This waste occurs at a time when 36 million people cannot regularly afford a quality meal that includes meat, chicken, fish, or its vegetarian equivalent. When you consider the air miles involved in transporting these foods, the water resources used, and other related environmental impacts, it becomes clear that anything that can be done to reduce food waste is welcome.
The EU-supported PhasmaFOOD project plays a key role in addressing this problem. “Today, there is a wide range of non-invasive detection techniques designed to assess the safety, authenticity, and quality of food products,” explains Konstantinos Thiveos, Director of Research and Innovation at INTRASOFT International (Belgium) and coordinator of the PhasmaFOOD project.
"Some of these techniques are now in the experimental phase, but most of them have significant disadvantages. For example, X-rays are one of the technologies used, but they are sensitive to the different densities present in foods, such as meat.".
Thiveos adds that most commercially used techniques are either expensive, destructive and time-consuming, or offer low-accuracy detection and are laborious.
A complete platform that offers flexibility and convenience.
PhasmaFOOD technology can detect: mycotoxins generated by microorganisms in food products; early signs of spoilage and food fraud or adulteration, as well as calculate the estimated shelf life.
The device integrates a sensor that uses a series of spectrometers and light sources, along with a camera.
“An electronic subsystem interprets the sensor data, partially processes it, and then sends the information to the end user’s mobile device,” explains Spyros Evangelatos, a member of the coordination team and senior research and innovation specialist at INTRASOFT International. Users can then send the information to a cloud platform for further analysis.
"The final answer regarding the scanned food sample, indicating whether the sample is contaminated or not, is sent back to your phone.".
Throughout the project, the team analyzed the following food samples: meat (minced pork, chicken, beef), skimmed milk powder, olive oil, spirits, cereals, nuts, corn, pineapple, arugula, and sea bream.
The presence of mycotoxins produced by fungi in animal feed and the food supply chain constitutes a major global food safety problem. The PhasmaFOOD sensor achieved over 80% accuracy in distinguishing between uncontaminated and moderately contaminated samples. Accuracy exceeded 90% in distinguishing between uncontaminated and highly contaminated samples.
The "brain" behind
the PhasmaFOOD system is its computer architecture, the intelligence that drives innovation and enables rapid food characterization. This system comprises an extensible framework for running intelligent chemometric algorithms, data fusion strategies, and reference laboratory measurements.
"Our team was formed with specialists in a range of diverse fields, whose collaboration has enabled us to develop a portable and efficient system capable of increasing food security and reducing waste," explains Evangelatos. "I am very proud of what we have been able to achieve.".
The PhasmaFOOD project demonstrated and validated its system at the 9th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Food Analysis, held in Prague in 2019.
Although it has reached a considerable level of maturity, the device is not yet for sale. The PhasmaFOOD consortium will expand its testing activities for the device, adding a "farm-to-table" perspective, and invites anyone interested in participating in this process to subscribe to its newsletter and contact them through its website.
