A new horizon for hyperspectral imaging: macro- and micro-scale measurements for food safety

Authors: Park, Bosoon

Submitted to: NIR news (Near Infrared Reflectance News)
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/3/2013
Publication Date: 9/4/2013
Citation: Park, B. 2013. A new horizon for hyperspectral imaging: macro- and micro-scale measurements for food safety. NIR news (Near Infrared Reflectance News). 24(6):12-14.

Interpretive Summary: There are numerous cases of outbreak for foodborne illnesses during past decade. In 2011, about 48 million incidence of foodborne illness has occurred, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths in the United States. It estimated cost of foodborne illness in the U.S. is $77.7 billion a year. Among serious outbreaks, Salmonella had the most infections and incidence cases followed by Campylobacter. Current detection methods for foodborne pathogens include ISO method 6579, direct fluorescence antibody detection, immunodetection - enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). However, all these methods are limited for a practical use due to the time-consuming, cumbersome results and sensitive concerns. Therefore, more sensitive, accurate and rapid pathogen detection method is needed for a practical use with better performance. Hyperspectral imaging method is promising to meet the above requirement for real-time, in-situ foodborne pathogen detection. To understand optical properties of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, ARS research group has developed hyperspectral imaging (HSI) techniques that can be an effective tool for this practice. Our research approaches for hyperspectral imaging methods consists of two categories: development of macro-level food safety hazard detection1,2,3 and micro-level pathogen and bacterial threat agent detection

Technical Abstract: Food safety is a critical issue worldwide for public health. The research group of the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA, ARS) in Athens, Georgia, is directing its research capabilities to address this food safety problem using optical methods such as hyperspectral imaging. The goal of this research is to develop and validate optical sensing methods for the identification and characterization of foodborne pathogens, contaminants and potential bio-threat agents at the macro- and micro-levels. In this report, we introduce our work on hyperspectral imaging technology for food safety applications, specifically foodborne pathogen detection.