FoodSensor is a portable laser device created by ENEA, the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and Sustainable Economic Development, to detect and report food fraud in less than five minutes using a traffic light system. "It is a secure system, simple to use even for unskilled individuals, and portable in a briefcase. To identify any adulteration, just introduce a tiny sample of the food without any preparation or chemical reagents into the gadget ", says ENEA researcher Luca Fiorani of the Diagnostic and Metrology Laboratory at the Frascati Research Center. FoodSensor's efficacy has been tested on saffron, a very valued spice that is often adulterated with tartrazine, a synthetic yellow coloring used in the food business, or turmeric for its distinctive hue. For laboratory testing, ENEA researchers formulated a variety of combinations including tartrazine and turmeric in proportions ranging from 20% to 2%, relative to the saffron concentration. The purpose of this experiment was to ensure that the laser device could accurately identify progressively lower amounts of impurities in saffron. "In a matter of minutes, FoodSensor enabled us to determine if the examined sample was genuine, suspicious, or tampered with, due to a new user-friendly interface that indicates the outcome as a traffic light, thus with a green, yellow, and red light," explains Fiorani.
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