Infrared Spectroscopy and Hyperspectral Imaging for Detecting Food Contaminants and Residues

Dear Colleagues,

Infrared spectroscopy (IR) and hyperspectral imaging (HSI) have gained attention as non-destructive techniques for detecting food contaminants and residues. As food safety continues to be a concern to regulatory agencies and food quality is an increasingly important part of a healthy diet, these advanced technologies offer efficient, real-time monitoring for quality control with a wide application to identify toxic substances such as pesticide residues, heavy metals, and microbial contaminants. In addition to these external contaminants, naturally occurring toxic compounds (e.g., glycoalkaloids, mycotoxins, and plant secondary metabolites) also present significant risks to consumers, and IR/HSI approaches can add to their detection and control.

Different from conventional detection methods, often time-consuming, labor-intensive, and dependent on lab consumables (e.g., chemical reagents), IR and HSI enable in situ, non-invasive analysis. These features enhance their use in day-to-day food safety assessments in different industry segments.

Both technologies are based on light principles to sense and measure their chemical constituents. IR focuses on the absorption of infrared light by specific molecular bonds in food components, commonly used in the near (780–2500 nm) and mid (2500–25,000 nm) ranges, while HSI captures spectral information across a wide range of wavelengths, extracting three-dimensional spatial information. This enhancement allows the detection of subtle changes in food composition and structure, which is the key to tracing contaminants and residues.

Despite the progress their technologies have achieved. There are still challenges in scaling up their application to meet food industry needs. Some include food matrices variability, robust calibration models, and the complexity of spectral data interpretation. Ongoing advancements in sensor design, data fusion, and machine learning have shown promising use to overcome these barriers. With these innovations, IR and HSI are poised to become indispensable tools in the pursuit of safer, higher-quality food systems.

Dr. Marcus Vinicius da Silva Ferreira
Guest Editor

Dr. Md Wadud Ahmed
Guest Editor Assistant

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• infrared spectroscopy (IR)
• hyperspectral imaging (HSI)
• food contaminants
• food safety
• pesticides
• heavy metals
• microbial contamination
• non-destructive techniques
• real-time detection
• data analysis