LIGHT! 003 | Photonics revolutionise the food industry

tions is particularly interesting, because it enables its
integration with other measurement systems at other
wavelengths. The higher the temperature, the greater
the amount of thermal radiation, so small changes in
the temperature of a material can be measured simply
by measuring the levels of infrared light it emits. Thermography
has an impact on the food industry in different
stages: from controlling the cooking point of food,
guaranteeing controls on sealing, through to the maintenance
of the cold chain, the curing point, etc. The
measurement of food temperature is also important
for health controls, where excesses of heat have been
shown to be related to the appearance of carcinogenic
products and other substances such as acrylamide. In
this way, thermography is also being widely used for
the control of frying, the melting of chocolate, in bakery
ovens, hot and cold smoking, etc.
Infrared radiation is not the only type of light that
can be used to determine the chemical properties of
a material. In Spain we are lucky to have one of the
most advanced synchrotrons in Europe, the ALBA,
thus giving the country’s food industry the chance to
use synchrotron radiation spectroscopy. Although the
operating principle does not change with respect to
NIR spectroscopy, synchrotron light makes it possible
to explore properties of materials with a more precise
level of detail, since synchrotron light is much more
energetic than infrared light. This enables the characterisation
of different types of food, such as oil or ham,
as well as certain packaging in order to optimise production
and manufacturing processes.
In order to obtain fine measurement of food properties,
the industry is also incorporating different types
of microscopes such as bright field microscopy or fluorescence.
While bright field microscopes serve to obtain
an enhanced and very sharp image of the sample
to be scanned, fluorescence microscopies have the
advantage that they only make certain components of
a material visible (those that give rise to fluorescence).
This enables the combination of microscopes in in-line
systems to quantify suspended particles in oil, wine,
or beer, as well as determining the existence of microorganisms
in raw materials, as IK4-TEKNIKER has
demonstrated with various devices. The novel system
developed by SixSenso is also noteworthy: a spin-off
created at ICFO, capable of combining a microfluidics
system and a fluorescence reader to measure levels of
bacteria concentration, count specific populations of
microorganisms, etc.
As we can see, photonics is leading a new revolution
in the food industry. Thanks to the implementation of
techniques such as those mentioned above, it adds
a new dimension to precision agriculture, which has
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