Detection of Food Adulteration by Hyperspectral Imaging

Food adulteration is the term associated with intentional addition or substitution of inferior substances or by removal of valuable ingredient which spoils the properties and quality of food.

- Supreetha. S

Introduction

Food is the fundamental requirement of living beings. Due to increase in population, reduction in agriculture yield, lack of processing and storage facilities leads to inefficient utilization of food. However, hunger remains the major problem in the world and especially in the developing countries. To increase income from selling food, to sell food products profitably, food adulteration has been practiced for certain food products which not only is economic hazard but also a health hazard which might lead to occurrence of non- curable diseases and even death in certain instances.

Food adulteration

Food adulteration is the term associated with intentional addition or substitution of inferior substances or by removal of valuable ingredient which spoils the properties and quality of food. The common food products adulterated in India are given in Table 1.

In India, occurrence and prevalence of food adulteration is tackled by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare preceded by Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954. FSSAI has imposed regulation concerning food adulteration that, any person adding an adulterant to food so as to render it injurious for human consumption with an inherent potential to cause his death or is likely to cause grievous hurt, irrespective of the fact whether it causes actual injury or not, shall be punishable for a term which shall not be less than 7 years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and also fine which shall not be less than Rs 10 lakh.

Table 1. Common food adulterated in India