Detecting Food Adulteration with Benchtop NMR

Benchtop NMR can differentiate among saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated fats (Figure 1) and, based on this, can differentiate among different types of oil (Figure 2).

Figure 3 shows a gradual increase of one of the signals by adulteration with increasing concentrations of sunflower oil. NMR as a benchtop tool allows manufacturers and food safety officials to rapidly test the authenticity of foods such as olive oil, to protect brand reputation and ensure consumer confidence in the product’s authenticity.

Other features often analyzed with NMR that are now benefiting from benchtop systems are fat content of milk and species of coffee bean. The determination of the origin of these foods in the supply chain is vital to preserve the integrity of the manufacturer’s product and protect the consumer.

Mitigating the Risk of Food Fraud in the Future
Food fraud dents consumer confidence in the supply chain and causes distortions in markets that can lead to unfair competition, with legitimate producers undercut and potentially forced out of the market. If the whole supply chain is acting in accordance with a single standard, consumers can be confident in the seal of approval.

Benchtop NMR has a wide variety of potential applications in the fight against food fraud. Benchtop NMR systems can slot into any laboratory environment and begin providing accurate results quickly, without the need for expensive reagents or extensive user training.

For more information about how benchtop NMR is tackling food fraud, please visit bruker.com/products/mr/nmr/benchtop-nmr.html.

Dr. Decker is product manager for compact NMR (TD/FT) for Bruker BioSpin.