Rapid Sensing: Hand-Held and Portable FTIR Applications for On-Site Food Quality Control from Farm to Fork

Abstract

Today, one of the world’s biggest problems is the assurance of food integrity from farm to fork. Economically motivated food adulteration and food authenticity problems are increasing daily with considerable health and economic effects. Early detection and prevention of food integrity-related problems could be provided by the application of effective on-site food analysis technologies. FTIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics can be used for the rapid quality control of a wide variety of food products with fast, high-throughput, accurate and nondestructive analysis advantages. In particular, hand-held and portable FTIR instruments have the potential to surveil food quality and food safety in various critical segments of the food supply chain. In this review, we explore the abilities of hand-held and portable FTIR spectrometers combined with multivariate statistics to conduct a quality evaluation of various food products in terms of food adulteration and authenticity issues. An examination of the literature showed that comparable results were obtained based on detection limits, correlation coefficient (R2) values, standard error values and discrimination power by using both portable/hand-held FTIR spectrometers and benchtop FTIR spectrometers. In conclusion, this review highlights the potential usefulness of portable and hand-held FTIR spectrometers combined with chemometrics for maintaining the food quality through the presentation of various applications that may shed light for on-site food control at any point of the food supply chain.

A portable dry film FTIR instrument for industrial food and bioprocess applications

“…There exist portable and handheld IR systems that demonstrate the potential for analyzing various food samples. 14,58,59 However, a direct comparison with the present dry film FTIR system is difficult since measurements have been performed on different samples. Most of the available portable FTIR systems are based on the ATR method and provide rapid sample analysis.…”

Nondestructive Metabolomic Fingerprinting: FTIR, NIR and Raman Spectroscopy in Food Screening

“…Mid-infrared spectroscopy provides detailed information about the composition and chemical structure of the evaluated materials. An infrared spectrum of the molecule is very distinctive and presents a chemical fingerprint of the materials with characteristic functional groups [16]. FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy was reported to be a reliable metabolic fingerprinting technique, which is capable of high-throughput, cost-effective, easy, green analyses with minimum or no sample preparation [17].…”

Design of an Optical Path Scanning Control System in a Portable Fourier Transform Spectrometer Based on Adaptive Feedforward–Nonlinear Proportional-Integral Cascade Composite Control

“…Sulfur hexafluoride has multiple characteristic peaks at 900-1600 cm −1 , and sulfur hexafluoride leakage detection can be carried out through these characteristic peaks [5]. In order to adapt to practical needs, portable FTSs, such as handheld [6,7] and vehicle-mounted [8] FTSs, have emerged. The interferometer is the core component of an FTS, and the miniaturization of the interferometer is the key to its portability [9].…”