Bright Path for Portable Infrared Spectroscopy Devices – From Safeguarding Foods to Disease Diagnosis for Point-Of-Care

Whether you are analyzing for food contaminants such as PFAS or pesticide residues, screening for food adulteration in tea, or profiling the flavor of alternative proteins, trusted answers is critical in food testing.

Agilent keeps you at the forefront of the latest trends in food testing – so you can deliver the highest quality and value to your customers. Join us in this webinar series as food testing experts from all over the world talk share their robust and reliable workflow solutions to meet the challenges in food safety, authenticity, and quality testing. These experts have allotted ample time for discussion so share your thoughts and bring in your questions!

Infrared spectroscopy technology provides unique information of the molecular composition in samples that allows for rapid and effective food surveillance, detection of contaminants and disease diagnosis. Optical technology is rapidly developing into small size and compact devices allowing for robust, high-throughput and ease of operation for in-field routine analysis. Combining infrared spectroscopy with pattern recognition analysis permits to uncover unique spectral signature profiles (“fingerprints”) of contaminants and metabolites. We have explored the application of infrared to screen for food contaminants and detect metabolic biomarkers for early diagnosis of central sensitivity syndromes. This technology addresses stated needs by the industry for tools that can verify nutritional levels at point of sale, screen for adulteration, detection of contaminants and identify unique biomarkers for disease diagnosis.

Key Learning Objectives/What attendees will learn:

• Application of portable infrared devices for screening of food nutrients and contaminants

• Metabolic fingerprinting for disease diagnosis of central sensitivity syndromes

Presenter: Luis Rodriguez-Saona (Distinguished Professor, The Ohio State University)

Distinguished Professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology, The Ohio State University. I received my B.S. and Food Engineer degrees from the Universidad Nacional Agraria, La Molina, in Lima, Peru. Later, I received my Master and Doctorate degrees in Food Science from Oregon State University (1994 and 1998, respectively). I worked as research scientist for the Joint Institute of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN– UMD/FDA) and the USDA Human Nutrition and Research Center before joining The Ohio State Univ. I am the undergraduate coordinator in our program (~200 students) and serve as undergraduate liaison with the college and contact for prospective students. I advise over 80 students with responsibilities on planning their study, minors, course selection and career planning. I have received the OSU Outstanding Teacher Award, the OARDC Distinguished Faculty Research Award and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Educator Award. My major area of research interest is the applications of spectroscopic techniques for chemical detection and characterization in the agricultural field. Through the collaboration with leading optical sensing industries, my molecular vibrational Lab has pioneered the application of portable and micro- devices combined with chemometrics for screening of target components. My research has been nationally and internationally recognized for the integration of pattern recognition analysis to complex spectral information to identify potential tampering of foods. My research has generated over 110 peer-reviewed articles, 20 book chapters and has been featured in multiple national and international meetings.