Food quality technology plays a vital role both in ensuring that food is safe to consume, thereby reducing food waste, and in providing information about their health and composition, notes FoodNavigator.

Wide range of reasons

There are a wide range of reasons why it is important to be able to assess the quality of food products. You may need to know their composition, including nutrient levels or sugars. It may be necessary to check for potentially harmful substances, such as microplastics. You might simply want to know if they have defects.

The ability to check the quality of food helps producers better understand the nutritional content of their food and whether it is safe to consume or not, as well as reducing food waste by allowing them to detect defective food early.

A number of European startups are using technology to see inside foods, to explore their quality and to enable producers to make optimal judgments about them.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: Protecting Food Quality

The Spanish startup Aotech uses near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to assess food quality. NIRS is not a new technology and has been used for many years. However, according to Iker García, CEO at Aotech, there has been a recent increase in interest in the technology for its potential use in assessing food quality.

The technology is based on studying the interactions of light with the object being analyzed, in this case, food. The light will exhibit peaks and valleys, depending on the physical and chemical properties of the food, in the absorption of infrared light in certain bands. This is known as the spectrum.

Other Uses for Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy can be used for a variety of different purposes in the food industry. For example, it can be used to detect and classify microplastics and to determine the chemicals that produce flavor in food products, thus removing unwanted flavors.

"The goal here is to use a machine learning algorithm to correlate the absorption values of the spectrum with reference values, which usually come from laboratory analyses. Once this predictive model has been developed, other samples can be analyzed using this technology," García told us.

The technology is used by industries such as milk, oil, bakery, wine, sauces, and animal feed to detect food quality. Food quality refers, in part, to both nutrition and safety.

"There is a trend towards healthier foods with lower sugar, fat, and salt content. NIR spectroscopy could be a great ally in verifying whether the concentrations of these elements are within desired limits," García suggested.

Additionally, "this technology has applications for detecting products that do not meet certain specifications, including detecting counterfeit or adulterated food products. Currently, we are conducting research projects for early detection of phytosanitary products in whole olives, which provide promising results."

The process of installing Aotech technology can be either easy or complex, depending on conditions. "Usually, it is not very complicated, and only a few accessories are needed for installation. The biggest issues arise when the temperature and humidity of the ambient environment can be highly variable and, therefore, the system needs to be protected against them to avoid their influence," García told us.

3D Light Microscopy: Detecting Components

The Austrian startup Holloid, on the other hand, uses 3D imaging technology to detect various components in food, such as algae, yeast, bacteria, and even microplastics. This allows them to increase product safety.

"Holloid has developed innovative technology for 3D bright field microscopy. In our devices, we shine visible light through samples of up to 100 microliters (a microliter is one millionth of a liter) onto a camera.

Using the information contained in the recorded images, we can uniquely provide information about all particles in the sample volume in a few seconds," said Marcus Lebesmühlbacher, co-founder at Holloid, to FoodNavigator.

Health Risks of Microplastics

Microplastics can cause significant damage to human health when consumed, leading to symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting (according to the US National Institutes of Health).

This not only ensures that the product is safe but also opens up new doors. For example, according to Lebesmühlbacher, it allows for the optimization of bioprocess control.

"Holloid's technology is a game-changer. Holloid provides key technology to scale many of the nutrients and disruptive ingredients that will shape the future of global nutrition."

He also suggested that the technology could enable faster research into new foods, such as alternative proteins and supplements.

With this technology, Holloid has collaborated with a range of stakeholders, including universities, food and beverage companies, and production and analytical equipment manufacturers.

"Holloid allows food producers to become more informed about their processes and the microbes within them than ever before. Many of our clients work in innovative fields. They still need to reduce costs in production and scalability to bring their valuable, nutritionally rich compounds to market," concluded Lebesmühlbacher.

Microwave Reflectometry

In the Netherlands, the Dutch startup Vertigo Technologies uses a microwave-based technique to detect fruit quality. The technique, known as FRESCO, is non-invasive and can detect ripeness stage, internal defects, and fruit shelf life without damaging it.

"Our sensors are based on so-called 'microwave reflectometry,' and what they do is essentially measure how a material (which, in our case, is the fruit) reacts to an electromagnetic field applied to it in the microwave spectrum," Luca Galatro, CEO of Vertigo Technologies, told FoodNavigator.

"The way the material interacts with the electromagnetic wave is recorded by our sensor and then correlated with the relevant internal quality attributes using machine learning techniques. In this process, the sensor is placed in contact with the fruit, and the measurement takes place within a 1s timeframe."

The sensor, currently used by exotic fruit importers and spun off from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, can be used to detect a "wide range" of internal quality attributes, "associated with features such as ripeness (pre-harvest), maturation stage (post-harvest), shelf life, flavor, or internal defects.

Brix

Brix is a measure of sugar content. "Depending on fruits, we have demonstrated the ability to predict specific attributes such as Brix, firmness, dry matter, titratable acidity, oil content, and internal browning.

So far, our sensors have been used on fruits such as mangoes, avocados, apples, pears, and tomatoes. The sensor is also portable, meaning it is easy to use.

"Current users use our sensors to perform tests in multiple production stages, at acceptance upon shipment, during cold storage, during artificial ripening, and prior to distribution." (Photo: Freepik)