February 28, 2025 (press release) –
A new technology solution aims to ‘transform’ herb and spice authentication, helping to combat food fraud across the supply chain.
The technology was developed by cloud engineering company Storm Reply, for UK food authentication provider Bia Analytical.
It takes the form of a web-based portal combining advanced chemometrics, AI-powered modelling and spectroscopy, using Bia Analytical’s scientific models to identify authenticity ‘instantly’.
Despite the high risk of food fraud, authenticity testing can take up to two weeks to complete and is often limited to small sample sizes due to volume-based cost. The launch of Bia Analytical’s new portal aims to equip food testing laboratories, and other organisations across the F&B supply chain, with faster and more cost-effective methods.
For users, the web portal displays complex analytics in ‘easy-to-understand’ dashboards, Bia Analytical said. It can be accessed by standard web browsers, meaning professionals across different organisations and locations can view the sae information at the same time.
It can also be connected to handheld spectrometers, which Bia Analytical launched as a portable authentication service last year. Government bodies, food manufacturers and retailers are currently using these portable devices to screen herbs and spices and enhance audit and quality control processes.
This follows a 2021 EU study which found that more than half of the products in the herbs and spice market contained ‘some amount of undeclared plant material’. Most affected was oregano, with 48% of samples bulked out to unapproved levels, usually with olive leaves, followed by pepper, cumin, turmeric and saffron.
The modelling technology can be applied to almost any commodity, formulation or specification in the supply chain such as high-risk commodities including meat, fish, soybeans, cocoa and coffee.
Bia Analytical’s CEO, Simon Cole, said: “With food supply chains being long and complex, fraud can occur at any point from the farm to the supermarket shelf. Testing more and testing faster are key for achieving food safety and security.”
“We knew there was a better way of helping the industry to make faster decisions. By providing anyone access to our scientific models through the cloud we’re significantly increasing testing capacity in the market, as well as freeing up our scientists to develop new models for other commodities.”
Reading Scientific Services Ltd (RSSL) has partnered with Bia Analytical to conduct a critical beta test aimed at advancing the development of the new food authenticity testing technology.
Cole concluded that current small-scale trials show the technology is accurate and secure, adding: “We’ll be offering the technology to more food testing labs throughout the coming year which will complement the transformation of quality control processes in the field by high-volume food manufacturers and grocery retailers”.
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