, assess soybean quality, monitor hemp production, and combat adulteration in global foods.



Contributed by: John Gilmore

 

American Farm Bureau

ii Food Authenticity Network