INFRARED AND NEAR-INFRARED TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FOOD-INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURAL USES - ONLINE APPLICATIONS

Mid-infrared and near-infrared spectroscopy are well-known analytical tools for the food industry but they have different properties. On com parison, due to its lower absorption coefficients, near-infrared allow s quantitative analysis, especially on solid samples, whereas, due to its high selectivity, mid-infrared is most suitable for qualitative an alysis. The aim of this article is to present general guidelines for t he choice of a technology according to the type of problem, of their u se in two specific cases. The first example describes the most appropr iate system for the quantification of individual sugars in a liquid mi xture. Fourier transform/infrared spectroscopy is used to detect fruct ose and glucose it fermentation processes with standard errors of pred iction respectively equal to 2.4 and 3.6 g/l. The second example descr ibes a tool for solid product control at a high speed: near-infrared c oupled with optical fibres is selected to detect sugar in fruit at a r ate of three fruits per second.