Edible bird's nests (EBNs) are vulnerable to adulteration due to their huge demand for traditional medicine and high market price. Presently, there are pressing needs to explore field-deployable rapid screening techniques to detect adulteration of EBNs. The objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of using a handheld near-infrared (VIS/SW-NIR) spectroscopic device for the determination of EBN authenticity against the benchmark performance of a benchtop mid-infrared (MIR) spectrometer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArabica coffee beans are sold at twice the price, or more, compared to Robusta beans and consequently are susceptible to economically motivated adulteration by substitution. There is a need for rapid, non-destructive, and efficient analytical techniques for monitoring the authenticity of Arabica coffee beans in the supply chain. In this study, multispectral imaging (MSI) was applied to discriminate roasted Arabica and Robusta coffee beans and perform quantitative prediction of Arabica coffee bean adulteration with Robusta.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, Virgin coconut oil (VCO) has emerged as one of the most favorable edible oils because of its application in cooking, frying as well as additive used in food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic goods. These qualities have established VCO in high consumer demand and there is a great need of establishing a reliable method for the identification of its geographical origin. Through this present study, for the first time, it has been established that Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass-Spectrometry (ICP-MS) combined with multivariate chemometrics can be used for the identification of the geographical origin of the VCO samples of various provinces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough Hom Mali rice is considered the highest quality rice in Thailand, it is susceptible to adulteration and substitution. There is a need for rapid, low-cost and efficient analytical techniques for monitoring the authenticity and geographical origin of Thai Hom Mali rice. In this study, two infrared spectroscopy techniques, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, were applied and compared for the differentiation of Thai Hom Mali rice from two geographical regions over two production years.
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